24left

If I recall from my old marketing texts and classes, "Cash Cow" was one of those expressions used in reference to a product that was bringing in a ton of money to a company. The example always used back then was P&G's Tide detergent. It has been around forever and it is a stable, reliable brand.

If one applies the term to an airline lounge, then the expectation is that the lounge is making a lot of money (with little effort). I constantly hear that airline lounges don't make money. Many of them charge for membership (different than the ability to enter with the right ticket). Examples would be the Air Canada Maple Leaf Club and United and American have similar paid memberships.

And then there is whatever money CX might make from OW partner airlines when their pax us a CX lounge. I'm pretty sure it's not always break-even, but that would be true of any airline lounge with any pax. How much does AC make, really, when UA fliers have access, or how much does the TG or SQ lounges at HKIA make when AC or UA customers use their facilities. I'll bet QF @ SIN was losing money on all the other OW pax who used their lounge.

G-CIVC

Cash cow - HKG LHR and HND (whenever CX can make money from other OW pax!)

Dave510

I find the lack of a bar disappointing.

Perhaps I’m just an alcoholic.

djsflynn

Oh, and en route to the new CX SIN T4 lounge, clap an eye at T4's carpet: nobody does '70s style 'casino carpet' better than Changi Airport, even when the carpet is brand new!

sxc

I don’t find HND significantly better than any of the other new lounges.

HKGglobaltrotter

I always go to JL first class lounge for my 549 departure time slot as CX lounge is way too busy whilst JL lounge is almost always empty during that time. I don't find the F&B that appealing at CX lounge myself. Mind you, I usually had a lovely lunch in town before heading to airport so I wasn't looking for food but rather a quiet space where I can relax or catch up with some work e-mails.

I will be flying out of SIN this coming weekend and will report how the new lounge compares to other outport ones that I have been to. Except MNL, I think I have been to all the newly renovated lounges on the network (LHR, HND, BKK, TPE, YVR)

FlyPointyEnd

I'm more concerned about the bar too TBH vs a shower.....

FlyPointyEnd

Does the TPE lounge cater to other OW flights? I know MNL is exclusively CX since no other OW flight operates from T3. That said both TPE and MNL have a manned bar...

maortega15

JL, KA and MH. Not sure what terminals MH and JL are in, but regardless, still minimal.

A bar serving local cocktails like Singapore slings would've been nice.

No need to take a shower for a flight to BKK or HKG. That's what the lounges in HKG are for.

FlyPointyEnd

I agree, thats why I'm more concerned about the absence of a manned bar vs showers.

**plus i normally just take morning flights out of SIN, so normally i arrive fresh from the hotel. and I'm happy to hear they will be serving kaya toast.

sxc

Although there are a lot of 1 hour transits at HKG - there's not always time to lounge during your transit.

maortega15

That's true, but people hardly connect in SIN hence the move to T4 so you might as well take a shower at your hotel or whatever.

maortega15

A bit OT, but ICN, PEK and PVG should be next for a lounge makeover. @djsflynn should have more info as he's more up to date on these things than I am.

NRT is long overdue for a makeover.

jagmeets

Quite the contrary - Priority Pass has 9 departure lounges and 1 arrival lounge - 9 of them have showers.
As do the EK, QF, BA, Silverkris(T2 & T3) lounges- That's 13 departure lounges with showers, and I'm not even counting the SQ J&F lounges separately.

AFAIK the only lounges that do not have a shower are 2 each of the Krisflyer Gold lounges and the DBS lounges, and the TG lounge. Ok, and the TGM lounge - which is more a restaurant than a lounge.

13 or 15 vs, 5 or 6 depending on how you look at it. Its a hot & humid country after all!

djsflynn

In April we spoke with the then-CX product manager (since moved on) and he said the following:

• Shanghai was "in the pipeline... Our lounge there is very popular with road warriors who shuttle back and forth between Hong Kong and Shanghai, so it’s very important that we improve our lounge proposition there." The revamped space will be better utilised "to have much more seating capacity... That’s partly driven by a practical element, because we all know the delays out of Shanghai can be quite lengthy."
• Next on the list, but more likely to be in 2019, will be an upgrade of the Cathay Pacific lounges at Beijing and Incheon.