The FIRST CLASS Lounge in Nanning Airport, China. It was a contract lounge and we used PP to enter. But calling themselves FIRST CLASS, we kind had higher expectations. After all, in China, when you stay at their First Class (5 star) hotels, they typically weren't too shabby. Pre-COVID, my wife and I used to take short trips to China (we live in Singapore) to enjoy their 5 star hotels.

Here is a video of the FIRST CLASS lounge at Nanning Airport.

A Chinese "5-star," or an international chain in China 5-star?

The former consists of a giant faux-marble ball constantly rolling in water (as if to say, keep that money rolling in), a horse statue, concrete mattresses, forlorn staircases -- often with cigarette butts strewed about, and ... actually decent service.

The latter, much the same, but slightly less tacky, and more benefits for frequent guests.

As for Chinese airport lounges, they always have those awful rice-krispie wannabe snacks, rarely any water, and almost always sugar juice flavored with orange liquid. Generally crappy places to be, although one exception in my mind was an Air China one at PVG, where the food was edible for once.

Chinese five-star hotels are generally the equivalent of 2-3 stars internationally. I've seen ratings up to nine stars in some places.

So here's the question for you. Did you provide feedback to PP? Nothing is going to change without feedback (as unlikely as it is). If they get enough commentary from their membership, then they might change lounges or encourage the existing lounge to improve...

It appears Priority Pass will accept any lounge that wants to use their network to monetize spare capacity. It would be interesting to know if they have minimum standards, internal quality ratings, and if these affect financial compensation for visits.

Considering they lost so many lounges "recently", I would assume not likely. The loss would leave a big gaping hole in their network.

That said, I do know the contract chinese lounges generally leave much to be desired. I haven't been to many, but from what I have seen, it's not really worth it to head into one, might as well stay in the general airside area and save some cash/passes.

Me thinks eight stars would be the highest rating;)

True, however noone ever said ego wasn't a factor. There will always be someone who wants to one up the rest.

I think my bottom two would be either the generic lounge in Abuja, Nigeria (my favorite thing about this one is when the new Chinese-built terminal was opened, all they did was move the same old mismatched furniture over to the new building), or the lounge in Clark, Philippines, on Luzon. Just a row of chairs facing the gate area. I recall pre-packaged snacks, but that's about it (photo is Clark)...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5dd3b2b548.jpg

The bottom of the bottom have been some government VIP lounges in some less developed countries. A consequence of how the lounges are used without proper management oversight and as a resting place by employees working at the airports, and understandably just not being a budget priority.

This looks like Stuttgart….sad place.

Technically the Alfursan lounge in Jeddah is the saddest lounge I've visited, but only because it's the only lounge I've ever visited. I'm more a find an unused power socket and watch Netflix kind of person. So, it's also the best lounge I've ever visited.

I had a look at this thread to wonder how the Alfursan lounge compared, and it is orders of magnitude better than anything I've seen described here. I may be lucky.

I would be more likely to use lounges if they provided vegan food. But, when I've researched, they don't really.

These photos of British Airways First Class Lounge in Seattle are pretty old (circa. 2010) and hopefully it has improved since but not very much, if at all, according to a recent review I have found.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ce98d5c39.jpeg


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c4e2c93bd.jpeg

Was never a fan of the Cairo lounges. Wouldn't trust the food there.

My award goes to the Plaza Premium domestic lounge in Terminal 2, New Delhi (DEL) recently. Not only was there a line outside, but the inside was like being in an elevator, and the only offerings were a cardboard box (due to Covid) containing a carton of flavored water and an indeterminate sandwhich. Sorry, I didn't think to take a photo through the window (I didn't go inside).

On the other hand, there were numerous stands throughout the terminal offering to sign you up for a credit card which included lounge access - perhaps that is related ?

The secret there is to go in the kitchen and have the staff come out and make you fresh food. You know, like they are supposed to, but they always hide away.

That and don’t take the months expired drinks from the fridge, ask for non expired ones that the staff regularly stash away and take home along with the food.

You want something, have to ask for it.

If your CA ticket is messed how they will call however many internal numbers it takes and curse, yell from the top of their lungs for an hour plus nonstop until your ticket is fixed. So there is that - good customer service (Chinese style), literally no matter what it takes and extremely persistent.

The smoking, though, that’s annoying and hard to get away from.