What's the WORST lounge you've been in - and why?
 

Surprisingly, no, I'm not writing this from some dingy, dark, damp excuse for an 'executive' lounge. I'm in my own drawing room (nod to another thread there :D), and I began to wonder.
What is the worst lounge you have ever had the misfortune to use - and why?
Now, although the behaviour of fellow guests would certainly influence our choices, let's keep this to the actual lounge offerings/decor, etc. Minimal tales of 'dragons' would probably be appreciated by the Moderators, too!
Which dry lounges make you feel like you've got the DTs? Which make you long for the generosity of BA's domestic catering :p? Which leave your skin crawling?

Answers below, please :)

The worst I've used is probably the Menzies lounge in AMS. Very poor lounge, based on a single visit about 2 years ago.

Other than that, lounges in the US are in general poor, as are Lufthansa business lounges at FRA and MUC - very, very sterile!

Can I play the Bordeaux card or do we want to keep playing a little longer?

Worst marketed lounge I know is NBO.

SERVISAIR lounge, T1 at LHR....

There are some excellent nominees above, and we haven't had the North African circuit out yet.

I'm going to lob in Cathay's lounges at Manila, surprisingly awful (though of course the staff are lovely); plus the Admirals lounge at Miami by gate 15, when it gets crowded.

I was going to say NBO as well, but given how bad the rest of the airport is, the lounge is nonetheless appreciated.

Malev non-Schengen lounge in BUD was pretty dire - office furniture and yellow walls, closely followed by the PRG Menzies shed/lounge, the only saving grace of which is the relatively decent view of the runway.

Neither had any edible food whatsoever.

I was in one of them at AMS......I entered a dark room with no windows. Through the gloom I saw an old lady sitting at a desk. She looked up and said nothing. Quivering with fright I handed her my BP.....she looked at it very closely before gesturing me to enter the darkest depths of the room where only one other person lay motionless on one of the bench seats. Bugger this I said I'm off.....

Actually that experience was topped by the AZ dungeon in FCO....no windows again but very brightly lit and filled with a 747 load of Japanese tourists who were fighting over what remained of the pitiful food and drinks offering.We left two minutes after we arrived.

T5? Another world. ^

Admiral's Club @ T8 JFK.

Just horrid!

Well I obviously can't comment on that, but the Flagship Lounge next door is fantastic, almost Flounge-ish. Great views of the airport, clean, modern, power sockets everywhere, eccentric staff, better range of soft drinks than Flounge, and even sushi on top of the hot food offerings.

Stuttgart, whichever one the PP lounge is. A dingy little room, boiling hot, minimal selection of drink and food offerings were sparse and poor. I left after 2 minutes to go and sit in the main terminal.

Algiers. Truly, completely awful in every way from service to food and drink cis cleanliness apart from the functioning AC.

The old Garuda lounge at Solo City was quite special.

In terms of BA branded lounges a toss between NBO (since refurbished) and FCO.

FCO now also has the refreshed Galleries style, so is slightly better than the old Executive Club lounge style.

I think I remember the pictures. :eek:

Well, at least it had food & drink. :)

Have they fixed the AC yet?!

I am not looking forward to my return flight from Salzburg in September....

NBO lounge is lovely, what are you guys talking about?

I can't remember the name of the lounge, but it was the one in Miami departures that the priority pass gets you access to. They didn't even have any milk, so unless you were happy with coffee creamer in your tea (yuck - I'd not even use it in coffee) you were out of luck.

Edit: A bit of digging around reveals it was the Club America lounge in terminal F. Dire place.

I am going to have to go with VCE on this one Bob.

H

Lots of American Airlines Admiral Club have creamer only. Never saw milk rather than the espresso machine. (Correct me if I am wrong)

This is probably cheating, because its not at a major airport. But I found out where all the old sofas go to die - you know the ones that have sat in the front garden of some poor social housing property for about a year together with all the dead (formerly) white goods.

