VintageKrug - 17/06/2010 14:18 GMT
Work is progressing well on Cathay Pacific’s new First and Business Class lounge at London Heathrow, scheduled to open its doors to passengers in late July.
At 923 square metres the lounge – located in the central concourse of Terminal 3 – is some 20% bigger than the current lounge.
The new facility will also boast signi?ficantly more seats:
49 First Class, versus the current 31, and 136 Business Class seats compared to 82.
Another big plus is the introduction of the iconic Noodle Bar, currently only available to those travelling out of Hong Kong and Taipei.
“The new lounge will be a
step change in terms of our offering
to premium passengers
ying out of London,” says Vickie
Yue, Product Manager, Ground.
“In addition to more space
and features such as the Noodle
Bar, the lounge will also bene
? t from a big window space,
in both classes, with views over
the apron.”
As with all other new outport lounges, the design concept mirrors The Pier in Hong Kong.
The Product team is currently working on upgrading the lounge’s food and beverage, with an a la carte menu for FCL passengers.
JordanD - 17/06/2010 16:28 GMT
Surely this is all a woeful bit of lacking joined up thinking. Star & SkyTeam have very successfully launched joint lounges in other terminals at LHR, and yet, less than a year after BA open new lounges at T3, CX are following them.
Surely OneWorld could have thought this through (especially as they intend on being in T3 for the future) and built a shared lounge?
VintageKrug - 17/06/2010 18:55 GMT
While I have yet to sample the Skyteam lounge, the Star Alliance lounge is woeful in both F & J iterations, and has ruined a once light and airy space into a slow ceilinged morgue.
F&B is not up to par, and apart from helpful staff, it really isn't anything special.
It would make sense to have a single lounge offering, but the volume of premium passengers using these lounges and the competition on the Asian routes warrants three distinct differentiated offerings. This is also a function of the available lounge space in T3, which works against a single mega-lounge.
DNAdams - 18/06/2010 09:06 GMT
Does anyone know if QR will be using the new CX lounge at T3? I believe that QR are currently using the old CX lounge for some flights.
We've just posted some images and more details on the official opening of the Cathay Pacific lounges at:
http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/cathay-opens-new-lounges-at-heathrow
The pictures look good. Question (for anyone who knows...): will I be able to access the CX lounge with my BA Club Europe boarding pass this week?
alexlondon - 26/07/2010 19:11 GMT
Yes, if you are an emerald or sapphire One World member (BA Silver or Gold). Otherwise, you will have access to the BA Galleries Club Lounge which is excellent.
Thanks for the info alexlondon.
I quite like the BA lounge in T3, which is just as well because unless I can find a can of gold spray paint by Wednesday that's where I'll be.
The article said that oneworld business class passengers would be able to use the CX lounge, and I was interested (ok, nosey).
Potakas - 27/07/2010 04:09 GMT
MichelAngelo i think you can, as i read here:
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_INTL/aboutus/pressroomdetails?refID=55d1e28a1dd0a210VgnVCM62000007d21c39____
Business Class Lounges are open to:
- Business Class passengers of Cathay Pacific.
- Business Class passengers of all oneworld alliance airlines.
Regards,
Potakas
Yes, that's what I thought. I'll give it a try.
