Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge Beijing (PEK)

The Cathay Pacific Lounge in Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) is full of natural light, comfortable furniture, and offers far better internet speeds than the tepid airport network.

I had a bit of trouble finding the lounge: the signs kept leading me in circles. Eventually I found it by Gate E21 (in Terminal 3E). The lounge is open daily from 12:30 AM to 3:00 AM and again from 5:30 AM until the last Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon flight departs. Access requirements here.

Let’s start with internet. It’s not that the lounge has lightning fast wi-fi as if you were in Hong Kong or Taipei. But I was thankful that the password-protected network was stable and far more functional than the airport network. As always, you’ll need to scan your passport to retrieve unique login credentials from a machine in the lounge. Big Brother is always watching…

I had just eaten a large breakfast a the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport and was bracing for a nice meal onboard my flight to Hong Kong, so I did not eat anything during my stay. But that did not stop me from noticing the spread, which included noodles, rice, beef, chicken, soup, congee, danish, and croissants. Drinks included water, juice, coffee, tea, and alcohol.

I had a bottle of water and cappuccino while I was working. The coffee is not recommended, but bearable in a pinch.

I was in the lounge from about noon to 1:00PM and it never became crowded. In fact, most of the lounge remained empty. Chairs are comfortable and seating abounds. Most seats have power outlets nearby. A number of tables and computer workstations are available too, along with magazines.

Restrooms, at least the male ones, were not very clean…and no prior occupants ever learned to put the seat down…

CONCLUSION

This lounge has nothing on any of the Cathay Pacific lounges in Hong Kong. But it’s still one of the nicer lounges in PEK and a far better place to wait for your flight than the gate area.