Asiana Airlines Trip Report: Introduction & Itinerary
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: Check-in & Star Alliance First Class Lounge LAX
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: OZ 201 Los Angeles to Seoul-Incheon
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: OZ 723 Seoul-Incheon to Hong Kong
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: Check-in & CNAC Lounge HKG
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge HKG
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: OZ 724 Hong Kong to Seoul-Incheon
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: Seoul-Incheon Airport Transit Hotel
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: Asiana Business Class Lounge ICN
Asiana Airlines Trip Report: OZ202 Seoul-Incheon to Los Angeles
Asiana’s check-in desk opens at 8:00pm in Hong Kong for the late night flight (or flights as it was this day since they also had another one to Seoul 40 minutes after mine). I wanted to visit both the Singapore SilverKris and CNAC (China National Aviation Corporation) lounges and checked-in right as the counter opened.
The agent’s English was excellent, better than what I experienced at LAX, and I quickly had my boarding pass and lounge invitation in hand.
Security and exit immigration were quick and I first stopped in the SilverKris lounge since they close first at 10:00pm. I’m doing the lounge reviews out of order since I wanted to keep the Asiana experience unique and attached to my check-in with the airline. The CNAC and another Dragonair lounge are up an escalator across from gate 16.
A total of 16 airlines use this contracted lounge and it showed. When I entered, it felt sterile and far too bright for my taste. A ridiculous amount of cardboard cut outs of uniformed airline agents lined the left wall as I approached the check-in desk. It’s a spacious lounge with lots of different seating areas where I found worn and tired furnishings.
Near the entrance are a luggage storage area and a couple of rows of cubicle workstations. Newspaper and magazine selections were also nearby. The walkway to the right after you enter leads to a row of several non-enclosed, half-wall rooms with relaxation chairs. They looked comfy, but I didn’t try them out.
The central lounge area is outfitted with two long buffet tables with meager offerings, including soups, chicken sausages, Haggen Daaz ice cream, sandwich wedges, fruit & veggies, pastries and chilled noodle dishes. None of it looked too appealing and I had just eaten in the Singapore lounge, so passed on it all.
Cold beverages were available in mini-refrigerators underneath the buffet, as well as alcoholic options on top.
Now here’s something I thought was incredibly strange. There were absolutely no proper napkins anywhere. The only thing available was a tissue-type thing from a few dispensers located on top of the buffet. Very weird.
One great thing this lounge does have, similar to Cathay Pacific’s The Wing, is a fantastic view of the tarmac. Since it was nighttime, the views were a bit glary from the terminal lighting, but I enjoyed watching a British Airways flight to London board and push back from the gate. One corner near the bathrooms had a seating area with incredibly bright orange chairs and marblesque tables.
The men’s room was pretty gross and basically the equivalent of what I found downstairs in the main terminal, maybe even worse. Just outside the restrooms was a short hall containing four shower rooms. They were locked, so evidently you’d contact the front desk to arrange for a room.
While nicer than just sitting around the gate area, this lounge is nothing special. My next installment will show off a much better lounge option for Star Alliance Gold members flying Asiana.
There should have been broth available to put into the dish with the cold noodles
I don’t recall seeing any, but wasn’t looking… very well could have been there.
maybe tubs of broth below the bottled water in the fridge??
still lounge not very impressive..how does it compared to the RCCs at SFO and/or US domestic?
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it was indeed better than United’s domestic RCCs given the food spread. UA wins on more comfortable furniture, though.
The CNAC lounge must have been a real letdown after visiting the Singapore lounge!
Indeed it was!
Yuk… I’m scheduled to fly Philippine Airlines from HKG – MNL and am dreading the CNAC lounge. How did you manage to use the SQ lounge prior??
I’m Star Alliance Gold, so normally have SQ lounge access. But since my PR boarding pass isn’t Star Alliance, I guess I’m out of luck.
How did you do it?
Never mind. I just realized CNAC is also Star Alliance and you were on an OZ ticket. duh..