Review: Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge, Hong Kong

Early this year, I qualified Diamond status with the Cathay frequent flyer programme – which gives me access to Cathay Pacific’s phenomenal First Class lounges at Hong Kong Airport. However, due to a combination of reduced flying out of Hong Kong and unlucky gate assignments, I wasn’t actually able to visit Cathay Pacific’s phenomenal The Pier, First lounge. That all changed in early August, when I got to visit the lounge and report on my experience.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge at Hong Kong Airport

My visit was particularly interesting as Cathay Pacific’s lounges at Hong Kong Airport have undergone a few “soft” changes in the past year:

• Historically, Cathay Pacific subcontracted service in its lounges to external vendors (e.g., The Pensinula, Plaza Premium, and most recently, Sodexo). However, Cathay recently started hiring and training its customer-facing lounge staff members “in-house” to improve customer service.
• Cathay Pacific also launched a collaboration with the Rosewood Hong Kong to design special cocktails and tasting menus for The Pier’s dining room.

I wanted to experience the lounge after the implementation of these new changes to see if the in-lounge experience has improved from my past experiences in 2019.

Access to Cathay Pacific’s The Pier, First Lounge

The following passengers are eligible to access Cathay Pacific’s First Class lounges in Hong Kong:

• Cathay Diamond members departing from or connecting in Hong Kong Airport to a oneworld or Cathay Pacific-marketed codeshare flight on the same day (+2 guests)
• Cathay Pacific First Class passengers departing from Hong Kong Airport, or transiting through Hong Kong Airport  to any Cathay Pacific flight (+1 guest)
• First Class passengers on a oneworld operated flight departing from Hong Kong Airport (+1 guest)
• oneworld Emerald members departing from or connecting in Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific or oneworld operated flight (+1 guest)

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER First Class

These access requirements are a little confusing, so here’s a couple of real life scenarios that I put together to put the access rules in more context:

• A Cathay Diamond member flying on MIAT Mongolian Airlines from Hong Kong to Ulan Bator in any class – but who booked the ticket through Cathay Pacific (via a codeshare agreement) is eligible to access the First lounge before departure
• A Cathay Pacific First passenger who arrives in Hong Kong Airport and connects onto a HK Express flight from Hong Kong to Chiang Mai (marketed/sold by Cathay Pacific) is not eligible to access the First lounge before departure.
• A passenger travelling in First Class from Beijing to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific and connecting to any Cathay Pacific flight in Economy is eligible to access the First lounge.
• While a passenger departing on a British Airways First flight is allowed to access the First lounge, a passenger arriving on a British Airways First flight is not allowed to access the lounge.

What that mess out of the way…

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Location

The Pier, First is located near Gate 63, which is located towards the rear of Hong Kong Airport’s main terminal. The Pier is well-located for any flight with a gate number above thirty. However, eligible passengers will find it more convenient to go to Cathay’s other First lounge – The Wing – if your flight is departing from any other gate. That being said, The Pier is definitely worth a trek, given that it’s a truly exceptional lounge.

The entrance to the lounge leads to an escalator to the lower level of the terminal – which is where the lounge is located.  I was greeted by two Cathay Pacific ground staff members and directed into the lounge.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Overall Layout and Design

The Pier, First is Cathay Pacific’s flagship lounge – and for very good reason. I really appreciate the use of soft fabrics and wooden surfaces and walls across the lounge to give it a homey feel. While I know nothing about interior design, I definitely put some photos of the lounge on my home decor Pinterest board…

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge at Hong Kong Airport

The lounge is split into distinct “zones”. To the right of the entrance, there’s the dining room, working spaces, and a wellness-focussed area (which I’ll get more into). Meanwhile, to the left of the entrance, there’s a grab-and-go pantry, a bar, and traditional lounge seating to the left. The different “sections” of the lounge are connected by a corridor which has some funky looking seating.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Area, Bar

I spent the first part of my visit to The Pier in the lounge area, which is filled with traditional lounge-style armchairs. There was an abundance of power outlets hidden in the drawers in seat-side tables, which is a signature Cathay Pacific touch. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking for this part of the review.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Seating (and me in the mirror)

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Seating

The lounge is generally well maintained – although the leather furniture in some parts of the lounge looked a little worn.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Seating

There is also a small “library” with a selection of newspapers and magazines.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Library

The centrepiece of the lounge area is a large horseshoe shaped, fully-tended bar. The bar area also had a barista coffee station – although I didn’t see anyone make use of this feature. I asked the bartender to recommend his favourite drink – which was an off-menu “secret” cocktail made with whiskey, peach schnapps, and sweet vermouth.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Bar

The cocktail certainly didn’t disappoint. I hope that the drink makes it onto the official lounge menu. I also had a nice chat with the bartender about how his creative process behind making the drink.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Secret Menu Cocktail

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Bureau and Pantry

There’s a small pantry across from the lounge area, which featured some sandwich options, salad pots, cheese, desserts, and non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. Everything looked fairly good. I particularly appreciated that the pantry was stocked with a fairly wide selection of bottled drinks and light bites.

