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.

Also there might be a safety concern, if people have cables and plugs in the restaurant area - might trip, hot food, glass etc...

Maybe a business centre setup will be good.

Thinking whether they can remove the office they have now to deal with reservations etc... and turn that into a business centre?

have never seen anyone using a laptop in the haven - its a place for eating not working, if you can't go an hour without working before taking a flight you probably need to change jobs ;)

I never saw people working there before. Hopefully people will not be working there during dining hours. ;)

+1 ^^^

;). I saw a fellow in there a week ago with a laptop, talking with someone on the phone about a computer problem for the hour I ate breakfast. Seemed a friendly guy. He occupied a four-spot table, however while there was a line outside. It's kinda the only free-form business space. I can't blame him. If you want to spread out, and leisurely get some work done/take care of personal business/get a bite to eat all at once, there aren't really any good hybrid areas. The "solus" chairs just don't do it for me.

I feel more comfortable free-form in the noodle seating area in the Wing J lounge. Just wish there were power outlets in the tables and I had access to the F food. Sometimes I go over there.

I don't want to whinge about Wing F too much because I think CX did a good job with the space they have. It's just small and the working space isn't optimal for what I like. And I think the "solus" chairs are just over-designed weirdness that aren't super practical.

I have also saw a person working in Haven, yes taking up the 4-seater, and yes there is a wait. I think if anything CX has it right, you eat at Haven, not work. Especially with the popularity of the Wing. There are plenty of work areas outside. Also, like others have said, if you only have one hour to work your laptop battery should suffice. The Wing has some issues that could use improvement, but not the ones you've mentioned.

I agree, not much you can do in such a small space. But sad that HKIA was conceived with such small area for lounges, especially CX. Lot of space for shops and food outlets though. Sad that CX offers such average product at its home base.
Sure, when I enjoy breakfast at F lounge before a very cheap Y flight to TPE, I am happy. But when I fork USD10,000 for a trip to JFK, I feel that I deserve a better ground treatment, more space to eat, more space to work.

Would it be considered rude if there is a line for dining at a table to walk up to the person at the 4 seater and ask to sit down with him, to share the table? That's what I will do should that situation arise as I pass through in August on the way to Bali. Will the CX longe attendants ask the squatters to clear out so waiting pax can dine at a table that's meant for eating and not working?

yes...it would. You're kept outside in line until the host seats you. So you'd basically be cutting the line and disregarding the host.

I didn't know there was a host doing the seating. I thought you just went in and seated yourself. Is it acceptable to ask the host to ask a table hog to share?

hopefully the new 2600 sqm lounge will add more work space!

They should have made the Cabin/G16 larger(lower level wing) and kept it only for business class.

And the entire upper level should have been designed just for first class passengers

This is actually a good suggestion but less radical might be to use what was the "temp First Class section" when Wing was being renovated part of the First Class lounge. Convert them into "working areas" with nice individual cubicles 4 attached like they used to have it in J section.

Before Wing F was remodeled, there was a host. If the restaurant was full, he/she would take your name. You could sit outside, and they would come by and get you when a table was available. I am not a DM anymore, and have not been back since the remodeling.

I never visited Pier F when there was a line for dining. I did not pay much attention to the host, but there was always someone greeting me when I entered. I suppose he/she would take my name if all tables were taken.

I don't think they will ask the guests if they can share tables. At least I was never asked.

Some of us don't have that luxury. I sometimes will have to attend to something urgently that came in between the time I leave my office for the airport and the time I board a plane. Or more frequently, I would have been out and about all day in meetings, and the lounge is the first time I have to deal with things that cant be handled on the iphone, before boarding a 2 / 3.5 / 12 hour flight.

Seems odd and rude that if all the tables are taken and there is a line of people waiting, and someone is done eating and is sitting at a table working or on their computer, that the host wouldn't ask them to leave so as to open a table for the waiting guests. If this were to happen is there anywhere else to order and eat breakfast? I have never been to the Wing before and don't know the layout. Could you order your breakfast and carry it to the champagne bar or to somewhere else to sit and eat?

My flight arrives at 7:15am and I suspect this is prime time and very crowded.
Does demand exceed capacity?

I'd happily share a table when the lounge is packed, though I almost always end up at a 2-top when traveling alone.

There are, or used to be, lines all the time at the Pier for a table, at peak hours. Depends on time of day, and gate assignments. For example on a Monday morning, having a SIN and PVG flight going out of the 60s gates at around the same time is enough for the Pier to be packed with Diamonds.

You can't overlay American notions of rudeness onto a foreign culture.

Yes.

Yes, at peak times. At low times it can be pretty empty.

But there is!
It's the Noodle bar on the J side. Large table, great noodles (Dan Dan is my favorite), usually not crowded.

Checked out the First Class side of The Wing yesterday, is it just me or are those leather seats a little bit worn out? It's barely a year old right?

there is still a host for the haven. and time for working is limited by the absence of enough power outlets :)

since i opened this topic i was there at least ten times at different times. never a cabana was available right away, and about never was it fully clean when i got it. especially the toilets would deserve more care. but of course, still better than a lot of other lounges of home carriers.

I've sat in the area of the Haven along the wall the last two times I was in there and pretty much everyone in there had laptops out whilst eating.

Probably a good idea to try to grab a cabana if you want power sockets and total privacy to work.

A lot of F pasengers seem to be solo and tend to like their own space so a communal table probably wouldn't appeal to them.

true, this is the best choice. absolutely. the only problem is they do not have enough of them :) but no matter how often that might get repeated, there will never be more, due to limited space in HKIA anyway i guess.

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Go to the J lounge

I find it really strange that if u hate it so much why did you still go there for 10 times? Prob best to avoid and try out other lounges?

Probably because someone who is flying first or has the status to use a first class lounge will tend to go for that rather than something lower down the scale of things.