After so many years flying the most aspirational first class products and visiting the best first class lounges, I finally found the opportunity to visit a new one in Hong Kong…and instantly fell in love.
Last time I flew Cathay Pacific First Class I spent my Hong Kong layover in The Wing, which is a beautiful first class lounge. This time, however, I headed for The Pier…and found it to be even better. In fact, I’d rate it as one of the best first class lounges I have ever been in.
What made it so great?
Beautiful design – I love the colors, furniture, and style of this modern lounge. Some may say it is past its prime, but I view it like the Park Hyatt Tokyo – modern, yet always classic.
A la carte dining – The key to any first class lounge is a nice a la carte dining menu. It is my understanding the menu is nowhere near what it once was, but I enjoyed a superb plate of pasta and cheeseburger (I ordered the latter for an upcoming post comparing hamburgers in lounges).
Great coffee and other drinks – I began with a Mai Tai (the bartender, Ms. Zepho, and I had a great laugh about what to put in it) before dinner and concluded with a tremendous cappuccino after.
Sleeping rooms – while not as elaborate as the cabanas in The Wing, little private rest areas would have been perfect had I needed to stay longer.
Massage – complimentary massage (10 minutes – neck and shoulders or feet) was greatly appreciated and something that even the Lufthansa First Class Terminal does not offer on a complimentary basis to first class passengers.
Excellent service – the staff was excellent. I’ll again single out Ms. Zepho, but every staff encounter was pleasant.
CONCLUSION
Whether The Pier or The Wing is the better lounge is a matter of personal taste. But as for me, I’ll head directly to The Pier next time. I loved it.
@ Matthew — The Pier is vastly superior to The Wing. Tine for CX to update The Wing.
The Pier is the best.
You ordered a burger with all the great choices?.You missed big time on Asian food.The picture of this sorry burger does not help the good image of the lounge…
The burger was amazing and as explained, is for an upcoming cheeseburger post. But I’ll stipulate I probably missed out on some good Asian dishes, even as the menu has been cut back.
Welcome to the club!!! Where have you been???
Lol, seriously it is a tremendous lounge, recent catering changes notwithstanding.
Seriously. I cannot believe it took me so long to visit this lounge.
Similar to Cathay biz lounge at heathrow (which I love)
Matthew, another big fan to The Pier Lounge here. My wife and I had a seven hour layover there a couple years back. Fantastic space, and you couldn’t be more correct about the design aesthetic. Still one of my favorite breakfast was there – baked eggs.
I love the Pier, but I’m not crazy about the limited bar supplies (i.e., liquor and liqueurs) and the fact that the a la carte and cocktails menus haven’t changed like, ever. Yeah, I know: first world problem!
Intentionally booked 19 hour layovers here just for the pleasure. As alluded to previously catering is less prestigious as before but still fine in comparison to many others.
So less premium drinks and food as before, but atmosphere still the best. Wish their airport wasn’t so big, as it can be quite a walk.
It was a terrible walk from my PEK gate!
I love that you continue to note AWESOME airline employees, and that we always seem to agree on the awesome, exceptional note-worthy employees in our travels. Ms. Zepho is AWESOME and always extremely friendly, even if she is a contract and not a Cathay Pacific employee. I’m jealous that you actually were able to book a massage appointment at the lounge. Out of the many Pier visits this year, the waiting list has always been 4+ hours for a massage for me 🙁
The a la carte food dining and service has been significantly downgraded from what it once was, though the burger is still reliable.
I do love the Cabanas in the Wing, and have had good success booking those as opposed to the horrid wait list at the Pier, though I do love the classy, classic environment at the Pier more.
Overall, here’s hoping Cathay returns to up their First Class ground game to truly make it compete with the best airlines in the world.
I can’t wait to return to the Pier next month on my next HKG layover!
What took so long? This is #1 for me purely based on design alone. It was designed by Ilse Crawford. Look her up!
Will do!
Your cheeseburger is missing something.
Also, do the sleeping rooms have blackout curtains?
The cheese is under the patty. 😉
No blackout curtains.
First class hardware maybe, third class software sadly…..the services in the bar & dining area is way below standard.
That wasn’t my experience, but I was only there for a couple hours.
Check out the “Abstract: Art of Design” episode about Ilse Crawford. They touch on her design work for Cathay Pacific a bit.
Will do!