Thanks. Is it different if the lounge operator is the operating carrier (so in my case, if I fly CX out of HKG with my BA Gold card)?

It used to be operator pays so it would have been CX pays CX, but now if you are in J but you use an F lounge then the FFP pays, not sure if CX the operator pays itself the J "base fare" and BA pays the topping up to F...

At the lounge right now and it is quite crowded at 730 am. There’s a wait to get into the dining room! Staff seem to be overwhelmed.

Absolutely good move in restricting access for the first few days.

No wait for the showers. I absolutely loved the shower suites.

Will edit the post with details.

I’m also at the lounge right now. Certainly not expecting the wave of DMs here. It almost feels like the first day of long holiday!

Also at the lounge now.. Only way to describe is a zoo! Lines everywhere.. 10+ people for both lines for outside table and inside table.. Menus are different for both outside and inside dining area. Outside has Lobster Eggs Benedict but inside is normal Benedict and other regular a la carte items like Dan Dan noodles, dim sum, etc.. The attendants say menu is slightly different throughout the day too with tea set for outside... I'm sure eventually you will be able to order and ask for the same items no matter where you sit..

Its nice they put white tablecloth for each table now.. But I can already see with the turnover during busy times, even just changing the tablecloth is going to drive them nuts and slow things down..

Also first impression is that they are not going to have enough general seating areas during peak times.. They changed the general lounge area to the outside dining area.. So during busy times there will probably not be enough general seating area and people will probably need to sit at a table for dining even if you don't want to eat..

I was hoping to visit the Lounge this Friday, but from the reports of such crowds and lineups, I may wait a few weeks until all the hype dies down.

I’m glad I’m not the only one shocked by the workflow today. I hope it’s just the first day so things take time for staff to familiarise themselves.

But taking 30 minutes and chased twice to be served cold chowmien and congee, and the table next to me who arriving 20 minutes after my order, get served before me is pretty bad.

Indeed! I just left and the crowds thinned out a bit by 9am.. But for sure it will take time to improve their operations.. I also saw a few open doors that allowed me to peak into their back of house.. Definitely helped with their speed, but not elegant at all.. Haha..

wow , was that busy ?
so where did all the people go before?
pier didnt seems that big enough to have this much people .

pier, bridge, deck

bridge DM zone always empty or just a few people.
deck dont have the amount of people that could fill up the wing , i never see the deck is full or nearly full.

That's why they are just limiting the admission from DM and cx first class passengers at the moment as everyone really wants to try the new lounge

There are usually 30-60 DMs on one SHA flight alone during weekdays, then blending in guesting colleagues etc… that’s already potentially 1/3 capacity of the lounge. One single flight.

I am a bit surprised by the lack of resting area, but two restaurants of different concepts - One dining room and the other more like hotel lobby-styled tea area. The latter is an upgrade to The Pier F bar area because food will be served there rather than just buffet. But at the same time the pure-lounge rest area is significantly smaller.

Also, I felt like passengers will end up staying at the dining room table after finishing the meal, which wouldn’t be great for turnaround times. I hope I am wrong but let’s see what the passenger behaviour is.

Will give The Wing F another chance in two weeks in non-peak hours, so it should be better along with staff familiarising themselves.

I think that's actually a good design - if you want a resting area, walk to Pier.

Passengers go to Wing even though they have high (>40) gates - best motivate them to walk.