Good news for Cathay Pacific flyers as the airline confirmed in an interview with the Executive Traveler that they are set to reopen The Pier First Class lounge by the middle of the year.
The Pier First Class lounge will then join the Wing First Class, the Pier (Business Class) as well as The Deck lounges that are already open and which John already visited since then as reviewed here on LoyaltyLobby.
In addition to the reopening of The Pier First Class, Cathay Pacific has refreshed its Bangkok and Manila lounges and is working to reopen all of the Hong Kong lounges with The Pier being the last that is still lingering.
You can access the Cathay Pacific page for lounge access here.
Cathay Pacific’s product manager had an exclusive interview with the guys from Executive Traveler and confirmed to them that things are on track to reopen The Pier First Class by the middle of 2023:
… Under Cathay Pacific’s 2023 lounge roadmap, The Wing Business will reopen in the coming months, complementing The Wing First in offering a full proposition at the top end of Hong Kong’s Terminal 1.
That will be followed by The Pier First around the middle of the year, expects Vivian Lo, Cathay’s General Manager for Customer Experience & Design.
“This supports our offer in terms of passenger volume,” Lo tells Executive Traveller as the airline soars once more.
In the meantime, a section of The Pier Business remains currently roped off and reserved for first class passengers, Cathay Diamond frequent flyers and their Oneworld Emerald equivalents. …
These are very welcome news for loyal Cathay Pacific customers flying from or via Hong Kong. It was (and actually still is) a bit sad to see the once glorious Cathay Pacific teetering on the edge. They always had such great service, routes, and facilities but the pandemic came close to breaking its neck.
John recently wrote about Cathay reopening The Deck in Hong Kong as well:
Cathay Pacific Reopens The Deck Lounge At Hong Kong International Airport
And back in October, he wrote an extensive post about the Hong Kong departure experience:
Things have gotten very much back to normal since. In fact, I just left Hong Kong last Wednesday on the way to Vancouver and didn’t notice any inconvenience whatsoever anymore. You can even register for and use the frequent visitor e-channel again.
Unfortunately, I did fly Cathay Pacific First Class going from Tokyo to Hong Kong and the onboard service was a shadow of its former self, even for intra-Asia routes which were never on the same level as long haul routes.
For example, they had ONE bottle of their listed champagne for First Class which meant that it was one glass for each of the six passengers pre-departure. After that, it was Business Class champagne.
Conclusion
Cathay Pacific is reportedly in preparation for reopening The Pier First Class section by the middle of this year. The lounge has been closed since the pandemic and Cathay Pacific has successively brought their lounges back online.
The last remaining lounges are The Wing Business Class and The Pier First Class after The Deck just reopened as well. It’s a good sign, last but not least, that Cathay is on the way back!
Are you going to fly Cathay Pacific more frequently again once their lounge network is fully operational?