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Cathay Pacific Business Class and First Lounge SFO Review
The Cathay Pacific Business Class and First Lounge SFO lounge review is part of the weekend wedding in London. I’m flying Air Berlin through DUS to LHR and booked my ticket out of LAX. I scheduled it so that I would have less than a 24 hour stopover in San Fran and was able to use just 8000 points to spend the night at the Hyatt Regency SFO. Once arriving at the airport I checked in and was told that Air Berlin was now using the KLM/ Air France lounge. UGH, I really wanted to try the 3 One World lounges out.
I was actually turned down at the British Airways Galleries Lounge and the Japan Airlines lounge. HAHA! I’m One World Sapphire and I’m flying business class on a partner, but no go. Cathay, however, let me in.
The Deets:
- Where: San Francisco, SFO International Terminal A
- When: July 2016
- Who gets in:
- One World Sapphire, Emerald flying internationally
- Business and First Class passengers flying on One World
Location:
After clearing security make a hard left away from the Gates. From there you will follow the signs upstairs. Both the JAL and Cathay Pacific lounges are upstairs. 
Check In:
AHHHHHH the white marble. It just feels LUXURIOUS
Food, seating, hang out:
You’ll make a right to where the main seating and food areas are located. There is a small tv lounge just behind where check in is as well. The food was definitely on a very slim end of the presentation spectrum. I was there from early afternoon to just before dinner time, but there wasn’t a whole lot of options.
Main Seating area:
As you can see from the pictures…the lounge is very empty. As i sit in it doing the review I could probably count on one hand how many other guests are here. The WIFI is fast and it’s nice having a whole room to myself.
Work Area
Small work area with Macs and printers.
Showers/washrooms:
The showers weren’t open for some reason when I was there, but there were a few of them.
Overall
The best part of this lounge was the fact that it was empty. The offerings are nice. The booze is decent, the food wasn’t much to shout about, but it was great having some much space to myself. I could get some work done, photograph everything and no one really card. Cause no one was around lol. If Air Berlin keeps getting the could shoulder I would definitely opt to come to the Cathay lounge over KLM/Air France ( which is a priority pass lounge ) as it’s much nice, emptier, and easier on the senses.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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