Springing to Chicago – Cathay Pacific Lounge and American Airlines Lounge (Heathrow Terminal 3)
- Here we go… again (in more ways than one)
- Off to Heathrow
- Terminal 3 Oneworld Lounges (Cathay Pacific and American Airlines)
- AA87 London Heathrow T3 to Chicago O’Hare International
- The joy of US immigration
- Intercontinental Chicago – Magnificent Mile
- Travel Tech: Life with a Canon 50mm f1.2 (yes, it’s another walk around Chicago)
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Travel Tech: SkullCandy Ink’d Wireless Headphones
- Airplane Art Special: From the Balcony of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare ** BONUS **
- Back to O’Hare, The British Airways Business Class lounge
- BA296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow
- Delayed Arrivals and Homeward
- Short and Sweet
Oneworld Lounge hopping at Heathrow T3
If you’re an oneworld frequent flyer at Heathrow, T3 is the place to go to lounge hop and see how the different lounges perform in a major international hub without crawling too far, with four lounges within spitting distance of each other
- The Cathay Pacific Lounge
- The British Airways Galleries
- The Qantas Lounge
- The American Airlines lounge.
With the Qantas lounge closed early in the morning (it doesn’t open until 07:55), and the British Airways galleries akin to the in Terminal 5, I chose the Cathay Pacific Lounge (for the food) and the American Airlines lounge (to be closer to the gate when boarding is called)
So first stop: The Cathay Pacific Lounge.
Lounge C…
The Cathay brushstroke.
Last year, I raved about this lounge being one of the best in Heathrow. Does it still deliver on the service standards?
Well, let’s have a lounge tour first.
Entrance-way
Seating area
Food area
Seating
Bar area
Casual seating
My top tip (and if you’re limited on time), when you get into the lounge – order the food you want from the noodle bar. It 1) saves time and 2) allows you to get settled without having to go back-n-forth.
What to have….?
With the noodles ordered, I headed over to one of the chairs near the food and bar area, stopping for a glass of bubbles on the way. Why? It might be 6am in the morning, but after that wait – I needed something to keep me going.
The view I had for the window showed traffic on the departing runway, taxing traffic, and planes covered in de-icer fluid.
Now in day-glow green!
At least it’s not a windowless box – which some lounges do a good impression of sadly.
After a short wait – my noodles and dim sum were ready. What noodles did I choose?
Prawn Wonton Noodles, Dan-dan Mein and a Char-Sui bao. Yes. All together. It’s called breakfast. And also – not eating the night before.
With this, I tucked into my noodles, and watched the world go by as I charged my new headphones and caught up with a few things in the office that I haven’t had a chance to put to.
Because I’m strangely married to my job. Or just strange.
Take your pick.
There are other catering options too – with an extensive help-your-self section
Cold items
Pastries
Hot items
Canned beverages.
Whilst the Cathay Lounge is a wonderful place to be – as it only makes announcements for Finnair and Cathay flights, being there when boarding is called for an American Airlines flight to Chicago flight doesn’t make too much sense.
With my headphones charged up, and my out of office assistant finally switched on (that took longer than it needed to – trust me), I filled the water bottle up – and headed on out of the lounge.
Honestly – I want this tap at home. Cold water, hot water and bubbly water in a single tap…
I therefore headed out, and headed to the AA lounge.
After passing the Qantas lounge (which was closed sadly, or else I would had tested that), I headed onto the American Airlines lounge (which is below the Virgin Atlantic Club House).
The Qantas lounge – closed… sadly. I’ll have to come back through T3 again to test it. For science.
Lets head to Lounge H!
Lounge H
The entrance
I was blipped in, and headed into the warm space.
Central Area.
Seats
Business area.
Less attractive views.
After settling into a seat – I could tell I was in an American lounge straight away, with rather the polite hellos, people where whistling to attract attention.
Wonderful.
I took a brief look at the catering options, and opted for the DIY breakfast. Food in the lounge is still done by Rhubarb – and it shows as the quality of the food for a mass catered lounge is pretty high.
Coffee machines.
Well, it beats the pants off a dry BA bacon roll.
Eggs and Bacon
Tomatoes and Mushrooms
Breads and condiments
A small plate for one.
There’s also a reasonable drinks selection as well too.
Drinks selections
In honour of Airwaysfoodie
And something I like in particular – a classic British sweet shop area, with bags to take away.
Sweetie jars!
As I said, I was using this lounge as a staging point before heading to the gate. And around 7:50, the call was made for the Chicago flight. I bagged everything up and headed for Gate 28 – which whilst it doesn’t seem that far away, it’s still a good old hike.
To the gate!
At least the travelators are now repaired and working in Terminal 3, which makes a difference… and saves on shoe-leather. A nice touch.
Arriving at Gate 28, I was processed by both the gate agents and the security agents – and headed into the holding pen where there was a big green chair no reason that could be explained.
Why does this big green thing exist?
As I arrived, Business Class boarding had just commenced. By the time I shot a picture of the waiting Boeing 787, Group 3 boarding was cleared to begin – my signal to board the plane and start getting the flying part of this trip under way.
I headed down the jetway, onto my waiting chariot
Next: AA87. The Squeezeliner. What a squeeze...
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