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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
I sent my family to the newly opened The Bridge lounge at Hong Kong Airport, and it looks stunning, with very good food and beverage options |
5.0
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At The Alviator, we don’t have any ghost writers, and focus on writing genuine reviews from frequent fliers based on firsthand experiences. Well, as a one-off thing, we’re going to deviate from that today. I’m joining my family next week for a long weekend in Croatia and the Czech Republic – as they’re flying out in Finnair business class, I sent them to The Bridge, Cathay Pacific’s refurbished lounge that reopened on Wednesday. A massive shoutout to my sister Hailey for getting most of the stunning photos below (and congratulations on finishing your high school exams – welcome to university life-to-be). My parents also contributed, and I’m grateful to them as well – love you all!
Cathay Pacific offers two business class lounges at Hong Kong Airport under their newest arrangement. The Pier opened in 2016, and is the airline’s flagship business class lounge, located by gate 65. The airline had recently closed The Wing by gate 1 and reallocated The Deck temporarily to a first class lounge, so reopened a redesigned version of The Bridge, which is located by gate 35.
After my family showed excitement about how good the lounge was, I asked if they could grab a couple of photos for me, especially because this was before the peak travel time of 11 PM (the Finnair flight leaves Hong Kong at 8:55 PM). They ended up helping me grab so many that I just decided to ask for a full photo review, and I’ll add the text below. I’ll review the lounge myself after I’m back in Hong Kong in September (not revealing what I’m flying yet, though I’m excited about it, and will have Oneworld lounge access – guesses are welcome).
Cathay Pacific’s The Bridge Lounge Access and Entry Requirements
Cathay Pacific’s The Bridge lounge is open from 5:30 AM until the last flight of the day, which can be as late as 3 AM on certain days (the airline operates 2-3 AM flights to New York JFK and Toronto). The lounge is open to all Oneworld business class passengers (of course including Cathay Pacific) and Sapphire members. First class passengers have access to a separate section of the lounge, though that section is notably not open to Oneworld Emerald members.
If you have a Lounge Pass (typically unlocked by earning a number of status points) you can use this lounge, though you can’t purchase a lounge pass to this lounge outright.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Location and Layout
Cathay Pacific’s The Bridge is located by gate 35, right where the trains between gates let out. This isn’t by the lounge complexes where the AMEX Centurion and Chase Sapphire lounges are, though you won’t miss the entrance – it’s the massive set of escalators right by the end of the long, straight hall that gates 23-35 are located, before the airport branches off into a “Y” shape.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Entrance Hong Kong
Once you get to the entrance, you’ll find the main lounge area, food hall, relaxation room and bar on one side, and the noodle bar, showers and The Nook on the other side.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Layout
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Seating and Atmosphere
Cathay Pacific’s The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong is 27,000 sq. ft, and partitioned into a few rooms. While my family didn’t describe to me what the shape of the room was, I remember it being a (very obtuse) V-shape of sorts, where it wraps around the airport’s curve towards gates 60-80.
The main area of the lounge looks stunning, and features Cathay Pacific’s signature Studiolise lounge design, which you’ll find at all of the airline’s lounges. My favourite thing about Cathay Pacific’s design is that the seating is thoughtfully chosen, and most of the seats look genuinely comfortable to sit in (this is in contrast to some other airline hub lounges – while I love Qatar Airways’ hub lounges, comfortable and well laid-out seating isn’t one of the reasons why).
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong Seating
There’s also restaurant-style seating, as well as bar seating that faces the tarmac.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong Seating
The lounge faces gate 60 directly, and my family even had a nice sunset view during their 7:30 PM visit to the lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong Tarmac Views
My detail-oriented mother would also like to point out that the carpet should’ve been vacuumed more before the lounge’s opening, though I doubt most travellers will be hugely bothered by this (this could also be early signs of wear and tear caused by roller bags, though I’m happy to assume the benefit of the doubt for now).
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong Carpet
There’s also an outside area, though it functions more as an overflow area, as the seats look neither comfortable nor as well laid-out.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong Outside Area
While my family didn’t visit over peak hour, I think the main lounging area seems much bigger and has much more seating than I’d have expected. I’d be curious to see how crowded the lounge gets closer to midnight/early in the morning, though it’s not a long walk to The Pier (which is much bigger, and will never be crowded) if so. I believe WiFi was also free, fast, and easy to connect to (or at least my family never complained).
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Noodle Bar
Much like Cathay Pacific’s other lounges, the airline features a signature Noodle Bar, with some upscale “cha chaan teng” style seating.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Noodle Bar
There’s also a small food spread next to the Noodle Bar with dim sum and some buns, though I’ll have to take a picture of those when I visit myself later this year. 😉
My favourite noodles at Cathay Pacific lounges are the dan dan noodles, though that wasn’t true of my sister Hailey – she ordered the wonton noodles, which she enjoyed. The only complaint I’ve heard is that they don’t have fish ball noodles, which my mother was craving (for the record, The Pier doesn’t serve these either).
