Sleep overnight at Hong Kong Airport (plus review of the Plaza Premium Lounge)

Back in 2019 there was a crazy Philippine Airlines deal, and I bought a London – Manila – Hong Kong business class return ticket for less than £600. After spending some time with my family in China, I was going to Hong Kong to return to London.

The HKG-MNL flight was in the early morning, so my only choice was to fly to Hong Kong the night before. There are only three hotels in proximity to the airport – The Regal, Skycity Marriott and Novel Citygate. Given how much traffic HKG gets, it is not surprising how expensive these hotels were, so I decided to sleep at the airport instead.

Before flying to Hong Kong, the Cathay Dragon ground staff at Changsha were very friendly and helpful. My luggage was checked through to London from CSX so I wouldn’t need to do anything in Hong Kong (or so I wished…).

Upon arriving at Hong Kong Airport Terminal 1, I went straight to the security check for transit passengers. To my (bad) surprise, I was told that I couldn’t transit with my mobile boarding pass as they must see a paper one.

However, the last Philippine Airlines flight had just left so their transfer desk was no longer open. With no other options, I had to clear immigration, went landside to visit the departure area of the airport.

After confirming with the Information desk that I only needed a printed boarding pass, not a “proper” one to go through, I paid around £5 to print it out. This time I was able to clear security, no question asked.

I have no idea what this strange requirement is about – from what I’ve heard, mobile boarding passes from CX or BA are definitely fine, so I don’t know if it’s because there are specially rules about certain airlines, or something else.

Next I took the shuttle train to the American Express Centurion Lounge, hoping to get some refreshment before its closure at 00:30. The check upon entry was quite strict as they reviewed my boarding pass, Amex platinum card and passport. Then I was told they couldn’t admit me because my flight was not departing within the next three hours… Well, I guess it’s my fault forgetting this new rule.

Next door was the Plaza Premium Lounge Gate 60. As there was a long queue at this time, I decided to walk around a bit first and visit the one at Gate 1. I was also hoping to buy a towel or something else to cover me, as I was only wearing a T-shirt with no other layers at all 🙈

Again, no avail as most shops were already closed at this point. Here I am at the Plaza Premium Lounge Gate 1. You can enter with Priority Pass, Dragonpass and Lounge Key etc. There is also a “First” section next door which is more exclusive and you can gain entry for a surcharge. However I didn’t think 250 HKD for 90 minutes was good deal so I passed.

The lounge was still extremely busy at 11.30pm. The lady at front desk told me about the max. 3-hour thing, and kindly advised me to visit Gate 60 instead if I wanted to sleep over as there was cleaning work planned here which was going to be very noisy.

So I didn’t really stay much longer before I went back to the Gate 60 lounge and thankfully it had already quieted down a fair bit. The layout of this lounge is very favourable, especially considering it is operated by a third-party (not airline-owned I mean).

There is a big outdoor dining area.

Despite it being past midnight, there were a lot of hot food options still:

  • Thai red curry chicken
  • Fried sponge gourd with black mushroom
  • Fish Shaomai
  • Pasta with red pepper and vanilla sauce
  • White rice

Hmm I forgot to take photos of the food 😅

The indoor area is also quite spacious. If you want to sleep overnight, there are mainly three spots worth checking out.

The first option, and probably the most popular one, are these hexagon seats which offers a decent level of privacy:

However after spending a few minutes in one of these I found it very uncomfortable. It is very difficult to stretch at all given how small the room is, and the positioning of the table is very weird.

Next to those hexagon seats are these small sofas, 12 in total. I found them much nicer and finally stayed here.

Last option are these long sofas by the dining table. This is the best spot for smaller and thin people, as you can actually lie down so your chances of having an actual sleep are the highest.

Failing to buy a towel or blanket, my only equipment was an eye mask (from BA Club World which is very comfy) and a J-pillow (paid £9.5 on Luxury Travel Diary).

The last departure was 2.30am so the lounge became really quiet after 2am. There were a dozen of people remaining which I assumed were all departing in the morning.

I slept – or more like rested – until 5.30am, which was when the Centurion Lounge opened. A couple of people were before me and I waited 50 minutes for my turn to shower. It was so nice to be able to shower after such a long night, and before my flight going back to London.

I wasn’t particularly hungry so just took some congee and dim sums.

It’s worth mentioning that although I was entitled to 3-hour stay only at the Plaza Premium Lounge, no staff came to awaken anyone during the night to “ask us out”.

I was very happy that I didn’t catch a cold or anything sleeping with only my T-shirt (the airport was quite strongly air-conditioned!), but this is not an experience I’m looking to repeat in the future. If you happen to be in a similar situation, I hope this article can provide some help.

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