Cathay Pacific The First, First Pantry

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Pantry

The lounge has six semi-private work-stations with desktop monitors.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Spa and Daybreak Rooms

I then visited the “wellness” area of the lounge, which includes a spa. Unfortunately, all spa treatment slots were booked up until my flight. This seems to be a chronic problem with The Pier; I wonder if there’s any ways that Cathay can better manage utilisation of the spa in the lounge, or even change up the treatment offerings to speed things along.

In lieu of a massage, I decided to check out the Daybreak Rooms, which are a series of semi-private rooms obscured by a curtain. While I really appreciate the idea of nap room for passengers, I feel like the concept was poorly executed.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Daybreak Rooms

• The rooms have massive windows which are great for plane-spotting, but less great for relaxing in the hot Hong Kong summer months. To make matters worse, the air conditioning system was either weak or broken and the space was quite hot.
• Cathay Pacific limits the usage of these rooms to 90 minutes, which feels like a limited amount of time to take a nap. The time limit makes even less sense considering that I only saw one other person use the rooms during my visit.
• To make the room more nap-friendly, the friendly lounge attendant offered a thin blanket – which was identical the blanket that Cathay Pacific offers in its Economy cabin. I’m a fan of Cathay’s Economy blanket – which is soft and light. However, it feels a bit cheap to offer a flimsy blanket to your top-tier customers.
• The bench-sofa setup isn’t particularly comfortable for sleeping.
• The rooms are separated by heavy curtains. While they were good to block out light, as recent controversies demonstrate, curtains don’t do a great job of blocking noise.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Daybreak Rooms

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Daybreak Rooms

The lounge also has some shower rooms, which I didn’t use during my visit.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Dining Room

One of the most popular amenities in The Pier, First lounge is a sit-down restaurant. I was immediately offered a seat. For reference, I was at the restaurant around 11:30AM, and found that only about half of the seats were taken. That being said, I imagine that the restaurant fills up earlier in at busier times (e.g., during the morning or late-evening rush).

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Dining Room

As I mentioned, Cathay Pacific launched a collaboration with the Rosewood Hong Kong early this year to offer a tasting menu for its First Class lounge. On this visit, the menu was developed in collaboration with The Legacy House – the Rosewood’s Chinese restaurant – and Darkside – the Rosewood’s speakeasy-style bar.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Rosewood Tasting Menu

The regular food and drink menus for The Pier, First’s dining room for August is as follows:

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Food Menu

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Drinks Menu

I wasn’t super hungry, so I only ordered the first two courses off the tasting menu. The meal started with a Chrysanthemum-inspired cocktail, which was tasty but a little too sweet for my liking. I was also offered a choice of sparkling or still water.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Darkside Cocktail

My server then presented the first course, which consisted of tofu, abalone, and “brown sauce”. The dish was excellent: the abalone was flavourful, the tofu had the perfect texture, and the sauce was savoury. I also ordered a glass of Pouilly-Fuissé white wine to go with the abalone, which was served promptly.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Tasting Menu Starter

Next, I had the second course, which was a Chinese-style chicken, conopy (dried scallop), and mushroom soup. The soup was also really delicious.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Tasting Menu Soup

I wrapped up the meal with a glass of Dow’s 2015 LBV Port and a coconut panna cotta from the “regular” menu.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Dining Room Dessert

Service throughout the meal was friendly, polished, and professional. For example, bottles of wine were brought out and presented before being poured. The servers were also extremely attentive. Interestingly, all of the staff in the restaurant were wearing Cathay’s ground staff uniforms, which is a change from before. That being said, I felt like the kitchen could work on pacing each course. The abalone and soup courses were served minutes apart, which felt a little rushed.

All of the dishes that I tried were excellent and I also really enjoyed the wine selection in the lounge. Overall, getting to have a sit-down dining experience in an airport lounge is always a treat. All of the food was also very well-executed.

Cathay Pacific The Pier, First Lounge Service

As I mentioned in the start of this review, Cathay Pacific now hires and trains its lounge staff in-house. Based on my experience in the lounge, this significantly improved service in the lounge. All of the staff members that I interacted with in the lounge were friendly, well-intentioned, and professional.

Interestingly, it appears that Cathay has hired a group of lounge ambassadors – who seem to be responsible for collecting feedback and welcoming passengers to the lounge. I had a lovely chat with a lounge ambassador about my trip to London. Kudos to the lounge staff for doing such an excellent job.

Bottom Line

Cathay Pacific’s The Pier, First lounge is an incredible space to wait for a flight. The design of the lounge is gorgeous, the food and drink offerings are excellent, and the service is friendly. It’s such a treat to be able to access this lounge as a oneworld Emerald or Cathay Diamond member.

Let’s just say that I am really sad to be losing my oneworld Emerald status next year.