Lounge Stop – Cathay Pacific (Business Class) and American Airlines (Flagship Business)
There and Back Again
It’s still silly o’clock in the morning. It must be time to head for breakfast in a lounge. But which one? So many choices in Heathrow Terminal 3…
In this adventure
- Let’s have a Melancholy Introduction
- To the 2:40 Coach and Heathrow Terminal 3
- Lounging in Terminal 3 with Cathay Pacific and American Airlines
- AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare (Main Cabin)
- Into the USA and The Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites, Rosemont
- Airplane Art Extra from the Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites, Rosemont
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- An Unveiled Bean – Seeing Cloud Gate after works at the Plaza
- Did I mention I hate suitcases? The Hunt for a Replacement
- Exploring The Loop from Above with the Chicago L
- Random Food Adventures in Chicago
- Off to O’Hare Terminal 3. Wait. T3? With the American Airlines Flagship Lounge
- BA296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow (World Traveller)
- Coffee and the Coach
- One step forward
If we’re in London Heathrow Terminal 3 – it means we can lounge hop to get the most out of an elite bit of plastic.
For Oneworld Emerald and Sapphires Elites, there are a lot of choices here, In alphabetical order:
- The American Airlines Lounge (Flagship Business and Flagship First)
- The British Airways Galleries Clubs (Business and First Class)
- The Cathay Pacific Lounge (Business and First class lounge)
- The Qantas Club (Business Class)
If you have credit cards or wish to pay, there’s also the American Express Centurion Lounge, the No1 Lounge Heathrow and Club Aspire Lounge Terminal 3
Those who know will know which lounge I went for.
Momma needs noodles to wake up.
Cathay Pacific Business Lounge (Lounge B)
I head here first because 1) it’s a nice lounge to relax in and 2) it’s one of the better lounges at London Heathrow.
That, and they do decent noodles here.
I was welcomed to the lounge – and found I was pretty much the first customer of the day.
There are priorities to be met first – with a requirement for noodles.
It seems that Cathay Pacific has switched up its menus a little with a new spicy noodle option. Talk about an easy way to my soul.
With that and a plate of dim sum, my order was put in. Thankfully, it was time to find a seat.
Noodle Bar
Dining area
My traditional home
Lounge
Bar
Self-Service Area
The next step was a glass of bubbly… as … well…. Tradition. That’s my excuse and I’m going with it.
Considering that a week before, I was in a position where this trip was going to be canned, I considered this as a salute to success… or sheer bloody-mindedness.
Onto the first order from the bar, with a new Thai-inspired spicy Noodle Soup. That to me is a statement of love/proposal in three words.
Spicy Noodle Soup. And it hit the spot perfectly after a fun morning/night before. I chose some Dim Sum to go with this, with the usual mixture of Har Graw, Shrimp Dumping and Char Sui bao.
Because… Char Siu Bao’s.
Never let it be said the comfort of a good meal can lighten even the crappiest of days – and on the run-up to this trip, I was having plenty of those.
There was also a more traditional English breakfast, which was offered buffet style. Nothing to raise eyebrows about, but good to see, along with the bakery and lighter items.
Beans, Sauces, Potatoes and Tomatoes.
Eggs
Sausage and Bacon
Cereals, Porridge and Breads
Machines of life-waking elixir.
For me, sipping coffee after a glass of bubbly, it’s time to contemplate life, the universe and everything – and try to work out why six by nine is 42. Or sometimes this quote from Douglas Adam’s “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory mentioned, which states that this has already happened
To help work this out, an extra dose of noodles is required. And it wouldn’t be a Cathay Pacific Lounge visit with some Dandan mein.
Traditions are hard to break some days.
With around 50 minutes to go – and the world being rather dark outside still, I picked up my trash and exited the lounge, as I wanted to position myself closer to the action that is preparation for boarding.
It was time to swap lounges and ponder if any seating miracles might happen.
}
Down lounge alley
One can live in hope…
American Airlines Lounge (Lounge H)
Heading into the lounge, I was welcomed and advised that I could stay for only a short time, as boarding for the flight to Chicago was due to be called shortly. The agent advised that there was enough time for a quick breakfast, however.
Food is never a bad priority. Given there was no mention of seating, it seemed that I would be in 16L across the pond. Oh well.
Heading into the lounge itself, compared to the muted tones of the Cathay Pacific lounge, it’s clinically bright here. 
That’s no problem. It’ll keep me awake whilst I set up the iPad…
… oh crap.. One more problem to deal with downroute.
I had a quick perusal of the catered items. Like the Cathay Pacific lounge, they offered a buffet-style breakfast, with a few more cold cuts…
More gifts of Pork
Eggs
Mushrooms and Tomatoes
}
Chia Seeds. Why?
Cereals.
… and a toaster that probably has a lot more stories that I want to know about in life.
I don’t even want to know what people have tried to shove into this poor toaster. It must have many stories (like the lounge staff) to tell about the lives it lived.
Such is the world and people.
I grabbed a few bits to pick on – nothing heavy, but enough to keep my mind occupied. Although it’s good to see that American Airlines has expanded the outlet selection in their lounge – you now have UK, US, USB-A and USB-C outlets.
Although I wouldn’t want to plug into that Cat5 socket.
Sadly, I didn’t have a power tester with me to measure how much power they output – but it’s a good thing to see that this consideration is hitting lounges now.
Now, let’s make all the other lounges do this too.
Soon enough, the call for the flight to Chicago was made. I reluctantly got my things together and headed out of the lounge and towards the gate.
Today, the aircraft would be departing from Gate 29. Normally, that’s not a problem.
Not my aircraft to the USA.
Heathrow decided to create problems, with the travelators being out of order.
Are both of them out of action? Delicious. *sigh*
Oh well, I needed to burn off breakfast somehow.
Arriving at Gate 29, there was a big queue of people waiting. A glance to the side showed it was mostly economy passengers.
I skipped past this to the Group 1-3 queue and had a nice short wait. With my boarding pass beeped and confirmed, I was all set to go.
Looking out the grey morning the Boeing 787-9 was silently waiting for its passengers for the transatlantic home
The waiting Boeing 787-9
As I headed into the Gate lounge, my boarding group was called. I wasted no time and headed down the jetway. Least of all, I wanted to avoid the boarding crush when it came to shoving my bag in the overhead bins…
It was time to go west.
Next:
AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare in Main Cabin. Is that an elbow in my side? Oh. How delightful. For the best part of eight hours, you say?
Sigh…
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