the wing - rant
 

hey guys,

might be a nice lounge to get free champaign if you are "maximizing".
but if you are a real business traveller jumping out of a car, have an hour to work, then be on the plane -- you start asking yourself how stupid can you be to design a 60-seat restaurant in an F lounge with only 1 seat having a power plug next to it?
really ... incredible.
and sorry, i do not want to sit in those "pier"-style cubicles, it makes me claustrophobic.
since "the wing" was newly opened, i have been here more than ten times, and each time i have asked myself if there is any better pay-in alternative ... i want food, a power plug, and champaign, and discreteness, all in one place, and i do not mind paying for it. where to go in HKIA?

how do you think about the lighting in the "wing" restaurant? strikes me when I enter. flying CX is so great but looking at their paid F "ground performance" on their home airport compared with SQ, LH or EK is a shame

new computers have battery power that lasts more than the 1 hour you will be in the lounge and most people use the dining area to eat, not to work on their computers. there are a few tables close to the windows just past the champagne area that have power ports.

Fine if you're fully charged when you go in. But I don't think it's helpful in this case to blame the pax for "using the lounge the wrong way" somehow.

Not having reached the lofty heights of DM, I haven't been in the new Wing F (and wow, somehow I manage to get by), but I will observe in general that electricity still seems to be something a lot of airlines struggle with. I can't count the number of times when I've been in a lounge somewhere and not been able to find a plug when I needed one. I'm always puzzled that designers even in relatively new lounges haven't realized that these days, you should have plugs readily accessible from just about anywhere people might be sitting.

Maybe you can go downstairs and wait at the gate, they do have plugs, and just get some takeaway from the foodcourt?
I think a more valid complaint maybe the lack of a proper PC/Computer area (currently only 2 Macs).

If you don't mind the absent of champagne, head on over to the Plaza Premium then. There's food, shower, drinks....and power outlet is never an issue.

Not to blame you for "using the lounge the wrong way" but most people have their own tablets, smartphones, laptops. I have never seen more than a few people using the PC/Macs in the Cabin or Pier, most people just sit in the claustrophobic cubicles with their own devices.

Most restaurants in F lounges around the world do not have power ports.

This rant is rather obtuse.

Champagne was one of the requirements of the OP, perhaps the BA/QF First lounge would be acceptable. They have all the requirements, however, the discreet areas are in the claustrophobic cubicles.

What I meant is an office area to work in. So may not be PCs, but at least larger cubicle to accomodate the request of the OP. I think the old Wing's bench concept was good.

There's a cash bar at PP. There's liquor...and wine....not sure if there is champagne though.

+1.

More plugs would lead to more squatters... and I personally don't want to not take a seat with my companions in the restaurant because all the tables are taken up by laptops.

+1 to this too.

I use the "solus" chairs or whatever they're called, but a big wooden table (like a communal Starbucks table with power outlets) would've been better for me. I'm not a lawyer, don't deal with sensitive documents so don't need too much privacy. If privacy is needed, have a few cubbies (or half-raised partitions, or something...can't be that hard) so folks who need privacy can get it. But I suppose CX thinks this a communal table is too low brow for an F lounge.

To me the "solus" chair is a lame attempt at getting everything (fancy design, privacy, work space, power outlet, etc) in one, and doing everything sub-optimally. I've tried bringing paperwork into a "solus" chair and working on my laptop simultaneously (+ trying to charge my mobile phone). Didn't work out. I'm sure it's even more of a disaster if you bring a glass of champagne and a sandwich with you. More convenient was commandeering a couch (outlets in the floor), with laptop on my lap and documents by my side.

I used to go to the J side Long Bar. Working space is flat and unconstrained. Can also have food and drink. There are a few outlets behind the bar you can lean over and plug devices in. Presumably the outlets are for the barman.

For power, I think Southwest and Virgin America do a better job at their gates than most airlines do in their lounges. A lot of their renovated gate areas run circles around CX and other airline lounges in terms of working efficiency.

I still like the Wing a lot, but I also wish more places could be impromptu working spaces with power.

good point...i noticed a few squatters in the Wing last week with whole tables and just their laptops. If power outlets were everywhere in the restaurant I suppose there'd be more.

I just wish there was a big flat communal table area that was a multi-purpose work/eat/etc. area. Lots of power outlets and you could do whatever you want with that space.