During the wonderfully indulgent Christmas and New Year holiday break, I happily made a trip back home. Since I passed through Shanghai Hongqiao along the way, here is this lounge review. My flight was departing domestically from T2, so I visited the V1 First Class Lounge.
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Shanghai Hongqiao V1 First Class Lounge
After security, there are clear signs pointing to the V1/V2 first class/business class lounges. There are even moving walkways the entire way, which is a nice touch.
This is a Priority Pass lounge, so cardholders with Citi Prestige and AMEX Platinum/Centurion can access it, as can premium-cabin passengers on the relevant airlines. In addition, China has a homegrown version of “Priority Pass” called DragonPass, which is often included with Chinese bank credit cards and has better coverage at airports within China than Priority Pass. As a side note, V2 is directly across from V1; it is the China Eastern/Shanghai Airlines lounge, and SkyTeam elite members can go there as well. After entering, I handed over my Priority Pass card. Since there apparently was no POS terminal in China for swiping PP cards, the transaction was completed the old-fashioned way with carbon paper. That produced the receipt below (and why are there so many 2s in the number...?).
Food and Drinks
For a domestic lounge in China, the food and beverage selection easily beats most domestic airport lounges in the U.S. The food in the V2 lounge is provided by Su Zhe Hui.
For those of you in the U.S., don’t be too discouraged—you can enjoy this when you go back to China. The hot dishes in the lounge are more than enough to fill you up.
Seating
The lounge was not very crowded, but because it is designed with one small semi-private area for every 4 armchairs, most people were occupying an entire section by themselves. That made it hard to find a spot with good privacy. Still, considering the food was pretty solid, that was not a big issue.
There were also 2 dedicated rest areas in the lounge, something like a Quiet Zone:
And of course there were also some tables specifically for dining:
As well as newspapers and magazines
Sleeping
If you want to sleep, there is a room next to the lounge restroom (yes, really) where you can do so, but it is charged by the hour. So unless you really need it, this probably is not the place to sleep.
Boarding
For Priority Pass guests, there are no boarding announcements in this lounge, just like in most lounges, so you need to keep track of the time yourself. Missing your flight just to grab a little food would not be worth it. Have you been to the lounges at Hongqiao T2? Leave your thoughts in the comments.