get0ffdanutzz

I've been flying CX or AA to HK approx 5-6x a year, and always fly out of LAX- Which is my favorite airport for two reasons. 1) easy to connect from Terminal 4 to TBIT when flying AA, and 2) the lounges. I have a few options with the OW Lounge or the AA Flagship (I prefer the AA Flagship).

Anyway, I booked a trip for later in the spring, for personal travel using AA miles, and only option to HK was via SEA. I flew from SEA once, a few years ago when went via EVA, and remember that had a decent lounge. I have been reading horror stories about the lounge CX uses, "the club" which is also a PP lounge in SEA. I have approx a 3 hour layover, that's not terrible, but I would obviously love to fly via LAX if something opens up.

The positive- the flight from SEA to HK is on the A350 vs the 777, which I prefer. Although, since always flying out of LAX, I never flew the A350 long haul, just a few times regionally.

Does CX have any plans to use an alternative lounge in SEA? Or are they contempt on using this subpar lounge for their Biz and FFs?

Just curious. Thx

cmiller11101

There's a new one under construction, but I would keep expectations low.

I wonder how this route is doing in general and whether it'll be cancelled before long?

tentseller

I can't see building out a lounge comparable to WIng/Pier for a single daily flight.
I wonder what the revenue load on SEA HKG is like for CX

DL operated this rout for a few years, they need to compete in Y price to fill the back. They were also not competitive with the BR J offering via TPE. J had many non-rev and op-ups.

JordanWalker

Does CX even have any lounges on routes that only have 1 flight per day?

YVR is down to 1-2 flight per day with the new schedule, but the lounge was built prior to the reduction.

garykung

Outside HKG, CX operates its branded lounges in the following airports:

BKK, CDG, HND, KHH, KUL, LHR, MEL, MNL, NRT, PEK, PEN, PVG, SFO, SIN, TPE, YVR

As of now, only CDG has 1 flight. All other airports having CX lounges have at least 2 daily flights (PEN is served by KA; UO flights are excluded). So unless sometime in the past there were 2 daily CDG flight, CDG would be the only exception.

Also - based on this trend, CX's plan for lounges are directly correlated with the number of daily flights. So it is safe to say that unless SEA get the second daily flight (which is highly unlikely), no CX lounge for SEA.

JordanWalker

Thanks. CDG used to be operated by both 777+350 last year, I'm guessing that's been cut down too.

percysmith

CDG used to be two (CX260/CX278)

percysmith

BR25 leaves around same time as CX857

And BA is already the BR lounge https://www.staralliance.com/en/airp...irportCode=SEA ?

Possibly capacity issues?

garykung

In other word, no exception. 2 daily flights minimum to have a CX branded lounge.

get0ffdanutzz

Right--- Was hoping since they are both OW, it makes best business sense. Obviously, not sure if it would make financial sense, but seems logical that BA and CX would want to partner and provide OW FF's a consistent lounge experience. Who knows when the BR contract ends, I know wishful thinking but, honestly the lounge situation will prevent me from choosing to depart from SEA in the future. Will continue to use LAX as 1st priority, and then SFO as 2nd.

percysmith

It's odd that BA doesn't list their lounge as open for oneworld purposes near the BR25/CX857 departure times https://www.oneworld.com/airport-lounges?location=SEA .

Of course if they did, they'd be effectively declaring themselves the CX lounge as elites and J pax will try to get in via oneworld access rules.

But how can they avoid being a oneworld lounge during the BR departure time? Install a removable oneworld sign at the door that they will remove during the BR departure time and replace the British Airways Club sign with "BA lounge" (then explain BA has nothing to do with British Airways)

eponymous_coward

BA is functioning as a contract lounge for BR during those hours; they aren’t going to be admitting random OW pax. In fact it’s even a BR staffer up front. It’s also not exactly an amazing lounge (I was there last month for a BR 25 J flight). They refurbished the furniture and they have some snacks but it’s not light years better than the Club at SEA for the S Gates. There is a shower (ONE shower) but it’s seen better days (functional but aging).

If a really NICE lounge is super important like it appears to be for OP I wouldn’t call the BA lounge “nice”. CX/BA at SFO or OW/FL at LAX blow away ANYTHING at SEA (maybe AMEX lounge at SEA comes closest, but even that isn’t the best AMEX lounge in the system). Frankly the JL lounge at SFO is ~= BA lounge at SEA (except for the shower). The Club at SEA isn’t a LOT worse- it gets super crowded though because it’s used by LH/EK/NH/OZ/FI/SQ as a contract lounge, and some of them have overlapping departures.

I’m based out of SEA and I guess I am used to the shabby lounge situation- for a J flight I’d rather spend the extra time connecting at home instead of in a nice lounge in LAX/SFO. (F is different because SEA has not much longhaul F save KE and EK.)

Anyways... maybe once the OW shared lounge concept gets going they might do it in SEA and share between BA/JL/CX, but it’s probably not a high priority compared to other places. There is also no guarantee JL and CX are in this for the long term, TYO has JL/NH/DL and DL gave up on SEA-HKG, CX might too. Much easier to go with a contract option until they know they are going to fly the route long term.

sxc

Potentially SEA might be one of the "oneworld" joint lounge locations. But aside from BA and CX, are there any other oneworld airlines that fly out of SEA? And maybe the CX flight is at risk since it's a relatively new flight (I don't know what the loads are like on this flight)?

percysmith

AA
Not international departures I think

But can oneworld elites on AA domestic flights access SEA South Satellite to visit the lounge?

MSPeconomist

IIRC SEA has a (smallish but good) Centurion lounge for (unbranded) AmEx Plat and Centurion charge cards, although I think it's near some of the DL gates, which probably wouldn't be convenient for CX/BA/AA departures.