In November 2024, I travelled to fly back on Singapore Airlines’ inaugural SQ811 service from Beijing Daxing International Airport. Before the flight, I stopped by the BCS Lounge near gate E90. The BCS Lounge is Singapore Airlines’ contracted lounge for Business class and eligible status passengers.
While the BCS Lounge was not the best lounge I’ve visited, it was still sufficiently pleasant. It was quiet, though the whole terminal was, spacious and the F&B offerings were decent in quantity if not quality. It’s not a lounge worth spending hours in, but it’s a more than acceptable lounge to spend an hour or so waiting for one’s flight.
Location & Access
The BCS Lounge at Beijing Daxing International Airport is located all the way to the end of the E pier. The lifts and escalators up are at gates E88 and E90. For Singapore Airlines passengers, access is granted to Business Class passengers, Solitaire PPS and PPS Club members, and KrisFlyer Elite Gold. It’s not stated on SIA’s website, but presumably other Star Alliance Gold passengers will probably be accorded access as well. SIA’s website also states that there is a First Class section that Solitaire PPS Club members, but to be honest I actually don’t recall seeing a separate First Class section. I might have missed it, or it may be a recent addition. All other eligible SIA passengers get access to the Business Class section.
BCS Lounge at Beijing Daxing
For this inaugural day, the had decorations in the colours of Singapore Airlines. The reception desk also prominently featured a SIA model plane.
The lounge staff were clearly well-trained and prepared for the start of SIA operations. They had no problems quickly processing my entry. As I mentioned in my post on the inaugural festivities, I was given a SIA Batik print fan.
Just past the lounge entry was another cabinet with an even bigger model of a SIA A380, plus more blue and gold balloons.
The space
Once in the lounge proper, the buffet area takes centre stage, while the seating areas towards both sides of the lounge. While the decor of the lounge felt a little dull, with grey and brown furniture dominating. The lack of sunlight due to the cloudy weather didn’t help, although the lounge does have massive windows. However what struck me was the airiness of the lounge. The lounge is open vertically, so the ceiling is the high terminal ceiling. This makes it more airy, with the drawback of some noise from the gates level audible. Besides the high ceilings, the seating was more spaced, especially towards the extreme ends of each side. It didn’t fell as packed compared to say the Air China lounge I used in Shanghai Pudong. This is a very positive factor.
Seating was generally made of up rows of armchairs with tables in between chairs. On each end of the lounge, there was massive circular sofa., which honestly struck me as a bit odd, unless there’s a massive group of passengers travelling together. There was also a dining area with proper dining tables.
The general lack of crowd in the lounge also contributed to the overall sense of space. As a result, there was plenty of seating available, especially when I walked a bit further away from the buffet area.
In terms of facilities, there was a shower, and VIP rooms which could be booked for a fee.
Food & Beverage
The F&B offerings were fairly lounge for contract lounge. There were several hot items, including dim sum, stir-fried noodles, fried rice, scrambled eggs etc. Leaning into the Singapore theme, there was Nasi Lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves), with a side of Singapore chili shrimp. Sad to say though, the nasi lemak didn’t hit the mark at all. There were also 3 types noodles cooked to order: seafood pasta, braised beef noodles and hot & sour potato noodles. I had my fair share of beef noodles during my stay in Beijing, so skipped on the noodles. There were also various packaged snacks.
I was extremely pleased to see that the BCS Lounge actually bothered to refrigerate their soft drinks. Those who’ve read my review of the Air China Business lounge at PVG will recall that I had to request for ice there. Bottled water was available throughout the lounge, even away from the main F&B area. Even though it was 8am in the morning, the lounge had already put out the liquor bottles. I don’t recall seeing wines of any sort though.
Overall, I thought the F&B offerings were decent. The quality wasn’t the best, but the quantity was respectable. The option of cooked-to-order dishes was a nice surprise too. Most importantly, the soft drinks were cold!
Conclusion
The BCS Lounge in Beijing Daxing International Airport wasn’t the greatest lounge I’ve visited, but it was not a bad offering at all. Seating was plentiful, the food options were varied and the drinks were chilled. It was a sufficiently pleasant enough space to spend a bit of time waiting for my flight.