Review Overview

THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT

One of the best outstation lounges anywhere by a long shot, with great food and beverages, a quiet atmosphere, and good showers

5.0

In May 2023, Qantas reopened their “permanently closed” Hong Kong lounge, which had otherwise been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Oneworld operates a wealth of good lounges at Hong Kong Airport, mainly due to Cathay Pacific’s strong lounge portfolio, spearheaded by their flagship lounge The Pier (I’ve reviewed the business class section here). Qantas lounges are generally super strong, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that despite Cathay Pacific’s lounge presence, Qantas’ own lounge stands its own and is a pleasure to visit when flying a Oneworld carrier out of Hong Kong Airport.

I had the chance to visit this lounge in July 2023, shortly before a Cathay Pacific flight to Bangkok. Here’s my review of the lounge, featuring the seating and atmosphere, their excellent food and beverage selection, and other available facilities at the lounge.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Access and Opening Hours

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong is open from 12 PM to 11 PM. Unfortunately this means that those flying out of Hong Kong Airport on a Oneworld airline in the morning won’t be able to use the lounge, though it should just about cover all flights leaving Hong Kong after 1 PM.

The Qantas Lounge is open to the following passengers:

Qantas first and business class passengers, plus one guest
Passengers flying Oneworld carriers (including Cathay Pacific) – only first class passengers are allowed one guest
Emirates first and business class passengers – only first class passengers are allowed one guest
Oneworld Emerald or Sapphire members, plus one guest
Emirates Platinum or Gold Skywards members on a Qantas or Emirates flight number, plus one guest
Japan Airlines premium economy passengers, and Economy Flex passengers

While Qantas and Japan Airlines premium passengers are directed to the lounge by check-in staff, you’ll need to know about this lounge if you’re flying another airline, so it’s a bit of a hidden gem (Qantas and Japan Airlines passengers also have access to any of the three Cathay Pacific lounges at Hong Kong Airport, including The Wing, The Deck, and The Pier).

Guests must be flying a Qantas or Oneworld operated flight, or a Qantas or Emirates operated flight. They don’t need to be flying on the same flight as the passenger with access.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Location and Entrance

The Qantas lounge is located just outside the north security and immigration area, above gates 5-9. If you’re flying Cathay Pacific, you’ll most likely have checked in by the south security and immigration area, so you’ll have to navigate through the food court – walk perpendicularly to the flow of passengers from landside to airside, and you’ll end up at the outlet of the north security hall. There’s not a ton of signage pointing towards the Qantas lounge, but you’ll find a hidden hallway with a few paper signs.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Hallway

Once you do get through that hallway, you’ll find a reception desk. In my case a friendly agent scanned my boarding pass, and welcomed me into the lounge.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Entrance

As pictured above, you’ll also find the snazzy new Qantas branding, in lieu of the older signage that they used to have in the same spot.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Seating and Atmosphere

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong takes up a long and narrow space stretching between gates 5 and 9, and effectively features a few partitioned seating areas. This is a gorgeous setup, and makes the lounge feel much cosier than it is – I’ve never been in the lounge and sat in an area with more than a few people.

A bulk of the armchairs are positioned to face each other, with coffee tables in the middle.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Armchair Seating

There’s also some restaurant-style seating with higher tables, which are more apt for eating or working.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Restaurant-Style Seating

There’s some bar seating as well. No matter where you perch yourself, you’ll find 110V power ports and USB power ports – the one downside is that they’re not universal, which is not very helpful if you’re flying a Qantas flight home and trying to charge your device.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Power Ports

Further in the lounge is yet more armchair seating. The upholstery isn’t super exciting, though the amount of space in the lounge is really unparalleled. You’ll also get great views of taxiing planes, as well as those parked by the gates below.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Seating and Tarmac View

You’ll also find some bench seating to mix things up, as well as some succulents to give the lounge decor a really natural, homey feel.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Seating

Furthermore, you’ll find a couple of nooks and crannies with “indoor” seating, including L-shaped benches. These areas are more well-suited for families.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Seating

There’s a copious amount of space in this lounge, and all the seating is comfortable. One of the massive perks is that Qantas only operates so many flights a day, so this lounge will always feel a lot emptier than any of the Cathay Pacific lounges. As a result, the lounge is consistently a gorgeous, quiet place to work.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Food Selection

Qantas puts a lot of effort into their food and beverage selection, and their lounges are no exception.

