As I mentioned, the lounge is very thoughtfully split up into many different smaller areas which helps to make the massive lounge feel cozier and to designate spaces for different activities. Both of The Pier lounges have stunning woodwork and comfortable and stylish furniture which really makes the space feel rich and inviting. 

There are several different eating spaces throughout the lounge, each offering different types of food. The Food Hall is found directly behind you once you've checked in at the front desk and offers a selection of hot and cold items which will be served to you by attendants behind the counter. The Food Hall offered panini, breads, pizza, hot dishes, fruit and desserts, with a few other small items and beverages in the small refrigerators along the left and right side of the hall. There was also a coffee cart in the room to serve specialty coffee drinks.

Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG 
Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge 
Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG 
Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou


Cathay Pacific (CX) #5891, DragonAir (KA) #891
Shanghai (PVG) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Saturday, March 21st, 2015
6:20 PM - 9:10 PM
Airbus A330-300 Business Class

This flight is sold by Cathay Pacific, but it's operated by Cathay's regional subsidiary, Dragonair. Dragonair flies many of Cathay's intra-Asia routes and the level of service that I have come to expect is right on par with that of Cathay. At this point, I've taken several flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong on Dragonair and I'm almost never disappointed. For such a quick flight (just under 3 hours), you'll get a full meal and plenty of personalized service.

I boarded the flight and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cabin. This particular flight had a 3 cabin configuration and the business class was configured as 2-2-2, which is absolutely fine for a short flight.  Each seat has a pillow (with funky orange metallic fabric) and blanket available as well as an in-flight entertainment screen with the same amount of movies and TV shows that you will find on a Cathay longhaul flight. Even though the airplane was a bit dated, the cabin still felt fresh and clean, which is very appreciated. 

As the flight was boarding, the flight attendants came by to welcome us aboard and offer newspapers and pre-departure beverages. In addition to the standard orange juice and water, they were also offering a very lovely alcoholic fruity something, which I took without hesitation. It was excellent, but I have no idea what was in it. 

The seats were comfortable and were able to recline as well as extend a foot rest, which is amazing to have for such a short flight. The seat controls as well as the IFE remote are next to the seat and they're intuitive enough to operate, which is not always the case. 

As expected on Cathay, the flight attendants address each passenger by name when asking for beverage orders and meal orders, which is always amazing. Sure, they use a cheat sheet at the beginning, but almost every time, they've been able to remember my name when de-planing, which is impressive! (And no, I don't think this has anything to do with the fact that I'm very blonde and there are usually very few other blonde passengers on flights in Asia.) 

As I mentioned, you can expect a full meal service on this flight, which is impressive. The crew will hand out trays with a salad, appetizer and bread plate along with your drink, then come back a bit later to add the entree. When it comes to bread, there should be no hesitation - nothing is better than Cathay Pacific garlic bread. Don't even bother with anything else. 

Aesthetically, the menu looks very similar to what you will find on American or Cathay and there's quite the selection given how short the flight is. There are three entree choices, including an "Asian Delight" which is found on a special addition to the menu and changes every couple of weeks. 

​The menu read as follows: 

...

Starters
Chicken and mushroom terrine with zucchini

Mixed lettuce salad with Italian vinaigrette dressing

Main Courses
Braised duck in five spices braising sauce

Roasted cod fillet with lemon cream emulsion, leek with bacon Gratin potato and broccoli

Asian Delight: Thai green curry beef brisket, coconut rice and vegetables

Dessert
Haagen-Dazs ice cream

​...

Since I'm not a fan of duck or fish, I went for the Asian Delight. It wasn't something I ever would have ordered in another setting, but it wasn't bad. I definitely felt proud of myself for trying something new. Dessert was ice cream, which was simple and delicious.

Shortly after the meal service concluded, it was time to prepare for landing in Hong Kong.

There is really no better way to travel between Hong Kong and China and I really enjoy Dragonair. Aside from the fact that the hard product and service are excellent, there's also the fact that the airline has a very cool name, so you really can't go wrong. 

Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG 
Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge 
Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG 
Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou


I fly out of Shanghai Pudong International (PVG) on a pretty regular basis these days (5 times in the past year and counting) and since I'm flying Business on either American or Cathay Pacific/DragonAir, I receive access to the Cathay Pacific Lounge. The lounge can be found near gate 68 after you make it through security in Terminal 2. You'll see plenty of signs for the lounge and will take an escalator up one level to get to the entrance. 

