Lounges.... Cathay Pacific at HKG

Forgive the belated entry on this... but I somehow overlooked a lounge that is definitely worth writing home about...

When it comes to lounges, Cathay gets it...

When I arrived into HKG, I'd been on a plane for 12 hours.

First things first... I was hungry. Sure, there was food on my British Airways flight from LHR, but my body clock somehow figured it was afternoon, so I needed dinner...

Fortunately, Cathay gets it. There's a Noodle Bar available with pot stickers, breads, finger sandwiches, and of course, four different options for noodles which are made to order.

In addition, they had an excellently provisioned MANNED bar, and as probably only I would appreciate, fountain soda (the first I'd seen in over a week!). Wide selection of both English and Chinese newspapers and magazines, and free wi-fi. It's just about everything you could want from a lounge.

Second things second... after spending all day in London, leaving about 2200 then spending another 12 hours on an aircraft, I really needed a shower...

Again, Cathay gets it. Well appointed individual shower rooms, and if you need anythng like toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc., there's an attendant available to provide you with any toiletries you might not have been able to carry with you. And let me tell you... the gravity shower was quite relaxing... It was so good I'm thinking of putting one of these in when we remodel the bathroom in my house next year....

At HKG, there are two lounges -- one near Gate 2 (The Wing) and Gate 66 (The Pier). I started out in the Wing, and then found out my flight was posted for Gate 68, and moved to The Pier. Both are equally good although The Pier seemed to be a little more beat up than The Wing was.

Did I mention Cathay gets it?

Lounges ... SYD Qantas Club

The last in a multi-part series... at least for a couple months. My traveling for the quarter is now over, thankfully, and so is my evaluation of airline lounges...

The last leg of my month on the road was the Qantas Club in Sydney, Australia.

Perhaps I was just tired of looking at clubs by this point, but honestly, I was underwhelmed. You'd think would be a flagship location (no pun intended against oneworld partner AA...) given that SYD is the largest operation for QF.

The floorspace was a little larger than what QF had at AKL and MEL, but it was quite narrow, being on the upper level of the departures hall. As in the MEL and AKL clubs, they had ample PC's to work from, and free wi-fi for those who wanted to use their own laptops. Fortunately, VPN worked great via the Telstra connection (which was not the case in AKL).

Food choices were still better than an Admirals Club back home -- a cold table with some fruit and pasta salads, ham, bread rolls, and a well stocked self-service bar. They had fountain soda with a choice of six Coke products, and three Aussie beers on draft in addition to several selections in bottles. Fountain and draft are a little more green than having recyclable single containers, but frankly, it didn't leave much of a choice with regard to soft drinks.

Interestingly, no Vegemite to be found anywhere, however I was there during the early afternoon, so perhaps it was already locked away in the safe, being a high value item and all. Too bad -- the Queen was with me, and I was hoping to sneak her a taste of that lovely stuff.

The upside to SYD over the AKL and MEL clubs was clearly the view -- ample windows overlooking the tarmac allow you to watch planes come and go, and have some idea of what time of day it is, but that was about it.

Lounges.... Admirals Club - LAX

This is by far one of my favorite clubs... of course, my opinion is biased, since I'm a member, right??

First, the floor to ceiling windows overlooks one of the best views available -- the alley between AA's terminal and the Bradley terminal. There's nothing quite as enjoyable as sipping a Diet Coke while watching a QF 747 load next to an Eva 777-300ER...

Second, it's in LAX, which is quickly becoming my preferred international gateway... Don't get me wrong -- I like going thru ORD, and am really looking forward to the prospect of finally being able to connect to LHR via DFW, but LAX is a better place to depart and arrive. If nothing else, there's rarely ever any ATC or weather to contend with...

The variety of snacks was also better here than in other locations. Cheese, crackers, finger sandwiches, cookies, and my favorite, Salty Death Mix.

Free wi-fi is nice, and so are the showers. Kids room? Great idea! They've also got one in the new DFW lounge, so it wasn't a matter of simply converting the former smoking lounge into a game room. The alternative is what I've experienced in Chicago -- kids running all over... Far better to keep them in a closed-in space. And did I mention Salty Death Mix? (named as such because it has about a gazillion grams of sodium and no nutritional value whatsoever... yet I still eat it by the cupfull...)

I'd been a freeloader with the Admirals Club up until last month. Since most of my travel was on full fare business class tickets, admittance to the Club was included.

But when AA announced free wifi, they only provided it to paid members, so I finally bit the bullet and bought a membership. And yes, I confirmed tonight... only one wifi connection can be made per membership number in the same location. So... my guest and spouse weren't able to connect using my number unless I was logged off...