Throughout the lounge’s opening hours you’ll find a small, but very high-quality food spread. I don’t think I’ve ever seen, let alone eaten lounge buffet food as consistently fresh and well-prepared as that available in Qantas lounges. There’s even a menu, which read as follows on the day I visited:

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Menu

There are a range of hot and cold items. All that I ate was cooked nicely and super flavourful. It was also beautifully presented, though admittedly I visited when the lounge first opened (before many people helped themselves to the food spread).

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Food Spread

There’s also a delicious-looking dessert spread, including basque cheesecake, brownies, pot-de-creme, and other delights.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Dessert Spread

There’s even a water dispenser that’s capable of dispensing hot and sparkling water.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Still and Sparkling Water Dispenser

I suppose the lounge also faced an issue with people using the wrong utensils to serve themselves in the past…

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Warning Sign

After 4 PM, the lounge serves up its signature, prepared-to-order char siu fan, which can be ordered at the bar. I had this dish back in 2016, and remember it being very tasty. I couldn’t indulge in the dish this time since I was visiting before a 2:25 PM flight, though definitely save some space in your stomach for this dish if you’re on a later flight.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Signature Char Siu Rice Dish

Food in this lounge is delicious and doesn’t disappoint. Cathay Pacific also serves up delicious food in their Hong Kong lounges (including their signature noodle bar, which serves up really great noodles and dim sum), so you really can’t go wrong whichever lounge you visit.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Bar

The centerpiece of the lounge is a bar, located near the lounge’s entrance.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Bar

The bar serves up a range of cocktails, mocktails, and other forms of alcohol, not to mention that there’s a full barista coffee service (my mom reminisces coffee at this lounge as some of the best she’s had anywhere). The menu is as follows:

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Bar Menu

You’ll even find a couple of beers on draught, which in this case was Stone Wood Pacific Ale and Tsing Tao beer.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Bar

I had an iced Americano (not pictured) as I had a meeting to catch at the airport before my flight, though I couldn’t resist also having a cocktail on top of it – counterintuitive, I know. The Chi Chi was a delicious concoction of rum, pineapple, vanilla, and lime – from previous experiences at the Qantas Lounge, this lounge features one of the best cocktail bars I’ve seen at any airport, as the drinks are creative, delicious, and have a sense of place.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Bar – Chi Chi

There are also other food spreads with coffee machines dotted throughout the lounge, though do yourself a favour and indulge yourself at the bar. You won’t be disappointed.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong “Rear End” Food Spread

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong WiFi

While I didn’t do a speed test, WiFi at this lounge was free, easy to connect to, and very fast, as you’d expect for a lounge at Hong Kong Airport with very few people.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Showers

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong features 12 awesome shower rooms, all of which are equipped with Li’Tya amenities (I took the below pictures during a previous visit, when they still featured Aspar amenities). The shower rooms are a good size, and well ventilated.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Shower Room

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Kids’ Play Area

At the very end of the lounge is a play area for kids. As far as my memory stretches I wouldn’t call this area very well equipped, though it is a very nice space for families to hang out.

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Kids’ Play Area

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Service

Everyone in the lounge was friendly, and super enthusiastic that the lounge had just opened. The bartender serving me was particularly delightful, and clearly wanted to showcase the best the lounge had to offer. A couple of other lounge staff also came by to ask me which flight I was on (their patronage mainly comes from the Japan Airlines and Qantas flights of the day, so they asked me which flight I was flying).

Conclusion: Qantas Lounge Hong Kong

The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong is an absolute delight to spend a few hours in. Now, the lounge doesn’t have a ton of amenities – there are many cases in which I’d find Cathay Pacific’s The Pier a superior place to kill time in if you have a long layover and have Oneworld lounge access, despite the fact that it’s typically more crowded. You also only get made-to-order char siu fan here if you’re visiting the lounge after 4 PM, whereas made-to-order food is available round the clock at Cathay Pacific lounges.

However, the lounge features an abundance of seating and a very quiet atmosphere round the clock, good showers and WiFi, and cocktails/mocktails and coffee at this lounge are unparalleled in quality. I’d seek out the Qantas lounge if I was looking for a quiet place to work, or if I wanted to enjoy a coffee or cocktail (or if I only had half an hour or less to spend and my gate was nearby, since this is a vastly superior lounge compared to The Wing).

Either way, Oneworld passengers really are spoilt for choice at Hong Kong Airport, especially considering none of the Star Alliance lounges have reopened yet.

Review: Qantas Lounge Hong Kong (HKG) [2023]