TRIP REPORT: Exploring the Cathay Pacific and Qantas Lounges at Heathrow Terminal 3

TRIP REPORT: Exploring the Cathay Pacific and Qantas Lounges at Heathrow Terminal 3
Miles to Bucharest

It’s time to lounge around Heathrow Terminal 3. And whilst one of the lounges I’m visiting should be an easy guess, the other is a little different from the norm for me…

In this adventure

I’ve written about the different sorts of lounges there are at Heathrow Terminal 3 many times and what you can access, so we’ll skip that, and head straight to the best lounge at Terminal 3…

Cathay Pacific Lounge (Business Class)

I headed over to Lounge C and headed up the familiar elevator up to the upper floor of Terminal 3 and into the loving arms of the Cathay Pacific Lounge.

There was a short wait as a couple in front of me were gaining access to the lounge. When it came to my turn, I was beeped in, and made my way into the lounge.

Naturally, of course, there’s a procedure in this lounge (well for me at least) . The first stop is by the noodle bar to get breakfast. Because whilst an English-style breakfast is nice enough, there’s nothing like a bowl of noodles and a char siu bun first thing in the morning to wake you up properly.

On the menu

That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.

With the noodle order in, the next step is a little more sanity after dealing with National Express and minimal sleep.

Who took my seat? Sigh…

Food bar area.

Sofas for days.

And yes, I only tend to stick to one glass.

The rest of the time is water or Diet Coke. The aim is not to get drunk but to enjoy a drink. And yes, that involves knowing one’s limits. Something we seem to do poorly in this country some days when we get to an airport.

I idly looked at the breakfast selection from the self-service section. Nothing too outstanding – but as usual, done to a good quality – something I expect from this lounge.

Pastries

Pork items

Cheese and Tomato Omlettes

The noodles were ready soon enough, and I was paged to collect them.

Now the trip had begun.

Dan Dain Mein. condiments, and a bao.

Bao.

We live by small markers in life. This is one of the small markers that something begins and ends… and noodles mark the settling in of a trip.

I’m going to miss this in the future, with the way British Airways elites are getting shafted.

As usual, the noodles were reasonably firm, whilst the peanut sauce was a nice consistency. Combined with a char sui bao to nibble and mop up with, it’s a good start to the day.

As well as the Diet Coke to keep me awake. Coffee wasn’t going to cut it that morning.

Well, with the sun rising, I decided to deploy a Mirrorless Camera beast out for some work.

Some of you who keep an eye on my trip reports know that I’ve deployed a Canon EOS R50 into my camera fleet – mainly as I need a pocketable Mirrorless Camera that can knock out images in high quality – yet can be adapted to other lenses in the Canon range. In my lightest travel kit, I have:

A Canon EOS R50
The Canon 15-45mm kit lens (and this is one of those times I’m going to be nasty – for size alone, the kit lens is perfect for pocket-only travel. If you want to scale up, there are other RF and EF options available.
A Canon EF 70-300 F4.5-5.6 DO IS with an RF to EF adaptor.

I’m using a non-official adaptor with the EF70-300 DO – so sometimes, the camera loses communication with the les. But most of the time, it’s fine.

I’m also fine with using an iPhone as a main shooter – the iPhone 14Pro is still good at what it does, except for the zoom elements. Because a 3x zoom isn’t cutting it in Kevin Land (hence the big gun lens)

As to some pictures – well, some of us have to build up a stock of them for weekly photos.

jetBlue Airbus A321LR

British Airways Airbus A320

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-400ER

Air France Airbus A220-300

United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER

Perfect whilst round two of noodles appeared – this time basic, but delicious Won Ton Noodles, spiked with chilli oil.

Sunrise over the Terminal 3 apron.

With a little time on my hands, I decided to try something different. Thus at 9 am, I packed up my junk and switched lounges.

But which?

Let’s head to Lounge C… The Qantas Lounge

Qantas Lounge (Business Class)

With an hour to go before departure, I opted for something a little different – not the BA lounge or the traditional American Airlines lounge – but the Qantas Lounge.

Interestingly, the lounge is opening a lot earlier than previously at 6 am as this lounge is now the lounge for Finnair customers to use on their early departure (previously it was the Cathay Pacific Lounge, which now just handles Cathay, China Airlines and oneworld elites).

In the dim and distant past, this was the SAS lounge – before they moved to Terminal 2. Since then Qantas have taken over the space and completely remodeled the lounge.

I was welcomed to the lounge and directed upstairs to the Business Class area.

Arriving up the stairs, you’re greeted with a bar, with drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, with an extensive coffee selection). From there, you can split around to find a seating area.

Food was at the rear of the lounge – this was served buffet style. Again, a more than passable selection – with a lot of focus on the water options too. On the ground floor, it is very much a dining area with table service.

The main spread

Scrambled Eggs. Allegedly.

Mushrooms and Tomatoes

Breakfast itejms

Pastries

Hydration station

Quiche.

I was all for this – I was drying out internally still (although I suspect that the oncoming cough that hit me the week after, along with the asthma flairup were factors).

I found some seating – and it was pretty relaxing. A little brighter than I’m used to first thing in the morning, (as the tones of the Cathay Lounge are great to wake up to), but not as sterile lighting as the AA lounge.

With Boarding confirmed from Gate 9, I headed out of the lounge and down the gate. Thankfully, Gate 9 isn’t far from the lounge complex at Terminal 3 – it’s a matter of heading down the left side of the terminal and Gate 9 pops up in front of you.

With two queues of passengers being processed (Groups 1-3 and everyone else), I slid into the Group 1 queue and got my boarding pass scanned.

My timing was reasonable, as boarding was the boarding, with Assistance-required passengers first. With the group cleared, Group 1 was cleared to board.

I got up and headed my way down the jetbridge. It was time to go and check off a new country on the list

Next: BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (Club Europe).

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