mecabq
Sep 26, 09, 5:32 am
Last week I flew CAI-IST in Y as *G. There is a Star Alliance lounge in the brand-new Terminal 3 (which is quite nice overall and seems to house all *A airlines at CAI), with the standard Star Alliance signage with all of the member airlines' logos.
When I entered the lounge, I showed them my boarding pass, gold card (UA), and invitation issued by the THY ticket counter. They said that this lounge was not for me, but rather I should use the CIP lounge, as indicated on the invitation. I protested a bit (mostly because I was curious to see this lounge), even taking back the invitation away and saying, OK, suppose I didn't have this invitation and am just at normal *G member?
They let me in, but implied that TK passengers were really not eligible to be here. I entered and wandered around, and was eventually stopped by another employee, who asked where I was going, and when I told her IST on TK, she said that I was not supposed to use this lounge, but was "welcome" anyway. A contradiction if I ever heard one, but everyone was friendly enough.
I only spent a couple of minutes there, as I was mainly interested in just looking around, and it had minimal food, no alcohol, and a scant selection of reading material anyway. I then went to the CIP lounge, which was pretty poor. It was down a long, sterile hallway, with no signage directing one there or at the location, other than a placard stating something like "Executive Service" above the door. I showed the guys at the podium outside the door my CIP invitation and asked whether I was at the right place, and he let me in. The space looked from the outside like a meeting room, and inside it had a small table with a table cloth and one of those curtains around it, along with a handful of dining tables with banquet chairs on a tile floor. It looked like a low-end reception in a low-end hotel ballroom. There were very basic cold food items, no alcohol of course, a TV overhead, and a few reading materials. Really unattractive.
I never understood whether this was a special lounge for TK passengers in lieu of the modern, relatively gleaming Star Alliance lounge, some sort of shared facility for multiple airlines, or a temporary solution. But if it's true that THY passengers are only allowed to use this lounge and barred from the Star lounge, then I give it a big :td:.
I am curious to hear others' experiences.
When I entered the lounge, I showed them my boarding pass, gold card (UA), and invitation issued by the THY ticket counter. They said that this lounge was not for me, but rather I should use the CIP lounge, as indicated on the invitation. I protested a bit (mostly because I was curious to see this lounge), even taking back the invitation away and saying, OK, suppose I didn't have this invitation and am just at normal *G member?
They let me in, but implied that TK passengers were really not eligible to be here. I entered and wandered around, and was eventually stopped by another employee, who asked where I was going, and when I told her IST on TK, she said that I was not supposed to use this lounge, but was "welcome" anyway. A contradiction if I ever heard one, but everyone was friendly enough.
I only spent a couple of minutes there, as I was mainly interested in just looking around, and it had minimal food, no alcohol, and a scant selection of reading material anyway. I then went to the CIP lounge, which was pretty poor. It was down a long, sterile hallway, with no signage directing one there or at the location, other than a placard stating something like "Executive Service" above the door. I showed the guys at the podium outside the door my CIP invitation and asked whether I was at the right place, and he let me in. The space looked from the outside like a meeting room, and inside it had a small table with a table cloth and one of those curtains around it, along with a handful of dining tables with banquet chairs on a tile floor. It looked like a low-end reception in a low-end hotel ballroom. There were very basic cold food items, no alcohol of course, a TV overhead, and a few reading materials. Really unattractive.
I never understood whether this was a special lounge for TK passengers in lieu of the modern, relatively gleaming Star Alliance lounge, some sort of shared facility for multiple airlines, or a temporary solution. But if it's true that THY passengers are only allowed to use this lounge and barred from the Star lounge, then I give it a big :td:.
I am curious to hear others' experiences.