Shaun Ferguson

Hi all,

I am lucky enough to be flying back from HKG next month on BA's 777 to LHR in First Class. However, I have a few questions I'm hoping to be answered:

• I'm checking out of my hotel, but my flight is not until 23.45. Can I use the in-city check-in for my luggage and how does this work from my Kowloon hotel?
• If I'm checked-in and use the above service, can I get to the airport around 6pm and use my boarding pass to clear security early?
• Which lounge(s) is/ are the best to use?

Thanks in advance

Shaun

Cymro

1. Pass - I avoid checked bags.
2. Yes.
3. Cathay's The Pier First as you have a long time to settle down and enjoy. Just be aware that it's at gate 63 and BA's flights generally go from gate 15ish so it's a brisk 10-minute walk at least.

tinkicker

In town check in is really easy. The hotel will probably have a free shuttle to the Kowloon station. So check out and take that to the station. Head for in-town check in and to get through the turnstile to the desks you need an airport express train ticket (or octopus with enough credit). You will be charged the Airport Express fee at that point. You don't actually have to take the airport express but you will be charged as if you did.

So drop your bags either in HK station or Kowloon at a time to suit you , collect your boarding pass and drift on out to the airport when you like.

Your will find a lot of information on the HK lounges on the Cathay Pacific board on here. For F I'd suggest going to the CX Pier for a while then head back to the Qantas lounge shortly before boarding as the BA flight departs from the gate immediately below Qantas lounge.

BobServant

flatlander

You can take the MTR transit bus from most larger hotels (and just go to the nearby larger hotel from your smaller hotel if needed) to the MTR downtown (Central) or Kowloon. It's free. You can then checkin at the city checkin and go about your business until it's time to go to the airport. Charging works as above, by the time you have checked in you have an airport express ticket also. You can then go out and use the MTR to get about the city until you return and catch the airport express.

It truly is a civilised way to travel. For City to Airport travel with bags, HK has it sorted.

andym4

We did exactly this late last year.
In town check in at 1030 ish. You'll need to buy a ticket for each passenger to access the check-in zone at the station. Drop bags but no need to travel on the train.
Back to the hotel for a late checkout then to the airport with hand luggage only.
Lots of OW lounges to check out. Pier and the Wing are both amazing with the pier having a dining experience.
You can lounge crawl, collect stamps on your boarding cards and still make it back to the Qantas lounge before take off.
Enjoy!

DeathSlam

So many good places to eat in HK. I'm not a massively regular traveller but have been to HK three times in the last few years. The lounges in the airport are good (Pier F about as good as it gets) but not as good as what the island itself has to offer.
Why not take your luggage to a nice restaurant (or hotel with a nice restaurant) eat a nice dinner and then get a Red cab straight to the airport later on?
It might seem weird but I haven't had a problem with it and it saves messing about earlier in the day.

sxc

JeffD

I just made the trip to LHR on VS on Tuesday evening in J with my wife and 2 adult kids. Our flight was at 23:55. As we were staying at the Ritz Carlton which is on top of Kowloon Station so using the Airport Express train round trip was a no brainier. Here are a few tips once you get to Kowloon station:

You can buy one way tickets using the machines which are usually HK$115. However, if you are a group of 2 or more people you can get discounted tickets if you by them at the service desk instead. The more people in your party (up to 4) the bigger the discount. For 4 people it was HKD$62.5 per person You can purchase the discounted tickets any time for use that day, but they must be purchased at the customer service desk. They are not available via the ticket machines.

Most airlines allow check-in (with our without baggage) at Kowloon station, but you must do so at least 90-120 minutes prior to scheduled departure. You can check the MTR website for a complete list of airlines (MTR > In-Town Check-In Counters Information). You get your boarding pass when you check-in at the train station.

In order go get into the check-in area you need your train ticket. The fare is deducted when you enter the check-in area, but you do not have to take the train immediately after you check-in. You use your ticket again to enter the train area so you still need your ticket, but no additional fare is required so long as it is prior to midnight the same day. Thus, if you want to check your bags earlier in the day and take a later train you can. We checked-in (with bags) at approximately 20;00 and were at the airport before 21:00. Since we already had our boarding passes we went directly to security. The whole process was very easy and convenient.

As far as lounges, VS used the Plaza Premium lounge which was decent. There were Amex Centurion and Priority Pass lounges nearby, but we didn't visit them. No idea about BA lounges.

mmxbreaks

BA uses Qantas lounge which is right above the departure gate (15). It's OK, but not worth getting there extra early.

If, however, you have oneworld status that permits access to First lounges, then you have options.

If gold/emerald:
The Pier at gate 63 is one of the best in the world. Proper sit down a la carte. I think they even have a library in here somewhere. It's a huge and varied lounge beneath the walking level, quite inconspicuous. However it's a long walk back to the flight, so you'd have to be there early if you want to use this. Add 20mins.
The Wing at gate 4 had better food than Qantas, sit down dining, plus the walk to the flight isn't too long. Add 10mins.

If silver/sapphire: there's The Wing and The Bridge, gate 4 and gate 35 respectively, but they're not any more exciting than the Qantas offering, really. If you end up with several hours before the flight then you could lounge tour for fun. If not, stick with Qantas for ease.

Enjoy!

PS. See if you can move your flight to the one 10mins different, as it's the A380 and a far better F experience IMO.

dodgeflyer

There is a also the Pier J lounge by gate 65. And you can access any of these lounges as long as you have a valid ticket, which he does, so can use either wing or pier f lounges. It is not card dependent.

sxc

If you are judging best in the world based on the catering, this is no longer the case. Even the concorde room dishes look better than the new dishes in post-sodexo CX First Class. Personally I still think QF lounge in SYD / MEL has the best catering for oneworld lounges.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...-sodexo-8.html

The sentiment amongst the Cathay forum is that while the QF HKG lounge catering might not be varied, the quality and healthiness is much better.

Shaun Ferguson

Wowsa - you all are so informative and kind!

Thanks to everyone for their reply.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

There is also the CX "The Deck" which is close to gate 16 ( used to be the G16 lounge) (Business lounge)

Regards

TBS

DeathSlam

Some airports are more frequent flyer friendly than others. LHR and HKG are very high up the list so you will always find knowledgeable people here to help.
It always amazes me that however obscure the airport there is always someone on the forum who can tell you a lot.
But for high volume airports like these there will be MANY who can contribute.