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San Francisco Airport
Our journey started with a one-way Avis car rental to the San Francisco airport. After returning the car we took the AirTrain over to the international terminal and to the Cathay Pacific section for first class check in. It was a couple hours before our flight in order to have time to experience the lounge. The polite female ticket agent asked for our passports and worked at checking us in. She looked up and asked, “I don’t see your return flight?”
The Setup: Unforeseen Events
Introduction: Planning for Thailand
Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge SFO
Review: Cathay Pacific International First Class – San Francisco To Hong Kong
Review: The Pier, Hong Kong International Airport
Review: Dragonair International Business Class – Hong Kong To Phuket
Review: Anantara Layan Phuket Resort – Deluxe Seaview Suite
Boat Transfer & Check-in: The Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa
Review: Santhiya Koh Yao Yai – Ocean View Pool Villa Suite
Review: Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort
Day Trip: National Marine Park – Koh Hong Archipelago
Final Thoughts & Monkey Business – Santhiya Koh Yao Yai
Review: Thai Royal Orchid Lounge – Phuket
Review: Lux Pay In Lounge – Phuket
Review: Dragonair International Business Class – Phuket To Hong Kong
Review: Regal Airport Hotel – Superior Room
Review: Cathay Pacific International First Class – Hong Kong To Chicago
Review: American Airlines Flagship Lounge – Chicago
Review: American Airlines Domestic First Class – Chicago To San Francisco
Cathay Pacific check-in
I had been watching the return flights and still had not found anything that we wanted to book. I smiled and explained we were on a one-way itinerary, and would book a return flight once in Thailand. Well, much to my surprise Cathay Pacific doesn’t allow you to do that. You must have a returned itinerary booked. I calmly asked for a refundable return ticket HKT-SFO, 2 weeks out from our intended return date. She explained it would be best to do this ourselves on the internet. Embarrassed, and little nervous, I explained we would be right back.
At this point Suzy was in a sure panic. I told her to relax and that I would need 20 minutes or so. Fortunately, we had time, and a high credit limit on our American Express card. After booting up my laptop and about 15 minutes I had purchased two refundable coach tickets from Phuket to San Francisco on Cathay Pacific. Cost 196,700.00 Thai baht, ~ $5,600.00 U.S. Lesson learned. We went back to the first class counter, I was red in the face, checked in and received our boarding passes. We headed directly to Cathay Pacific San Francisco Lounge.
Hallway in
After going through security you turn left and take the lounge elevators to level 4. The lounge is fairly large and handle’s both business and first class passengers. It was recently remodeled at the end of 2015 and has almost doubled in size to 9,200sqft from 5,500sqft. It is the only Cathay Pacific lounge operated in the U.S.
Lounge front reception
The lounge is broken up into 5 main spaces 2 dining areas and 3 seating areas. It also has 2 full men’s and women’s restrooms, a computer work station area, 3 large shower rooms, and a small TV room. The larger of the 2 dining areas has a noodle bar with made to order dishes.
Seating area to the right
Open seating middle
Seating area to the left
Hallway to restrooms and showers
Men’s restroom
Workstations
The evening of our flight the lounge was about half full. After the fiasco at check in I was ready to have a drink and relax, and did so after taking some pictures of the lounge. The service was good and both the food servers and table bussers stayed busy keeping the facilities clean and provisioned. The spread was also good, especially considering this was a U.S. located lounge.
Small bar area
Wine and juice
Cold cut offerings
Hot entrees
Salad with more offerings
Main dinning area
Smaller dining area
Susan wanted to try the noodle bar. She loves Asian noodle dishes and was excited to sample a dish in the lounge. She ordered wonton soup and I ordered dandan noodles. About 50 minutes after our arrival they called for boarding of our flight. We collected our things and proceeded to the gate A3.
Menu items
Noodle bar
Both our items were tasty, especially the dandan noodles
Reader board
In Summary:
The Cathay Pacific San Francisco Lounge is the only lounge Cathay Pacific operates in the United States. It’s large, well provisioned and well serviced. The food selection and quality is good and the lounge has several useful amenities including computer stations and showers. Although not on par with Delta’s JFK Sky Club or the Star Alliance lounge at LAX, I still think it good airline lounge and I would plan on utilizing it if we had the opportunity again.
