Sneaking Free Food at the Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge in Toronto
6 hours ago
Location: Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures, Terminal 3)
The entrance design here is absolutely ridiculous—it's split into left and right sides by a bar. I first walked to the left side, which is the lounge I was actually supposed to go to (free with my Canadian Amex Gold card). After eating, I needed to pee, so I walked over to the restroom on the right side. When I came out of the restroom, I just walked straight into the Cathay Pacific business class lounge (without realizing it). I saw the food was way better than on the left, and for a moment I thought the Cathay side was the meat section. So I just carried my plate back through to my original lounge.
After finishing and deciding it was really good, I wanted to go back for another round. By then, a front desk staff member was standing guard at the Cathay Pacific business entrance. I looked more carefully and saw an A4-sized piece of paper taped to the wall that said "Cathay Pacific business."
The staff were too busy and nobody said anything to me, so I quickly slipped downstairs and boarded my flight.
Another day of being a broke Zone 9 boarder sneaking free food.
The core issue here is still that the entrance signage isn't clear—it wasn't intentional freeloading, but it would be best to add a note on whether they were stopped afterward.