Cathay Pacific’s London Heathrow Lounge Delayed….Again!

a room with chairs and a plant

TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published.

As a very regular visitor to Heathrow Terminal 3 I’ve been looking forward to Cathay Pacific opening its new lounge in the terminal but it looks like I’m going to have to wait a little bit longer.

When Cathay first announced the refurbishment the plan was to have the new facility open for flyers in the first quarter of 2016…but that was always ambitious given that the old lounge didn’t actually close until November 2015.

Since then various updates have suggested the new Cathay Pacific lounge would open in June, July, August and then September but nothing has materialised so far.

Now a Twitter conversation between GuyM (@Londonfoodieguy) and Cathay Pacific has confirmed that the lounge opening has been pushed back yet again:

screen-shot-2016-10-25-at-14-00-48

Business Traveller (UK version) has elicited a statement from Cathay pacific which says:

With any construction projects of this nature and high design specifications, there will always be a chance of delays. We are excited about opening our new lounge in London and are working hard to ensure that everything is ready, and the design and safety specifications are met. We know our customers are keen for our lounge to open and so are we

Cathay Pacific has not provided a new opening date for the lounge although I’ve seen a report in Australian Business Traveller that has a November opening date in the headline. Unfortunately there’s nothing in the article to back that date up so, all things considered, I’ll believe that when I see it.

What We Know About The New Cathay Pacific Heathrow Lounge

When the lounge reopens it will have separate business class and first class zones and will “take its design cues from the warm residential vibe already seen in CX lounges” elsewhere.

The new lounge will also be almost 30% larger than the current lounge thanks to the extra space gained from what used to be Singapore’s SilverKris lounge next door.

Cathay Pacific’s lounge exec Toby Smith is on record as saying::

[The lounge] will have a first class section which will borrow some elements of The Pier First Class, although obviously on a smaller scale, while the business class lounge will follow the template you’re seeing throughout our other lounges

The template will include a Noodle Bar as rolled out through other Cathay Pacific lounges world-wide.

I’ve recently spent time in the Pier First Class lounge in Hong Kong (review now live) and if any elements of that lounge appear in the new Heathrow lounge that will be fantastic!

cathay-pacific-the-pier-first-class-lounge-0032The Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong

According to AUBT the new Cathay Pacific lounge at Heathrow will follow recent trends by introducing “local elements” in to the offering and Cathay’s product manager for worldwide lounges goes along with that:

The Noodle Bar is a signature element of our business lounges, but for each location we will try to bring a local flavour as well, so we will look at what are popular items in the London market. There could be some sort of curry dish and of course fish & chips will be on the menu, and burgers as well.

At The Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong we’ve introduced a craft beer selection with a Hong Kong beer, so for London we could pick a local craft beer partner.

Bottom Line

For the time being oneworld flyers will have to make do with the other lounge offerings in Heathrow Terminal 3 – I’d recommend the British Airways Galleries First lounge if you have oneworld Emerald status as that’s vastly superior to the American Airlines Flagship lounge that’s around the corner.

If you’re traveling in Business Class or have oneworld Sapphire status you should probably use the regular British Airways Galleries Lounge as that’s not too bad…..although Cathay Pacific have also arranged for passengers to use the No. 1 lounge while its own lounge remains closed. The No. 1 lounge is not bad at all (I’ll be reviewing that soon as well) but it can get very crowded at busy times and you may have more luck with the BA lounge.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Many thanks…. a good lounge for me always sets me up for a good trip. For the moment it is putting me off going Cathay from LHR until the lounge opens…. when that will be be who knows!

    • Having just seen the Pier in HK I’m looking forward to seeing this lounge quite a bit but, if I’m being completely honest, as a oneworld flyer I’m looking forward to the Qantas lounge (coming in 2017) even more.

Comments are closed.