Tianjin Airport Lounge Overview

At U.S. airports, lounges are often more centralized, and each individual lounge tends to be fairly large. But at most airports in China, lounges are much smaller and scattered around different gate areas. After walking past just a few gates, you’ll often run into another lounge. Most of these lounges are shared by multiple airlines, and many also partner with third-party membership programs and various banks.

The official number of VIP lounges at Tianjin Binhai International Airport is 7.

However, if you check the Priority Pass app or website, the number of lounges accessible with a PP card goes up to 17. In practice, the situation is actually pretty close to what Priority Pass shows: roughly every 2-3 gates, there seems to be another first class lounge. Each lounge can hold about 30 people.

Even though there are many of them, the domestic departure lounges all offer basically the same setup: sofas, TVs, some books, and snacks like packaged cookies, a little fruit, assorted drinks, coffee, and instant noodles. You can simply pick whichever lounge is closest to your gate.

How to Get Into the Lounge

There are several ways to enter a lounge:

  • First class passengers on eligible flights can enter with their ticket
  • Pay for access or sign up for that lounge’s membership program
  • Premium credit cards from partner banks may include lounge access as a benefit
  • Third-party memberships such as Priority Pass

This time, I used the Priority Pass Select membership that comes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. I didn’t have the physical card with me, so I used the digital version instead. After downloading the app, the digital card appears automatically in the app, and you can save it to Apple Wallet for easier use.

When I entered the lounge, I showed the front desk agent my digital Priority Pass card. She told me they couldn’t scan the digital card there, but they could manually write down the membership number, expiration date, and name. I assume they later enter it into the system manually for billing. I had previously seen in the app that some lounges can scan the QR code on the digital card, so I asked about it. She said the lounges at Tianjin Airport do not scan digital cards and instead just register the information manually.

First Class Lounge Experience

The lounge was fairly small, with room for only about 30 people. Overall, though, it was clean and comfortable.

The Chinese-style decor was pleasant and relaxing.

There was a separate restroom, and it was much cleaner than the public ones outside.

There wasn’t a huge variety of food—just cookies, a few kumquats, assorted drinks, and instant noodles. Everything was self-serve, and honestly, it didn’t seem like anyone would mind if you took something with you.

My favorite lounge item: bottled drinks. Drink one, take one.

Personally, I’d still take instant noodles >>> the carrots, salad, and overly sweet cookies you often get in U.S. lounges.

After eating and drinking, I started wondering why there were so many POS terminals at the front desk. It seemed like each bank used a different POS machine—maybe to make it easier to identify whether someone had the right premium membership benefit?

Basically, most people getting into these lounges seemed to be using lounge benefits that come with Chinese bank-issued credit cards. Just like in the U.S., some also include a guest benefit for one travel companion. So it looks like bank card perks in China are pretty decent too.

There was a dedicated display screen at the front desk that showed flight changes and boarding information before the public announcements. The staff would also proactively announce boarding in the lounge for passengers after registering your flight number.

Using Priority Pass in China

These days, premium credit cards are so common that it feels like everyone has a Priority Pass. No matter where you’re using it, the most important thing is to bring the right Priority Pass card. Different cards come with different levels of PP access: some are basically useless and still charge you for each visit; some let you bring only one guest before extra fees kick in; and some allow unlimited guests. My advice is simple: keep the Priority Pass with the best access and toss the rest in a drawer. If a card still charges you to enter lounges, you might as well cut it up.

If you have your physical PP card with you, that’s the best-case scenario, since all lounges support swiping the physical card. That said, when the card is swiped, you usually can’t tell whether you’re about to be charged, so make sure you bring the correct one. If you don’t have the physical card, you can download the Priority Pass app. After logging into your account, a digital card will be generated automatically. In some lounges, the front desk can scan the QR code from the digital card; in others, they may just manually register your membership number and other information.

At some lounges in China, the entrance does not clearly indicate whether PP cards are accepted, so I strongly recommend downloading the Priority Pass app. In the app, you can see lounge details and access information. Whether or not it explicitly says digital cards are accepted, it’s always worth stopping by the front desk to ask since you’ll be passing by anyway.

If the PP card that came with your credit card can’t be added to the app to generate a digital card, then at minimum you should write down your membership number (not the card number), expiration date, and name. There’s a chance the lounge can still let you in by manually registering the information.

Based on my experience visiting several airports, nearly all lounges in China—other than the smaller independent third-party ones—accept PP cards directly, so don’t miss out. If you’re in Beijing, for example, the first class lounges there accept PP cards and even offer hot beef noodles along with a wider selection of food. At smaller airports, though, the setup is usually similar to what I described here: instant noodles, cookies, and drinks.