Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - The Wing Lounge: First class vs Business class

On my recent trip HKG-LAX, I travelled with a colleague with whom I accompanied to the First class lounge.

This was the first time I had been there, and I have to say I was dissappointed. The lounge area itself was crowded and small, and had a claustrophobic feeling. There was no bar area, and the ambience of the Long Bar at both the Wing and the Pier was much preferable.

I have found that I have always been able to find a quiet spot to sit and read and relax in the Business lounge, but in the First lounge, there was hardly any area that was isolated.

Admittedly, the dining area in First lounge was better than the Business lounge, and I didn't get to try the "Cabanas" shower area, but overall the First class lounge didn't have the "wow" factor I expected.

Actually, I am in the First Class lounge a lot, and the library is always EMPTY. Surely the library would be an excellent and quiet spot for your reading?

And the Cabanas are really worth trying out, if you ask me.

I enjoy the Haven immensely as well, but I do admit that the lounge areas are a bit crowded at peak hours. :)

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It really depends what you are looking for. F section emphasizes more personalized service (i.e. coat check, luggage check, drinks and meal waiter service). That said, if you happen to be at the Wing at around 10PM and the majority of the long haul flights leaving at the 20's or below gates, you may experience a crowding. Lately CX has been moving the SFO, LAX, and YVR departures to the 60's, so that the crowds are better managed/separated in the two lounges.

Agree that the Library is a nice and quiet place that's often empty......I usually hang out in the Library if I find the "main lounge" too crowded or loud (when I was there 2 weeks ago an Italian gentleman was shouting in his cell phone, but later had the senses to move towards the railings......)

In terms of F&B, at the F side you get a nice little dinner in the evening, including carving station and nice desserts. At the J side all you get is the noodle bar and a few hot selections......If you like noodles, you can always have the waiters bring you a bowl from the J side (remember, this IS the F lounge, so if you WANT something, just ASK FOR IT). All in all, the F side is substantially better than the J side – perhaps not in infrastructure, but in terms of service, it’s light years ahead…..

Of interest is that the Champagne in the F lounge is identical to the one served in the J side (Moet Brut Imperial). Other lounges, like BA in LHR, serves prestige cuvees in the F lounge.

Finally, isn’t it the sole purpose of FT for the lesser-informed to learn from the better-informed and more often traveled? I would think those who frequent the F lounge a lot would be the ones that are more suitable for answering the OP’s questions? I consider myself a rather frequent visitor of the F lounges in HKG, and therefore present my experiences here. At the same time, the questioning parties may be offered the opportunity to learn from our experiences. Similarly, I often browse through FT in search of others’ experiences in matters that I am not familiar with, from which I can humbly learn…..

Happy travels.

I agree with skye. For me, the Cavanas and the Heaven are the reasons to visit the F section.

In addition, weather permitting, you can have a beautiful, maybe a bit hazy, view of the sunset from the Wing. But I know this is not perhaps limited to the F section.

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As for the Lounge. According to my visit last time I really enjoyed the Cabana, but as people here menitoned, they have removed the fridge. The Haven has a good selection of food, but none of the ones they said in the MPO magazine (Char Siu, Yeung Chow Chau Fan etc...) Materialise. However this lounge is light years better than any other One World Lounge. (Except maybe the BA F Lounge @ JFK which serves more gourmet food).

The library is indeed a good place to relax as when I was there (from 6am-2pm) virtually I was the only person there.

Also for anyone who want to get out of the airport during their transit, the procedures are as follows:
1) goto the Lounge reception (for F, just goto the counter outside The Haven) and ask them to give you a special slip.
2) The slip basically said you don't have a BP for the onward connection and need to get out to compelte boarding process.
3) Then go back to the Transit point you used in getting to the lounge (Use the life near the Burger King and go down 1 level)
4) Just walk through the security check point and show the guard the slip of paper (WARNING: remember to hide your BP, the Wing Lounge Agent told me not to show it to them otherwise they might refuse to let you out)
5) just join the normal immigration flow and exit accordingly.

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This thread seems to suddenly read much better and is on topic. What more could we ask of our members and enjoyment on FlyerTalk. I agree with opinions of jkc22 regarding this lounge, but i disagree with all the comments not here any more.

Guys, guys, this is Flyertalk not InsultTalk. At the rate we're going, the CX forum would be shut down. All these useless, off-topic pissing contests, and the 3 page of replies to someones question, but all of them were telling him to use the search engine, come on CXers, let's clean up our act, and give Randy a better time as Temporary Moderator of CX board.