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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
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
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® is exceptional 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: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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