Jaunted

If you're hoofing it all the way down the length of Hong Kong's main terminal to find your flights at any gate from 60-71, then you're going to have to face moving walkway after moving walkway; it's no short stroll. However, once you make as far as Gates 62-66, Business and First Class and flyers with status on Oneworld member airlines may choose to take a slick little escalator down to enter The Pier lounge. We only made it to the Business Class side, but it's hard to imagine the First Class area being much more luxurious than what we found over here.

Like our previous tour of The Wing lounge, The Pier comes complete with a Noodle Bar, Long Bar, self-serve refreshments area, business room, ample seating areas, and shower suites—but here we went into shower suite and got naked, so consider it as having the "Jaunted's Bare Ass Stamp of Approval," if you will. The lounge seems to sprawl on and on, tucked away as it is on a floor beneath the departure gates, but with an equally impressive view of nearby boarding aircraft. Although we only experiences The Pier during the morning "rush," we can say that since there are just so many seating areas, chair choices and different zones, that it never quite feels full, which is excellent as everyone enjoys the luxury of space.

Although we recommended squatting in The Long Bar if you're at The Wing lounge, here at The Pier we'd instead hunker down in one of their pairs of facing chairs, each with two easily accessible outlets and a low wall, which gives the nice illusion of partial privacy. As always at HKG, internet access is free and pretty fast, and food and beverages are complimentary down in this lounge.

Looking at the toilet and sink half of a private shower suite

The Shower Suites: Another complimentary bit of the lounge experience are the shower suites, which open as early as 6am (along with the lounge's opening time) to allow flyers to fully freshen up even before grabbing their first cup of coffee. Each shower suite is equipped with toiletries (including toothbrushes and toothpaste), a sink and mirror, a toilet, a long bench, a hanger and coat hooks, a hairdryer, clean towels and—of course—a shower, which has both hand-held or rainfall showerhead options. Be sure to touch the back wall; it's made of embedded river rocks it seems, and it provides that organic and calm aesthetic like you expect from a spa, not an airport bathroom. Needless to say, we love ourselves an airport shower and take it from us that there's nothing better than ending a night spent sleeping across terminal chairs with a steaming, super-soapy suds-up.

Despite it's breadth, the Pier would be your best lounge option of the three at HKG if you're looking for a little extra space during peak travel times. It's simply giant, no space is wasted, and a pleasant main thoroughfare of a walkway seamlessly unites all the various areas of the lounge, which means it's perfectly easy to grab some noodles, grab some tea, pick up the latest copy of whatever international newspaper or magazine, chat with the attractive fellow frequent flyer across the lounge, and still keep an eye on your stuff.

Disclosure: We traveled to Hong Kong as guests of Cathay Pacific for this event. Regardless, all images and opinions are completely our own.

[Photos: Cynthia Drescher for Jaunted]