Review : Plaza Premium First Lounge

After a journey that took me to Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and then back to Hong Kong, it is time to return to Europe. It will be on Lufthansa, in First Class on A380. This gives me the opportunity to try, a few days after the Silver Kris Singapore Airlines lounge at the same airport, a new lounge: the Plaza Premium First Lounge, where Lufthansa sends its First Class passengers.

Location of the lounge

It is in the terminal 1 of the Hong Kong airport. Immediately after the security checks you just have to go down to the ground floor and go in the direction of door 1. Very well located to access it can be far or very far from your departure door (which was my case)

Who has access to the lounge?

A lot of people! Next to the Plaza Premium “Normal” lounge, it already accepts people who wish to pay to access it, as this is its primary vocation: to be a “pay per use” lounge. Prices range from $113 for 3 hours to $151 for 10 hours.

For this price you have access to a bar, a buffet, self-service drinks, showers and massages, work spaces…in short, everything that makes a premium lounge.

But besides that, a whole category of travelers has free access to it.

Air France, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss, Lufthansa, Qatar, Finnair… to name but a few send some of their passengers there, usually 1st class or even business class for Finnair.

The capacity of the lounge is approximately 250 people.

Lounge layout

As is often the case, there is an airlock at the entrance where your eligibility to enter the lounge is checked or where you are asked to make the necessary payment.

Then you arrive in a large space where the first thing that jumps out is…the bar.

All around you will find dining areas with tables, chairs, high tables and stools…

A little further on, a more “lounge” area with more comfortable armchairs to work or rest.

Further on we will find rest areas (difficult for the photos) and a restaurant (we will come back to it).

Design and atmosphere

Tones between grey and brown, a soothing light neither too violent nor too dark, the place looks very premium despite some faults of taste like the brown/orange benches which will remind the oldest of the benches of the venerable Corail trains of the SNCF (in a nicer way though).

The place is relatively quiet even when it is quite full. It just got worse at dinner time: naturally the restaurant became noisier than the “lounge” part and moreover with all the flights leaving to Europe at about the same time it filled up all of a sudden.

Ironically, the worst embarrassment came from the outside. The lounge does not have a closed door to the outside and a baby who decided to bawl 1m away from the lounge door managed to annoy everyone for a good 30 minutes before calming down.

Bar and catering

This bar is one of the best airport lounge bars I’ve seen, if not the best yet. It allegedly has the best whiskey list in the airport and I have no trouble believing it. Too extensive to photograph everything and share it here.

This is just an overview.

It also proposes well marketed tasting offers.

As usual I will test some classics like the Negroni and the Old Fashioned…

And “local” creations…

Then I’ll return for a whiskey after dinner before boarding.

What can I say about the service?

It is good in such a place to have a real barman who knows his job well, knows how to advise when the menu is very rich and makes things of quality, which have taste and without cutting back on the doses.

Then the restaurant.

When I arrived it was rather empty then became crowded and noisy over time.

There are real cooks who work on demand in an open kitchen.

The way it works is a bit confusing. There is a small “buffet” section ….

You are also given a menu when you settle in.

I am told that since I am a First Class passenger I am entitled to two dishes. So not everyone is entitled to the same benefit. Is it partially paid for by some? I see people looking at the vacuum-packed sausage at the buffet, obviously wondering if they are allowed to help themselves or not. In short, it’s a bit of a mess and as the staff doesn’t bother to present the service I’ll limit myself to the menu.

I’ll have the bouillabaisse and the beef.

Bouillabaisse to start with.

The presentation is nice.

The soup itself is very good. As for the rest, it is a very good and tasty fish soup in which two mussels, two clams, two shrimps and a piece of fish the size of a chicken nugget were lost.

The proof in pictures.

And the pan-fried beef…

A lot of taste but a little light in quantity and it lacks sauce.

Beside that, the drink menu was correct.

Correct without more for a lounge “First”. I will be running on champagne and the staff will be very generous on the refills throughout the meal. A very friendly staff by the way.

In short, a mixed experience: it’s good, the staff is very friendly but it’s noisy when the restaurant is full, a bit messy and cluttered. The quantities are also a little light. We are far from the codes of a “real” airline First lounge but it does the job.

Bottom line

Overall it was a good experience. Few airlines can have real First class lounges outside their bases (in fact, few airlines have Firsts at all) and they therefore “send” their First Class passengers either to a partner airline that has such a lounge or a premium zone in its business lounge or to an “contract lounge” that welcomes customers from different airlines. And in this second case, the paying customers being added to the guests, you never know which clientele, atmosphere and level of service you will find.

Without, as I said, equaling a real airline First lounge such as Air France’s La Première lounge, Lufthansa’s First Class Lounge and First Class Terminal, Singapore Airlines’ Private Room, Qatar’s or Emirates’ First Lounges and so on, you have a good quality service and, I insist on it, a high level bar service.

On the other hand, during peak hours it fills up quickly and the lounge becomes a little too noisy, crowded, with a paying clientele that doesn’t bother with the codes of this kind of place. Fortunately, this time slot is limited.

On the other hand, it can be enjoyed in the quieter moments of the day.