mickeyjaw

What is it about German lounges that they are so consistently awful?

The one at TXL looks like a staff break room.

The one at STR is tiny, has no windows and shows the flight information via Teletext giving it a 1980s vibe. No staff, just PIN entry. Only one bottle of wine in the lounge. The cheese was plastic burger cheese slices, individually wrapped.

The one at DUS is a nice space with a good view but I couldn't find a single power socket to charge my phone and the food was quite frankly disgusting.

Why?????? Are there actually any good PP lounges anywhere in Germany.?

speed.skater

There are a few good ones. E.g., Airport Lounge World in MUC. The Hugo Junkers in DUS which you mentioned is fine as well IMO.

Air France and Primeclass in FRA are ok-ish. The PP one in CGN is basic, but ok-ish as well for an airport without any long-haul traffic.

Sure, there are miserable lounges, too (Premium Traveller and Luxx lounges in FRA comes to mind).

But aren't there a lot of mediocre PP lounges all over the world? The majority of PP lounges is so-so IMO. A sizable minority is poor. A small number is pretty good.

I think it is also a highly subjective topic. I've seen various PP/Amex lounges in LHR which received praised on HFP. I thought they were terrible: No natural light and often over-crowded. But if your main criterium is F&B, those for-pay lounges in LHR are pretty good.

Ericontour

Haha, because Germans do not care for that but function

mickeyjaw

Maybe, but the Hugo Junkers lounge in DUS doesn't even function properly in my opinion. It has no USB sockets and very few power sockets and one of the main things I want to do in a lounge besides eat/drink is to charge my phone.

Also, for what it's worth: When I visited on Monday I saw a sign at the reception desk saying 'Keine Priority Pass / No Priority Pass' despite it being advertised on the PP website. It didn't matter this time because I got in via BA status but what if I'm flying Eurowings next time?

mia

Priority Pass is in the business of monetizing excess lounge capacity. The lounges can deny entry to Priority Pass holders when a lounge is near capacity, or the lounge management projects that they will be near capacity due to contractual commitment to accommodate passengers for a specific airline. This occurs worldwide. Ample discussion in several other threads.

mickeyjaw

Sure, but it was 8pm and there were only about 12 people in the lounge...

speed.skater

Happens all over the world. E.g., quite a few LHR and LGW lounges are notorious for declining PP pax (unless you pay extra for a reservation).

Downstairs, the work area (right at the windows) is a good bet for power sockets.

I'm not that often at the Hugo Junkers so I can't say for sure.. But one potential criticism is that they open the upper level not often enough. (I've been there at least once or twice where the lower floor was really busy but they didn't open up the upper level.)

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Oh, and since you were asking about German PP lounges more generally: The Open Sky Lounge at DUS has ample USB sockets.

LegalTender

The vast majority of lounges do not need to generate incremental revenue above the marginal cost of taking on an additional guest.

Priority Pass makes its margin on members who are continually denied access, or seldom try. Those paying out-of-pocket for a membership are least likely to tolerate the “overcrowding” issues for long and simply cancel. Those who get Priority Pass as a credit card benefit are more likely to renew their credit-card anyway, creating the lane where PP operates.

No party is doing anything wrong.

offerendum

Is it a German problem? Most PP-lounges I visited were mediocre or worse. Hugo Junkers is one of my "home-lounges" and I had never a problem with Priority Pass. When I come from home and out of my car I donīt need power sockets but as far as I remember there are some.

danielflyer

PP lounges in Europe are pretty awful in general. I'd like the Priority Pass lounge at Tegal any day over any lounge in Milan Malpensa.

No idea why there are so bad. Perhaps it's a lack of space and lack of demand. Europeans tend to check in for flights later than Americans from my experience.

offerendum

The MXP-lounge is even one of the better in my eyes.

sxc

offerendum

Yes, often (or nearly always) thatīs the case. In most cases the lounges seems to be opersated by the airports.

speed.skater

Well, I wouldn't be so sure about "most." Contract lounges tend to operated by aviation services companies such as Swissport (e.g., Aspire), dnata, SATS, menzies, Plaza Premium Group... Some of these aviation companies manage a few airports, too. But for the bulk of the lounges in their network, they are contractors, not the primary operator of the airport.

bostontraveler

I don't think this is a German problem. Quite frankly I find the LH lounges in Germany very pleasant! Bad is the Priority Pass lounges either at Orly (the EXPIRE, sorry, I mean Inspire lounge) or its equally expirational sister lounge at CDG at 2D...

For the most part Priority Pass lounges are pretty inferior-- in my experience-- to other lounges in general.