Start from the beginning. Left my home in heavy rain and drove 1.5 hours to PHL. Wasn't worry because I know my flight will be delayed, sure enough it was. Luckily, they put me on a previous flight that was suppose to take off 3 hours later but delayed till now, and I literally got on the plane in 20 minutes. (Sidenote: PHL Admiral's Club is OUTSIDE of security area, didn't realized this until I entered, urgh.)

Arrived at ORD (earlier than original schedule no less). Very pleasant surprised that it's very easy through and through (maybe it's 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning.) Walk up aisle H and found Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Figure what the heck, CX probably isn't open up yet (I'm already checked through in PHL, will elaborate more on this.) So ate a ripped off 6 oz. Steak dish for $25 USD, killed one hour eating and browsing the net.

Afterwards, took the ATS to Terminal 5, again no problem, very easy. Got off and found CX to the right. It's 11:55 a.m. and already there are 50+ people waiting in line (mostly Vietnamese), luckily no one in the First Class line. Asked a CX guy what time will they start checking, 12 p.m., great, 5 minutes. Waited at First Class line.

CX has a total of eight counters, and they are located right between Swiss Air and Air France/KLM. 2 self-service, 1 First, 2 Biz, 3 Econ. One of the self-service counter is next to First, and actually got served by her (she was ready first and waved for me.)

I asked her to give me the Swiss lounge and Arrival lounge invitations, and then I asked if there are empty rows to assign me to. She gave me the invitations but warned me that although she can assigned me to empty rows, it's likely to be filled later and advise me to stay at my exit row seat, so I did. Overall, the entire service was overly friendly and she was very chatty.

A sidenote, she told me "have fun in TPE there's a surprise waiting for you there" but I wasn't going to TPE so I asked what's that about. She got confused and called for her supervisor. He came and checked the screen and told me to wait as he needed to go confirm something. Of course I chatted up the gate agent and got her to say to me what does it say on the screen, and she said, "there's a note that says 'upgrade, HKG to TPE', that is why I thought you were going to TPE." Anyway, the supervisor came back and said to me "have a nice day Mr. X, all is set." Oh well, no op-up as I know the plane is not full anyway so wasn't expecting anyway.

Went through security, ok, this is the WORST. There are two lines: First/Business and Economy. There is literally nobody at First/Business the entire time I'm lining up (a good 20 minutes), however, the Economy line is real slow. The TSA guys are busy chatting and I don't know what happened (maybe first time flying?) but the people in front of me are afraid to do anything without the TSA agents approving. They waited their belongings until the agent said it's ok to put on the belt, waited at the metal detectors and the TSA agents are chatting and didn't even tell them to walk through, finally the TSA agent impatiently told the people "come on, come on", and it may not sound like much but each person took at least a good 2-3 minutes to clear, and there's only 7 in front of me but it took 20 minutes to be my turn. This is suppose to be a "light day", I hate to see the Economy security line at Terminal 5 on a busy day....

Entered the Swiss Lounge. To the left is First Class and to the right is Business Class. All I can say is that it is very clean, nothing else. Two 4-chair soft set with a table in the middle, Three 2-chair dining tables. A couple came in, same it, and went to Business Class side instead. I don't blame them. Only fruits and salads were served at first. 30 minutes later they bought out Chicken Piccata, Garlic Roasted Vegetables, and Ragatori Marinara (there is a sign for Beef Wellington, but it never came out as I am typing...)

No bathroom on First Class side so have to go to Business Class. There it is a bit bigger, but not much more to offer.

I was lured here by the triple miles offered, but will I come back? Well, from now till November I will. But it will depend on the security line, experience coming back (clearing customs, transfer baggage, making connection in 2 hours), etc. But, so far so good.