Review: Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge, Hong Kong Airport (HKG)

Note

This lounge has been permanently closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hong Kong Airlines opened Club Autus in September 2017 as their new flagship lounge to accommodate premium passengers on the airline’s flights, a majority of which were now departing out of the Midfield Concourse. I was under the impression that an autus was some sort of flower, though the closest thing I could find to the word shaping any sort of meaning was in an alternate form of the Latin word auctus, which is the perfect passive participle of the word augeō, which means “to augment” or “to expand”.

Regardless, Club Autus is located one floor above the departures hall of the Midfield Concourse, with an escalator leading up to it in the duty-free area of the departures hall.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Exterior

The lounge attendants scanned my boarding pass outside Club Autus, and directed me into the lounge. A handful of other airlines also seem to use the lounge, including Bangkok Airways, Fiji Airways, Finnair, Philippine Airlines and Virgin Australia, among others.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Entrance

The lounge itself was very nicely decorated. It had somewhat of a “simplified nature” theme to it, with tree lights and green finishes. Some may find the decor slightly cheap and tacky, though that’s more or less what Hong Kong Airlines’ branding is (in a good way).

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

The lounge was horseshoe-shaped, and featured a variety of seating areas bound together by a long wooden walkway. Immediately past the entrance was a seating area, featuring comfortable armchairs facing each other, as well as communal chairs for families.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

I appreciated that these chairs had “platforms” next to them for a bag, though when the lounge was crowded people used them as makeshift chairs.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

Past the initial seating area was a couple of large, curved tables with lots of seating.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

I was intrigued by some of the cubicles behind these curved tables. They seemed fit for working, but they didn’t have chairs. I know some people like standing up while working, though I don’t believe there was a dedicated area for working in this lounge.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Power Ports

Past the curved tables was the food spread, which was located to one side. Behind the food spread was a seating area with more chairs, with great views of the main terminal area below.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

In the same area was bar seating, which was well-stocked with power ports. My main complaint is that the power ports weren’t universal, so non-Hong Kong flyers will have to bring an adapter to this lounge. It’s crazy how a new international lounge could get this wrong.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Bar Seating

Pardon the bad lighting in a few of these pictures, as it was daytime, and there was a lot of natural light in this lounge (which I like, but it doesn’t bode well with photo taking). I’ll revisit the food spread below, but past the food spread was an area with a few long tables.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

I appreciated that there were high chairs at the side, since the lounge seemed to have somewhat of a family-centric demographic.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong High Chairs

Past that was some bench seating, as well as some bar seating with nice views of the tarmac. I loved the variety of seating in this lounge, and also found the tree stump cushions quite cute.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

Apart from power ports, the bar seating facing the tarmac also featured cute little potted plants.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

After that I found an elevated area that was somewhat partitioned off from the rest of the lounge, to offer a bit more privacy. This area featured some turquoise chairs for parties of four, as well as some high-backed chairs facing each other parked against the wall.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

Near the end was yet more bar seating facing the tarmac.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

At the very end of the lounge encircling the private area was another seating area, providing 270° views of the tarmac.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Seating

You won’t get views as exciting here as you would in the main terminal, as the only heavy aircraft that parks at the midfield terminal is the Lufthansa A380 from Munich at night. However, getting closeup views of aircraft is still a treat, and the variety of narrowbody aircraft was interesting to spot. The southern runway (07R/25L) is in the distance, so if you have a good camera, you might be able to spot a few aircraft taking off.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Tarmac View

Sichuan Airlines Airbus A321 Hong Kong Airport

Ethiopian Boeing 787 Hong Kong Airport

Next to the partitioned seating area there were six daybeds in a separate room, all arranged in rather private cubicles (apart from the one closest to the door, which is rather exposed). Most of these were taken, though the beds looked rather hard, and seemed more like dentist chairs. This is one of the three areas where the new Club Autus lags behind Club Bauhinia, as the daybeds at Club Bauhinia are more comfortable, and more readily available.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Nap and Relax Area

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Relax Area

Overall I thought the lounge was pretty well-appointed. It was large, spacious, and none of the areas felt particularly cramped. It’s also worth noting that while the lounge itself is ambient, there were performers directly below the lounge during my visit. The music pervaded throughout the entire terminal, including the lounge, since it’s open air. I visited the lounge on Good Friday so I’m not sure if the music is an everyday thing – it didn’t bother me, though those needing to work may prefer the quieter Club Bauhinia, as it’s an enclosed space.

Now let’s talk about the food spread. As explained above, the food area was near the middle of the lounge. To one side was the bar.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Bar

The bar featured a few juices that you could choose from.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Bar Juice

However, the highlight of the bar was the separate selection of drinks. There was Carlsberg on tap, and in addition to that there was an Autus Signature Drink menu, featuring a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic options.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Bar Menu

I ordered an Autus Delight, which was alright. It was refreshing and I liked the grapefruit juice, though the rose syrup was weird.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Autus Delight

Also, while there is a bar, there’s no barista coffee at this lounge – everything comes out of the same machine.

