QRC3288

Haha, or what? I just fail to see what happens if they don't have an arrivals lounge now. To me The Arrival was basically already a nothing....shower waits could legitimately be an hour and a half during the morning arrival bank! While The Arrival being open on paper may be a box to check for the blogs or folks with more time on their hands, in practice CX didn't have one, in my mind, for years. I can guarantee most travelers looking for utility out of that lounge don't have that kind of time to spare. What I'm saying is: the lounge was long gone years ago. Closing it was just a formality on probably the sorriest CX operated lounge in the entire CX system. It's a bummer for leisure travelers I think.

I guess my age is starting to show. But I remember when The Arrival opened 10 or so years ago. Access was rather restrictive: F Class, CX Diamond, CX Gold or OWE. As I write this out, here was a nice benefit to becoming GO.

Later, (5 years ago?) CX extended access to all J class, meanwhile CX was midway through a massive longhaul / midhaul capacity expansion around that time which continues through today. This loosening of the access rules and concurrent capacity growth swamped the lounge.

To put some perspective on CXs growth since then, MXP - in my mind, a CX city that has been around forever - was launched in the era The Arrival opened! Plus countless other more-recent LH/MH destinations and frequencies, the bulk of which land early morning. Yet despite an eventual onslaught of users multiples above the initial user base, the lounge interior was never updated or expanded. Off the top of my head, CX added morning arrivals from MAD, MAN, LGW, BCN, MXP, ZRH, SFO, BOS, EWR, JFK (CX845 launched right around the time the lounge opened), BRU, HYD, TLV, MLE, CMB, IAD, CHC, CPT and probably many others. SEA is on the way soon. Sure some were cancelled (lol, some launched and already cancelled, like CPH and DUS), but the overall trend is massively up. To say nothing of the regional routes. All this occurred with the same ole 5 showers, a couple couches, a couple barstools, and a few desks with computers. Zero capacity expansion.

What I'm trying to say is the lounge became pointless a long time ago. Not just when they closed it. Except maybe for passengers storing luggage there as they left the airport premises to visit Hong Kong. And this aspect always amused me, because it was a repeated violation of HKIA security protocol! That lounge was never approved as a facility for unattended luggage storage; and it lacks the proper equipment and very specs required by the airport's own protocol when they build their own, more secure stored luggage facility (the paid one). Those specs required scanning equipment prior to storage, secure lockers, and locking devices that can safely assure nobody unauthorized can access the bags prior to the customer's retrieval.



It's a good idea, but I think PP is also closing due to the airport construction?