The only downside to the Admirals Club vs. other lounges? Not much. I don't drink much, and rarely do before getting on an aircraft. Being able to get a couple dozen Diet Cokes is usually good enough to me. But the Admirals Club has a cash bar for beer, wine, and cocktails, so if you like to imbibe, your money might be better spent with the Crown Room or another club who has an open bar.

Lounges.... Qantas Club in AKL and MEL

In AKL, the Qantas Club is located airside on the upper level, next to ANZ's club. Somewhat off the beaten path, but it's also quite busy, given that QF is the second largest carrier at AKL and probably the largest at MEL. In MEL, the club was a little more difficult to find -- it was on the jetway level of the airport, which is one level below the general hold rooms and shopping arcade.

My first impression was that it was very much like an Admirals club, but without all the dark furniture. Nice features included a self-serve bar (including hard liquor), and a cold table with various fruit juices, fruit salad, and yogurt. Pretty good selection of breakfast breads and jams as well. During the lunch hours, they had soup and some cold cuts.

Vegemite was proudly displayed, but I can't say that barley paste looks all too inviting. Still, I had to try it just because it was there... I only took a taste, and it was almost like spreadable soy sauce... I can't imagine why it hasn't caught on elsewhere, but don't expect me to ever buy it or try it again.

Boarding announcements were made in AKL, but were just a little too lengthy and frequent, almost to the point of being a distraction. MEL seemed to be a little more brief.

Free wifi was available, but in AKL, they had it locked down too tightly for my Gmail to be able to download to Thunderbird, and it also blocked VPN connections. Thankfully, both Gmail and my work email have web clients, but it was a bit of a nuisciance as I wanted to upload some photos to the web server and couldn't... At MEL, ports weren't a problem, but the connection was horribly slow. Painfully. Slow.

Overall, a very nice place to wait, which is just about all I really look for in a club.

Interestingly, Emirates also had a club in MEL. They operate three or four flights a day into AKL (one each to MEL, SYD, and BNE, all of which wind up in DXB).

Lounges.... DL's Crown Room - MUC

Just got back from Munich, and flew BA on the way back to London. I was a little surprised at check-on when BA didn't direct me to a third party club at the airport, but instead to the DL Crown Room... Now, very little about Delta surprises me anymore, but why on earth would Delta need a club in Munich, when they only have one flight a day? Granted, there are plenty of Skyteam flights at MUC, but it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Regardless, the usual open bar was present (this is a feature of the stateside clubs as well), but there wasn't a whole lot of style to the decor. They had seating for about 45, but there was no view whatsoever. T-Mobile was available for fee-based wifi (contrary to what the domestic clubs offer), but they did have a couple of PC's available for use in the very back.

Food selections were dismal. Virtually everything was prepackaged, with the exception of some breadrolls and some olives. There was a good selection of mini Bonbels and spreadable "Laughing Cow" style cheese and sausage thingees, but nothing to spread them with. That was a little messy...

If nothing else, it was a place to wait for my flight in relative peace. But if this is indeed representitive of the domestic CR's, it's nowhere near worth the money just for a free Jack Daniels before you fly...

Lounges... BA's Terminal 1 & Madrid

This week I had the chance to spend a few hours in BA's T-1 lounge for what will probably be the last time. BA's new terminal opens up next month, and most of what's in T-1 today will eventually move to other terminals, so I can only assume the lounge pavillion will also close or be scaled back considerably.

Personally, I find LHR's terminals 1, 2 & 3 to be about as attractive as a tube station (without the urine smell, however).

The exceptions to that are the various shopping areas and the private airline clubs.

The Terraces lounge in T-1 is pretty slick as my lounges experiences go. Lots of small finger foods & fruit at stations scattered about the lounge area, several different "theme" areas (a quiet zone, TV zones, and a quasi meeting zone with larger round tables) plus a central serving station with a self-service bar and a cold table with yogurt & fruit in the mornings, and various salads and lunch meats in the afternoon (I got there just as they were switching over). Wifi is pay (Boingo works), but they do have a half dozen or so free terminals where you can use MS Office and a web browser. Only downside is that you can't plug in a USB drive, so if you don't have your docs available via the web, there's no way to do anything in Word or Excel...

IB's lounge in MAD is spacious, but they're pretty stingy with the food... bags of peanuts and chips, a few pre-packaged muffins & cookies. Nothing fresh, and no fruit. Wifi is pay (again, Boingo works), but they do have wired connections available for free (leave your BP with the desk for a deposit on the ethernet cable). That's the only lounge I've found so far that has such a provision.

Time to go jump on a flight...