Yes they turn up at Frank Pais airport (HOG), where they adorn the VIP lounge - facilities claimed to be express check in, open bar and snacks - oh really? Come to think of it, I suspect thats where the 'open bar' fridges came from too.......

Now just you keep your feet to yourself ;)!

:D:D

Admiral Club in MEX. Horrid in 2003 and equally horrid this year. At least it is consistent.

The place is just about okay in a shabby sort of way, but it's dirty and has stale, overheated dry stuff as food.

I am somewhat surprised at the Italian lounge nominations so far - at least FCO and VCE offer alcoholic drinks and some sort of snacks. Try the (landside) lounge BA use at GOA. No food and no booze at all! Even BOD offers more than this.

One further nomination (but now gone) is/was the portacabin BA used to use at RHO.

My top nomination has to be NAP, where despite two or three BA flights per day, there has been no lounge for about four years! Anything is better than nothing.

Absolutely. A safe haven to hide between the chaos of landside until the mayhem of boarding and additional security checks.

I would vote for SFO FIRST class lounge. Just far too small for the number of Golds flying besides those in First. Too few seats and many taken up by people's hand luggage. Was expecting something special when were led there by the front desk attendant. Since then just stay in the larger Club lounge.

You do realise that there's no lounge at all, don't you?

That said, I think it's a perfectly charming little airport Am sure winter Saturdays are a different matter, but assuming you can time it OK you don't need to spend more than 30 mins in the place anyway.

18 months ago I flew out on LH in club and they gave me a voucher for a free drink in the bar (pint of Stiegl). Think BA do the same...

PS I've obviously lived a sheltered life - my definition of bad would perhaps be the common lounge at Dublin, or the SATS lounge at Changi two decades back. Mind you, the BA lounge at Glasgow wasn't looking too clever yesterday!

"Lounge" at Lihue Airport. A hole in the wall, no window, 6 chairs, a water cooler, a coffee dispenser and a small fountain soda machine with 3 or 4 choices. You enter it by number lock at the door (code give to you at checkin).

It has to be the pre-refurbishment NBO lounge. FOR 3 YEARS, the furniture had the same slowly worsening rips in the upholstery... it was a disgrace.

However, BA finally got around to fixing up the place last year (i think it was 2011) and it's better now, still a bit small, but ok.

When I was last there in Dec.2011, the wifi sucked! However, prior to 2011, there was no internet access at all.

What's the WORST lounge you've been in - and why?
 

The contract lounge at AGP is pretty uninspiring. I'm also not much of a fan of the joint AA/BA lounge at my most frequented outstation, DEN. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with it. It's clean, comfortable and a nice place to relax, but there's no view, no decent snacks and I really hate having to get drinks from the bar. I only use the lounge if I can't get a table at the Denver Chophouse downstairs.

The one in Sicily was tiny and awful, and the one in Orlando was awful, with the exception of the toilet facilities which I had a standup wash in (sink not actual toilet!), before leaving and going to a restaurant outside...

When you consider leaving the lounge to pay for drink and a comfortable seat in the rest of the airport, I'd say that some place are worse than "no lounge". Because of the dashed expectations.

EZE contract lounge is an exemple of that.

CTA I presume? At least there is one now. Last couple of times I flew CTA-LGW there were embarassed comments at check in about the total lack of a lounge...

DXB anyone?? Terrible, especially if spending a bit of time before the flight leaving at 2am-ish........

Here's a vote for the ex-BMI lounge at DUB. Looks like a children's playroom. Bathrooms are external, keycode operated, and disgusting. Ugh. :rolleyes:

I don't think any of the ex-BMI lounges are quite up to your standards :rolleyes:, however, there are many, many poorer lounges across the globe...

Let's just say that it makes the London Room look like the CCR. :D

I still have horrors about the contract lounge BA used to use at LYS.

However, the LH business cubbyhole at DRS takes some beating.

Yes, you got it. And very 'white' inside if I remember...