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Wonton Noodles
Made-to-order noodles is always a highlight at Cathay Pacific lounges, and it’s no exception here. This isn’t the only made-to-order option at this specific Cathay Pacific lounge, though…
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge “The Nook”
At Cathay Pacific’s The Bridge lounge, they also pioneered a new concept, “The Nook”. Let me just comment that “nook” is such a frequent flyer term these days – I’ve never really heard the term used much outside of describing airline storage areas (Cathay Pacific economy/premium economy seats being no exception) and hidden crevices in airline lounges.
Anyway, I digress – The Nook is an area specially designed to highlight some regional Chinese small plates, and is a dedicated little bistro area.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge “The Nook”
You’ll be able to find small plates including spicy lamb bao, scallion pancake, barbecue pork rice roll, mashed cucumber with chilli and garlic (to anyone reading outside of Asia, these are delicious), and black sesame balls.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge The Nook Menu
I have no idea why there’s an onigiri on the plate below (I assume that’s from the food hall), though otherwise my dad ordered the spicy lamb bao and scallion pancake, which he said was really tasty.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge The Nook Food
What a creative way to use underutilised space, and it’s so great to see additional made-to-order options at this lounge.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Food Hall
Apart from the two areas of the lounge detailed above, there’s a more “generic” food hall with buffet-style dining. One thing I’ve appreciated about Cathay Pacific’s newer lounges is that there’s a “manned” food spread – even though the food itself is buffet style, it’s served to you by a staff member, and the food itself also seems a bit fresher (as there’s someone constantly there undergoing quality maintenance).
The area itself features proper restaurant-style dining.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge The Food Hall
On one side of the spread, there are some small bites and desserts, cakes, etc.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Food Hall Spread
On the other side, there are a limited number of hot options, though they all looked fairly high-quality.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Food Hall Menu
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Food Hall Hot Options
You won’t go hungry at The Bridge, and I’d say that it’s every bit as good as The Pier when it comes to dining options.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Bar
To round off food and beverage options at this lounge, Cathay Pacific’s The Bridge features The Bar. Back at the old The Bridge lounge, the Long Bar was featured here, which is a long bar (I wanted to say it was the longest airport lounge bar in the world, though I think that belongs to Swiss’ lounge at Zurich Terminal A – or has that been done away with after the lounge was renovated…?). I don’t think the bar carries the Long Bar marketing anymore, though it still takes up the same space as the old lounge did, near the far right of the lounge (when looking at the entrance).
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Bar
I’m a fan of how many drinks are available here, and I’d guess that they can whip up anything you want them to as well.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Bar Menu
My sister just turned 18, so she’s taken the picture below. I have no idea what’s in the glasses – it could be Sprite, water, lemonade, lemon lime ginger bitters, straight tequila, etc.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Bar – ??
My family was collectively most impressed by the coffee. Wow, the barista coffee coming out of this lounge is stunning. My mom knows her coffee, and said that this was the best airport lounge coffee she’s had in a while. She didn’t sleep on her Finnair flight, and after reviewing the pictures to write this post, I think I know why.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Coffee – wow!
There are also soft drinks and machine-made coffee available at this lounge – the only time you should ever use this is if there’s a power outage or strike and the bar isn’t working, as the other options available to you at this lounge are so much better.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Drinks Spread
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Relaxation Room
There’s also a relaxation lounge available at this lounge. This features the airline’s signature Solo chairs available at most of their lounges, which I generally find to be extremely comfortable and well-padded. These are high-backed chairs designed for working in privacy.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Relaxation Room
It’s worth noting that this lounge doesn’t have nap rooms, so you’re going to have to do the 10-minute walk over to The Pier if you’re in need of an actual daybed.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Showers
My family was originating from Hong Kong so nobody needed a shower, though I still sent my dad to ask if he could take a picture of one of the shower rooms. The showers are hidden past The Nook, though there’s signage throughout the lounge pointing you there.
By the entrance of the shower, you’ll find some flavoured water.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Shower Entrance
I don’t think the lounge’s nine shower suites have actually been renovated since their The Bridge days, though they still look well kempt, and there’s a rainforest shower option as well.
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Shower Suites
Conclusion: Cathay Pacific’s New “The Bridge” Lounge @ HKG
When I initially wrote about The Bridge’s reopening, I mentioned that I still thought The Pier would be the best option for a vast majority of travellers. I will say that after my family reported back on the lounge, I’m not sure anymore. The Pier still has a few features that make the lounge unique, such as a tea bar and nap rooms, The Bridge also has unique features, such as The Nook. From seating to made-to-order food and excellent beverages, to shower rooms and other lounge facilities, everything seems thoughtful and well-executed. When put together, Cathay Pacific has a powerhouse ground experience offering for business class passengers at Hong Kong Airport, and they’re definitely at the top of the competition for the world’s best business class lounges.
I can’t wait to visit myself, and will update this review when I do (though given how comprehensive my family’s pictures are, I’m not sure if I have to – thanks Mom, Dad and Hailey!). When I head back to Hong Kong later this year, I’m hoping to update my review of The Pier as well, as it’s really been a while since I’ve last reviewed that lounge (almost 10 years – wow!).
If you’ve been to The Bridge after it reopened, how was your experience?