Upon entering the lounge, you'll notice a long main hallway with seating to your left, along with a small kitchen area, another seating area, and a "business center" with computers available for use. When the hallway comes to an end, the lounge opens up to reveal another kitchen area and a large open seating area which is all open to the terminal below. I find the roof of the terminal to be rather impressive, but that's really where the feeling ends. The lounge is usually quite crowded and this day was no exception. It can be tough to find a seat, but it's even tougher to find one next to an outlet and it's nearly impossible to find one next to an outlet that actually works! 

The food is unfortunately not the best that I've seen in Cathay lounges and as such, I've never actually eaten anything in the lounge. I also rarely find myself drinking anything, but you'll find a selection of hot and cold items available, including noodles, sandwiches, fruit, instant noodles and some small dessert. Drinks are serve yourself and include soft drinks, juices, wine, and liquor.

There is wifi in the lounge, but remember that you are in China, and you won't be able to get anything beyond the great firewall, so it's essentially useless. If you decide to use it, the password, as always for Cathay lounges, is "cathay1234" and you'll find that posted throughout the lounge. 

The lounge is a bit of a nicer place to sit than the terminal while waiting for your flight, but it's really not much to write home about. 

The seat controls are intuitive and conveniently, you'll find a plug right there as well to charge electronic devices in-flight, which is always appreciated. Each passenger in Business class also has a set of Bose headphones to use during the flight and the televisions are quite large and swing out when you're ready to watch.

Shortly after takeoff, amenity kits were handed out. The kits featured bags and accessories by agnès b. with toiletries by Jurlique including hand cream, lip balm, and day care cream. At the end of the flight, I also managed to grab an unopened men's kit while deplaning, so I was able to get a look at that version in addition to the women's.

Just a short while later, it was time for the lunch meal service to start. Not long after takeoff, the attendants had all come by and introduced themselves, while referring to each of the passengers by name, which is always a nice touch, and asked for our entree selections. Once the service began, the flight attendants first passed out warm nuts and offered drinks to start. 

The lunch menu read as follows:

...

Starters
Cajun spiced prawns with green mango salad

Mixed salad w/Italian vinaigrette

Mains
Sautéed pork spare ribs with Chinese sauce, steamed jasmine rice and choy sum

Grilled Australian prime beef tenderloin on braised lentils with roasted pumpkin and French beans

Yellow curry halibut with steamed rice and spicy green beans

Mezzi rigatoni tossed with parmesan, zucchini cream, carrot and artichoke

Dessert
Pecorino, St. Paulin, Camembert, crackers and spiced pear paste

Fresh seasonal fruit

Sacher cake

Coffee and assorted teas

Pralines

...

I decided to try the vegetarian rigatoni dish, which was pretty good. It had good flavor and was cooked well, which I appreciated and which can be difficult when eating an airplane meal. I also had to have a couple of pieces of Cathay's amazing garlic bread on the side. For dessert, I guess I was feeling gluttonous, so I had both the fresh fruit and the Sacher cake, which was great. 

After lunch, I watched a few movies, but I knew I wanted to get at least a little bit of sleep on the flight since I was arriving home at 10 in the morning in San Francisco and would need to stay up all day long to get back on Pacific time. I made the seat into a bed, which indeed does become fully flat, and situated myself away from the galley so as not to be distracted by the light or activity coming from it. The pillow and blanket you get are pretty nice and keep you warm while you sleep, which is something I always struggle with on airplanes - they are always either too hot or too cold. 

After a few hours of sleep, I woke up as the lights were turned back on with about two hours left in the flight. It was time for "brunch". The brunch menu read as follows: 

...

Orange or apple juice

Mango and passion fruit smoothie

Fresh seasonal fruit

Natural or fruit yoghurt

Assorted cereals

Followed by
Omelette with pan-fried streaky bacon, Lyonnaise potatoes, sautéed shimeji mushrooms and roasted vine ripened tomato

Dim sum with chili sauce

Shredded kwai fa chicken with bean curd skin congee, served with stir-fried rice roll with dried shrimp and spring onion in X.O. sauce

Bread Basket
Assorted breakfast bread served with preserves, honey and butter

...

I chose to have some more fresh fruit, a croissant from the bread basket, and the omelette with bacon, potatoes, and tomatoes. You really can't expect much from in-flight eggs, to be honest. I never find them to be great, but I never feel like anything too savory in the "morning", so the other choices were out. The meal was fine and I was just looking forward to being back home in the US.

