Introduction
The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific The Cabin Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong
W Taipei
Plaza Premium Airport Experience Zone Taipei Taoyuan
Cathay Pacific 405 A330-300 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific The Arrival Lounge Hong Kong
My next stop was The Wing, which, after the closure of the Dragonair G16 lounge, is possibly my least favourite Cathay Pacific lounge at Hong Kong Airport. While it’s got nice amenities, it’s known as Cathay Pacific’s hub lounge, so is so overcrowded, almost at all times, that it’s almost more pleasant to hang out in the terminal. I’ve never gotten a nice “vibe” from The Wing, so wanted to check it out again this time to see if it was any better off-season.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Entrance
I was promptly admitted by the lounge attendants at the front counter, and made my way to the indoor section of the lounge, located on the lower deck. Personally, I think it’s a nice space, though there are no tarmac views whatsoever (the views are all landside), and it’s generally a crowded space, so I wouldn’t spend any time there.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Enclosed Seating
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Enclosed Seating
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Enclosed Seating
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Enclosed Seating
Apart from this seating the lounge also featured Solus chairs, though they were all taken so I wasn’t sure how to get a good shot – I didn’t.
The lower level featured a food spread with hot items, but the food wasn’t particularly good. It tasted like food that had been out the whole day.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread
Further into the lounge were some chairs, as well as some fancy artwork at the back. It feels like a rather bland setup, and not very inviting, but at least it’s comfortable and modern to some extent.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Indoor Seating
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Indoor Artwork
Further along was a business center with some iMacs providing fast Internet, which could be used for last-minute work catchups.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Business Center
Further along were showers, which I didn’t visit this time round, so here’s a picture from my previous nip to the lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Shower Room
The area that many regard as the highlight of the lounge isn’t this area, though – rather, it’s the open area overlooking gates 1-4. This area contains most of the lounge, including the general “lounging” area comprising of seating and the Long Bar, as well as a noodle bar and a coffee loft.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Relax Area
The Long Bar is a nice space, though it seemed to be heavily understaffed.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong The Long Bar
The lounge also featured Solus chairs, which seem to be grey in this lounge. They’re nice for working, but not really for lounging.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Solus Chairs
In addition, there was also bench seating – y’all know what I feel about bench seating that isn’t near eating places. Ultimately The Wing is a capacity-maximising lounge, but I still don’t think anyone would enjoy sitting here.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Bench Seating
Parked at random places were pastries, which were basically room temperature, so I’m not sure how people would like cold chocolate croissants laid out all around the lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Croissants
There was signage at the end of every section, as with every Cathay Pacific lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Signage
Through the end of the relax area was a fork into a large space and a slightly smaller space. The larger space was The Noodle Bar, which features good noodles as far as I’ve heard, but it’s not like the noodles aren’t good at The Pier.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar Signage
Contrary to the rest of the lounge I actually like the decoration – I find the bamboo shoots and the wooden chairs to be a nice contrast, giving the place a rather “Asian” flair. That’s not to say it isn’t bland, but rather at least there’s a splash of colour to it, instead of the dull, bland “muted earth” tones that you find in the rest of the lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar
The actual bar was well-staffed, and the food coming out seemed to be comparable to The Pier (I’ll spare you the descriptions – it looked amazing).
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar Condiments
There was also a water area at the noodle bar, as was true for the all parts of the lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Drinks Counter
The last area was The Coffee Loft, consisting of a coffee-shop-like work area and barista coffee on demand, though, again, the area was a little too small and cramped for my liking.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong The Coffee Loft
There were iMacs along the side on bar seating, in case someone needs an open area to work.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong The Coffee Loft Business Center
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong The Coffee Loft Business Center
There was also a slightly bigger pastry spread, which I appreciated, though I didn’t eat there. The pastries were right in front of the counter so in theory could be heated, which makes sense to me, unlike the pastries randomly located around the lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Lounge Hong Kong Pastry Spread
In terms of views along the lounge, they’re similar to any lounge that’s above the “main” area – that’s to say that you won’t get any direct views, but instead you get slightly blocked views of more planes around, as the lounges are higher up. In this case, I had a view of the Virgin Atlantic 787-9 that I flew from London Heathrow to Hong Kong last July.
Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 Hong Kong Airport
Bottom Line
I know I’m being really critical, but Cathay Pacific’s The Wing continues to underwhelm. While there were generally fewer people in the lounge, I still felt a sense of discomfort given how many people there were. That’s more of a location-based problem than anything else, though it would’ve certainly been appreciated if Cathay Pacific built their biggest lounge a little closer to the main immigration area.
Cathay Pacific’s The Wing is, in addition, also really blandly designed. I didn’t find the overall design, from the colour tones, to the actual seating to be anything special. If anything, I think that the lounge was mostly there for capacity maximisation than anything else, given that a lot of people like to hang out here, then slip out for a short shopping spree before boarding the flight.
This continues to be my least favourite oneworld lounge at Hong Kong, for good reason (in fairness to Cathay Pacific, that’s only because their general lounge quality is very good).