On my recent trip to Shanghai, I flew back on Singapore Airlines A380 business class (no review since I just reviewed a HKG-SIN flight on the same product a few months back). For this flight back, I had access to, and visited the Air China Business Class Lounge. I would have had access even if I wasn’t flying Business, by virtue of Star Alliance Gold status.
As with most airport lounges in China, this lounge was a decently comfortable place to kill time before a flight but that’s pretty much it. The food and drinks offerings were utterly unremarkable. There’s showers, and the lounge was empty and largely peaceful, which are probably the most important things for a lounge. Perfectly adequate for a short visit while waiting for a flight, but definitely not worth going early for.
Lounge entry
As its name suggests, the lounge is located near gate 71 (or D71) in Shanghai Pudong Terminal 2. At least, the escalator leading to the lounge is located near gate 71. Once up the escalator, I had to walk through a tight corridor with renovation hoardings on both sides, before arriving at the lounge:
That wasn’t quite the end of the walk, actually getting to lounge reception required crossing a bridge, before reaching the lounge entrance proper.
The lounge appeared to have a separate First Class section as well, but since I was only in business, I was gestured towards the right side of the entrance to the business class lounge.
Lounge space and facilities
Lower level
The Air China No.71 Business Class lounge was split into 2 levels. The lower level was smaller and had less F&B offerings, but was consequently quieter and almost empty. The seating downstairs, and around the lounge generally, mainly consisted of rows of armchairs in pairs, with a table between each pair.
Since the main lounge space appeared to be the upper level, I headed straight upstairs.
Upper level
Upon reaching the upper level, the first sight ahead was an Air China service desk. This was usually manned, but not always.
Just to the side was the main buffet and dining area, arranged in a circular shape. There were high tables, as well as long curved cushioned bench seats.
Elsewhere in the lounge, there was plenty throughout. As with downstairs, these were a variety of armchairs and coffee tables. The furniture were clean and in decent shape, though some of the cushioning had clearly seen better days. Given how empty the lounge was, it was easy to find a quiet and comfortable spot away from the dining area.
One annoying thing however, was the lack of power outlets. Most of the seats – which are closer to the window – had no power outlets nearby. That’s definitely one important feature of an airport lounge that was missing.
The toilets were located at the back of the lounge, through a passageway between the dining area and service desk. I recall there were shower rooms as well, though I didn’t manage to get a peek into one.
The lounge also had an entertainment area of sorts, which was a semi-enclosed semicircle with a TV in the middle. This area was for more kids, and the TV was showing a cartoon.
For those looking to get work done, there was an area with desks. Frankly, it resembled a study area in an old library. There obvious signs that there used be several desktop PCs here, but only one remained.
The lounge space was adequately comfortable, but otherwise utterly unremarkable. The most glaring issue was probably the lack of power outlets. The most redeeming feature was the abundance of seats and relative quietness with the low volume of passengers.
Food & Beverage
I didn’t expect much in terms of F&B, nor did I require much having had a heavy lunch prior to heading to the airport. As mentioned, the main F&B area is on the upper level. The food offerings were a rather mediocre mix of local and Western dishes. I only had a couple of steamed dumplings and buns for taste, which were passable. The rest of the food didn’t look particularly enticing.
The biggest issue for me however was the soft drinks. On the upper level, these were tucked away far from the dining area, and worst of all, left out in the open. I’m not about to drink room temperature Coke. I had to ask the staff for ice, which to their credit they promptly went back to the kitchen to fill a glass. Chinese generally don’t like cold drinks that much, but room temperature Coke is undrinkable.
I didn’t see any liquor on the upper level, but the F&B area on the lower level had some spirits and wine. Again, nothing to get too excited about here. Besides the liquor, there was a coffee machine, while the food was limited to just packaged snacks.
Conclusion
The Air China No.71 Business lounge served its purpose as a quiet place to wait for a flight, helped by the lack of passengers. Other than that, it was dull, lacked any facilities and the F&B offerings were rather mediocre. The lack of power outlets is definitely a negative and could be an issue for business travellers. This is one lounge that there’s no need to head to the airport early for, but to be honest that was expected.