Overall, there really isn't a better way to fly from Hong Kong to San Francisco than flying Cathay Pacific. Service is always prompt, friendly, and attentive, which is definitely different from flying a US carrier like American, where I have literally had hours pass without anyone stopping to remove extra dishes or glasses. The added bonus of lie-flat seats is perfect for a long-haul flight and makes everything so much more comfortable. I now quite literally go out of my way to book all of my travel to and from Asia on Cathay and I'm always happy I've made that choice. 

Review: Park Hyatt Shanghai
City Guide: 5 Things to Do in Shanghai
Review: Grand Hyatt Shenzhen
Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Bridge” Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class HKG - SFO


Now that I've spent quite a bit of time in Asia, I've flown Cathay Pacific a handful of times and I'm so glad to get the chance. I really do love Cathay's high-quality service and I definitely appreciate that they have reliably good hard products, especially in First class. Not only are those qualities amazing, but the amenities you get with Cathay are really second to none - especially if you are flying through Cathay's home base in Hong Kong. Cathay has a whopping five lounges available in the HKG airport, with four airside (The Wing, The Pier, The Bridge, The Cabin) and one landside (The Arrival). The Wing and The Pier have both First and Business class sections, while The Bridge and The Cabin are simple Business class lounges.

The Bridge is located on Level 5 of the West Concourse, with an entrance near gate 35 at Level 6. It's open daily from 5:30AM until last departure. As I mentioned, The Bridge is a Business class lounge and permits entrance to any oneworld travelers flying Business class or above, as well as oneworld Emerald & Sapphire members. 

Since I visited The Wing last time I was at HKG, I decided to try out The Bridge on my way home last November. Thus far, I have visited The Wing, The Bridge, and The Cabin (review coming eventually!) and The Bridge is actually my favorite (although The Pier just reopened after extensive renovations and it may be my new favorite once I visit). The entrance to The Bridge is impossible to miss and from the main concourse, you'll take an escalator down a level to the front desk.

The lounge is situated on both sides of the front desk. If you go left (south), you'll find the Bistro, showers, the IT Zone, and the Coffee Loft. To the right (north), you will find the Bakery, the Long Bar, and the TV Lounge. Because of how the lounge is situated, it's very long on either side, but not as narrow as The Cabin, which gives it a more open feel. The lounge has extensive seating and is tastefully decorated with multiple seating areas divided to make everything appear to be more cozy. As opposed to the somewhat sterile decor and very open style of The Wing, The Bridge is so much more quiet and comfortable. 

Situated towards the inside of the lounge, away from the runway, you'll find the Bistro, which offers a pretty extensive variety of Asian and Western cuisine. You'll find soups, noodles, small sandwiches, salads and plenty of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

Continuing on, you'll find the IT Zone, which has workstations for setting up your own laptop to get some work done as well as iMacs and printers available to use. At the end of the left side of the lounge is the Coffee Loft, which has a wonderful selection of coffee and alcoholic drinks (after 5PM) and serves what I think may very well be the best mocha I've ever had in my life.

Heading over to the right side of the lounge, you'll find more dedicated seating areas and the first thing on the inner part of the lounge is the Bakery, which serves more Western options than the Bistro and had things like pizza available alongside salads, noodles, finger sandwiches, etc.

Past the Bakery, you'll find the Long Bar and the TV Lounge. Just as it sounds, the Long Bar is a very long bar serving a variety of hot and cold, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages with a stunning view of the runway. The TV Lounge offers comfortable seating and a few TVs, but not so many that I would really call it a "TV lounge", it's really just more of a "lounge".

As with all Cathay lounges, you'll find a wide variety of international magazines and newspapers available to read while you're in the lounge, but they come with explicit instructions to put them back when you're finished reading. 

I didn't check out the showers on this visit, but the restrooms are nice and carry the same aesthetic as the rest of the lounge with individual cubicles that are completely closed off, which is always appreciated. 

As I said, The Bridge is my favorite of the HKG Cathay lounges so far. It's cozy and comfortable and very tastefully decorated and has plenty of options to make your layover more comfortable. Unfortunately, my flights back to San Francisco are almost always departing out of the South side of the airport right by The Wing, so it's really much easier to just go there rather than need to budget 10-15 minutes to walk back from The Bridge. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!