Highly Reflective Surfaces at The Wing in HKG
The Wing has gotten quite the upgrade since the last time I’ve flew Cathay Pacific First Class!
But it was doubtful for a while that we’d ever be able to find it. We had arrived at Hong Kong Airport via the Macau Ferry and had checked in our bags and gone through security right off the dock. (Thereby qualifying for a refund of our departure tax.) From there we’d taken the underground train to Terminal 1 and got off in search of the Cathay First Lounge.
I don’t know why I get so turned around in this airport, usually I’m quite good with directions. But despite referencing multiple maps, we couldn’t seem to find the entrance and criss crossed our way through the overly crowded food court on the upper level multiple times. We finally found it (near one of the security entrances) and made our way in.
Lots of folks have covered the remodel in much more detail, particularly Lucky at One Mile at a Time, so I won’t bore you with duplicative pictures. I’ll just focus on the things that struck me the most — the wine, the food, and the highly reflective surfaces.
During the check in process we found out my friend’s flight home from San Francisco had been cancelled and they’d rebooked her. For the next day. That wasn’t going to work with her work schedule, so as soon as we got into the lounge we started looking for seats so she could Skype customer service and get it straightened out.
Fortunately for me, that wound up being in the new champagne bar that greets you as you walk in.
While my friend was frantically trying to work things out with American Airlines, an attendant came over and took our drink orders. I decided to go with the Veuve Cliquot Rose and settled in to catch up on email while my friend worked things out. I also used it as an opportunity to explore further in the club.
The walls were primarily a highly polished black that you could see your reflection in which made for a neat modern look. This theme was carried into the bathroom where every wall was shiny black. This posed a great problem when I attempted to leave, as the lighting was very subtle and the doorway was indistinguishable from the wall.
So…yep, you guessed it. I smacked into the wall trying to find my way out. Fortunately no one else saw, but my enthusiasm for the decor took a sudden plunge.
After my friend got her flights squared away (they moved her to a later evening flight), the attendant refilled our glasses and was very kind about taking pictures of us 🙂
We still had an hour until it was time to board, so though we’d be eating a big meal shortly after takeoff, we decided to check out the new restaurant. There was the option to order off the menu but I decided just to do the buffet so I could limit the amount of food I got.
But then I saw the buffet had lots of dim sum and fun little desserts, so that didn’t work out as well as I’d thought…
30 minutes later we headed out to the now bustling main area of the lounge and noticed on the screen that our flight had been delayed by an hour. That was a bummer since we were ready to start heading home…even more so when I realized the delay would make my tight connection nearly impossible.
Since I had purchased my one-way ticket home on United, changing was much easier. For all my complaints with United, its usually pretty easy to make same day changes to your ticket online, and they often offer fee-free options. In my case, the flight leaving 3 hrs later, was free to move to. I wasn’t thrilled as now I’d be getting home after midnight on a work day and I’d lost my confirmed upgrade, but at least I’d be getting home.
The rest of the lounge stay passed uneventfully and I was looking forward to my friend’s first experience with Cathay Pacific First class!
Disclaimer: We appeared to be the only non-business travelers in the lounge, so we limited our picture taking to not be obnoxious. This explains some of the weirdly angled shots going on. My friend *might* have gotten a picture of me bumping into a glossy wall yet again thinking it was the doorway, but what happens in The Wing, stays in The Wing.
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