Adjacent to the bar was the food spread.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread

The food spread featured a variety of hot and cold options. All of the items that I selected from the food spread were quite good.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread

Aside from the hot options, there was also a salad bar, as well as a few other cold options to choose from.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread

The cold options were offered on a table beside the curved tables and opposite from the bar, and the options there were also very good.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread

A range of condiments were on offer opposite from the food spread.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread Condiments

At the end of the food spread was a made-to-order menu, featuring a selection of noodles (slightly more extensive than at Club Bauhinia) and the egg puffs, though there weren’t any snacks on offer here.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Noodle Bar

I ordered some laksa noodles, which were alright. The broth was great, the fishcakes seemed packaged, and the tofu soaked up all the flavour from the broth. I loved how spicy the broth was, though the noodles themselves weren’t anything special.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Laksa Noodles

My dad ordered some kimchi noodles, which were fine as well.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Kimchi Noodles

However, for an airline aspiring to stick so closely to their Hong Kong branding (something that they otherwise do pretty well at), I was surprised by the lack of local/regional noodle options. Hong Kong is a crazy noodle city, and there was only one distinctly Hong Kong option, with the rest of the options coming from various parts of Asia. The noodles were good, but not great; they would’ve had a much easier time picking out recipes (or broth packets) for local noodles, e.g. lo mein, satay noodles, etc.. Cathay Pacific’s Noodle Bars do a much better job with this, so for that reason I prefer their noodles.

On the plus side they do offer egg waffles, which are unquestionably Hong Kong. My sister ordered their chef’s choice egg waffles, which were Milo flavoured, and better than what I had at Club Bauhinia (the outside was actually crisp, and didn’t feel like a mattress that had been slept on for 20 years straight).

After my noodles I decided to take a shower, mainly so I could test out the shower options at this lounge. I was directed back to the entrance, where I was given a buzzer, and my boarding pass was scanned, and my flight number taken.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Shower Buzzer

The buzzer rang after around 5 minutes, right after I’d ordered an Autus Delight. I caught the attention of a nearby lounge attendant, who helped me cancel my order. I then headed to the shower area, which was beside the entrance of the lounge.

The shower room fit in with the lounge’s tropical nature theme swimmingly, to the point where it was still damp. How airlines usually manage to turn around shower rooms and completely dry them within minutes is beyond me, though these shower attendants probably simply wiped down the room and restocked the amenities. I’m completely fine with that, though others may be thrown off.

The shower room was small, though not unbearably so. It featured a toilet and a sink, and the shower was curtained off (I much prefer a door, though showering at my origin airport prior to a shorthaul flight is a novelty in itself, so I’m not complaining).

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Shower Room

One complaint about the shower is that the mobile showerhead is mounted extremely low, and there’s no separate rainforest showerhead. Club Bauhinia, on the other hand, does feature a rainforest showerhead. This is another component where I actually prefer Club Bauhinia to Club Autus (apart from the fact that there’s no wait for the shower, given how neglected Club Bauhinia is now).

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Shower Room

On the plus side, this shower room featured great L’Occitane toiletries, instead of the wall-mounted toiletries that Club Bauhinia featured.

Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong Shower Toiletries

All the staff here were friendly, though mostly reactive – they smiled upon eye contact, though aside from the shower instance I was never approached to see what I needed. More than anything I was intrigued by how all of them seemed to have Starbucks frappuccinos at hand the entire time.

After my shower I worked for a while with the fast WiFi, before heading to my departure gate at 4:05 PM, in hopes of being first onboard.

Bottom Line: Hong Kong Airlines Club Autus Lounge Hong Kong

Hong Kong Airlines’ Club Autus is unquestionably better than Club Bauhinia. I believe it’s a solid lounge in general. It features a good made-to-order food spread, there’s an abundance of seating with good, consistent decor and lots of natural light, I like the bar and the mocktail choices, and there’s a separate rest area. It’s up there as one of the better hub lounges I’ve visited, though not the best (it can’t compare with Virgin Atlantic’s The Clubhouse at London Heathrow, Cathay Pacific’s The Pier Lounge in Hong Kong and Swiss’ Panorama Dock E Lounge Zurich).

As I briefly noted above and in my review of Club Bauhinia, there are three instances where I think you’re better off going to Club Bauhinia than to Club Autus:

Since Club Bauhinia is an enclosed lounge that’s more or less neglected nowadays, it’s a quieter space to work, since the seating there’s still pretty comfortable
I prefer Club Bauhinia’s shower rooms to Club Autus’ – while Club Bauhinia’s shower rooms are drab and boring, there’s a rainforest showerhead, while Club Autus only has a handheld shower head that’s mounted too low on the wall
Club Bauhinia’s daybeds are more comfortable than those at Club Autus, and it’s quieter too, since no one goes there anymore

Overall Club Autus is a solid lounge, though I wouldn’t go to the airport early to enjoy it. It’s not a bad space to spend time and there’s a range of things to do, but I wouldn’t get too excited over it. Nevertheless, if you have a short layover in Hong Kong and have access to this lounge, do check it out.