1. Introduction
2. Review – Cathay Pacific Lounge at YVR
3. Review – Cathay Pacific Business Class – Vancouver to Hong Kong – A350-900
4. Review – Qantas Hong Kong Lounge
5. Review – Cathay Pacific Regional Business Class – Hong Kong to Seoul – 777-300
6. Review – Royal Hotel Seoul
7. Review – KAL Lounge Prestige Class – Incheon
8. Review – Etihad Airways Business Class – Seoul to Abu Dhabi – A340-600
9. Review – Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers – Dubai
10. Review – Etihad Airways Premium Business Class Lounge Terminal 3 – Abu Dhabi
11. Review – Etihad Airways Business Class – Abu Dhabi to Paris – A340-600
12. Review – WestJet Economy Class – London Gatwick to Toronto – 767-300ER

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The Cathay Pacific Lounge in Vancouver was recently renovated to take on Cathay’s redesigned theme, similar to The Pier Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport. We were really excited to visit this lounge, especially because I was so bitter that it was closed last time I was taking JAL’s 787.  We decided to head to the airport early to give ourselves plenty of time at the lounge.

The new lounge was located between gates D66 and D67 in the International Terminal, just a couple of minutes walk from security.  The entrance to the lounge was quite discrete.  There was only a small Cathay Pacific logo and text on the dark wall, and a cardboard cutout flight attendant.  A single elevator takes you up one floor to the lounge.

The lounge is accessible to Marco Polo Elite members, First and Business class passengers, as well as passengers travelling in First/Business on other One World partners.

A very friendly receptionist greeted us at the front desk as we stepped out of the elevator. She quickly scanned our boarding passes and gave us a quick description of the lounge.  Since we got to the airport quite early, we were the very first group of passengers there.  We practically had the entire lounge to ourselves for the better half of an hour.

We took advantage of the empty lounge to take plenty of photos and video. As we were doing that, the receptionist came up to me and asked if we were part of the Cathay Pacific media crew. She noticed us taking a lot of pictures. Nervously I said ‘No’, not knowing what to expect. I thought she would tell us that photography was not allowed.  Instead, she proceeded to give me a run-down of the lounge area and facilities, and described the beautiful view of the North shore mountains had it not been raining that day!  I later found out that there were actually several members of the media on our flight as well, also in business class.

The refreshed lounge takes on a new contemporary and modern styling, which is also present in Cathay Pacific’s flagship lounges in Hong Kong.  The abundant use of wood finishing, the muted colors of the furniture, and the warm lighting created a very relaxing atmosphere.  The lounge had floor to ceiling windows that provided great views onto the apron and north runway. Unfortunately it was gloomy and raining outside, or we would have been able to see the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

The lounge had one of my favorite features of Cathay Pacific lounges, the signature Noodle Bar. You can order traditional noodle dishes such as wonton noodle soup or dan-dan noodle soup. We each ordered a wonton noodle soup to start off our day and settled in the nearby booth seating for breakfast.

Afterwards, we took a seat on the lounge chairs by the window facing the apron, which were very comfortable. Conveniently built into the drawers of each side table are four outlets and four USB slots.  That’s a TON of charging capability.  The large table lamps provided some added privacy between each seat. We plane-spotted for a while, watching several planes taxiing by and landing.

I went to check out the other areas of the lounge. The Bureau (what Cathay calls their business centers) was in the corner of the lounge with three iMac computers. It also had great views onto the apron. I thought to myself, if I ever needed to get some work done, this is definitely not the place. The view would be too distracting!

In addition to the Noodle Bar, there was a regular buffet spread as well. Most of the options were pretty standard.  There was a small selection of fruits, salads, cereal, yogurt, dried snacks as well as sandwiches.  Beverage options included juice, pop and wine.  Coffee machines were also available to dispense lattes and cappuccinos.

The lounge provided two large shower rooms should you need to freshen up before your flight.  These were beautifully designed.  The shower had large black tiles, concrete finishes, sliding glass doors and a rainfall shower head. I loved the concrete ledge so you could sit while showering.  Of course, both the shower and washrooms were stocked with Aesop amenities. I absolutely love Aesop products.

The washroom had a similar theme, also stocked with Aesop amenities.

We decided to leave the lounge a bit earlier than we needed to, in order to do some plane-spotting before boarding our flight to Hong Kong.  The receptionist seemed shocked to see us leave early, as if there was something that upset us in this wonderful lounge!  We assured her that we weren’t leaving due to any disappointment whatsoever, which seemed to comfort her. I haven’t met a more genuinely thoughtful and friendly receptionist!

In Summary

The Cathay Pacific lounge was definitely one of the nicer lounges at Vancouver airport. It offers a spectacular seating environment, and the noodle bar is a great option for something light and freshly prepared. It’s a relatively small lounge compared to the ones in Hong Kong, but it is plenty for the amount of traffic at YVR. I would definitely recommend checking out the lounge and heading there earlier if you want to maximize your experience. I didn’t use the shower facilities since I was originating from Vancouver, but I can imagine it to be a nice touch for transiting passengers to freshen up before a long haul flight across the Pacific.

If you’d like to watch our video trip report on our experiences in the lounge and on Cathay Pacific’s A350, check out this video: