Warsaw Lounge Situation?
 

WAW opened up a couple really nice lounges earlier this summer. The crown jewel seems to be the Fantazja lounge which says access is for Sky Team and One World carriers. Sounds good, right? However though when on the OW website it said BA customers were relegated to the old bolero lounge and all other OW carriers get the new lounge. So not sure if BA CW guests can access both lounges or just one and it seems really unclear.

Bolero is in the non-schengan side. So that is possibly correct.

However I was just in the Fantazja lounge about 3 hours ago and it was indeed very nice. Probably one of the nicer EU ones I've been into. Good selection of F&B, nice and bright. However there wasn't a lot of seating although more than plenty at 1600.

There was definitely a BA logo on the board outside so you should be OK. Just give yourself enough time to get through border control as the queue were a good size when I passed.

Good to know the BA logo is indeed attached to the new lounge. So then it seems like BA CW passengers get access to both. Thanks!

New lounge in WAW for BA? Need to try it on my next flight from Warsaw :)

After security control turn left - it is a 3-4 minute walk (to the new Terminal). It is in the totally opposite direction than the non-Schengen gates, though.

It is a very, very nice lounge...

Can BA gold flying BA pleb class go to the Fantazja lounge in Warsaw?

Yes - bearing in mind that the lounge is located within the Schengen area and that, needless to say, you'll have to clear passports on your way to the gate.

G

Thanks Alicorporate UK, for your reply. I did a bit more reading in the WAW website and you are correct - status holders of certain airlines will be able to go to that lounge (we are OW emeralds so should be OK). I have read a couple of very good reviews of that lounge.

The Bolero lounge is pretty dismal. I don't think they even have ice for the lukewarm drinks in the warmer-than-optimal fridge. Is the other lounge in the Schengen area a lot better?

As a comparison, the LOT lounges are quite good, I thought the quality of food was better than in both GC and GF in terms of quality and freshness of ingredients. The hot food was really good over Christmas. Across the business and Star Gold lounge-in-lounge there was freshly prepared lasagne, duck, pheasant, pork, chicken in various sauces with hot veg.

It's the same company and staff who run both lounges, the food and drink is identical as far as I can tell. Bolero comes over as more cramped I guess, the non Schengen lounge is in a sense better due to more space and a more open aspect. But since neither lounge is going to change your life I'd go to Bolero, since you can often see the BA service from there, and you don't need to allow for passport queues (not that that they are big normally) and can spend longer in the lounge.

Passport control is usually very quick, but sometimes can get very busy (and slow), esp around the time when there are departures to certain non-Schengen destinations (Minsk, Moscow, etc.).

I've actually never seen hot food in the Bolero lounge :eek:

The lounge never gets extremely busy which is a plus and it is likely that you will be having the place to yourself if travelling on the 3:40PM service as, by that time, the chunk of Sky Team/AY lunch-time services (CDG, AMS, FCO, HEL) will have already gone. Again and particularly if travelling on the above mentioned flight, make sure to allow plenty of time to cross to the non-Schengen area as lines could get quite tricky because of a few flights (e.g. NRT, MSQ, DOH) departing at around the same time. Food-wise: nothing special (unless you're into pear & cheese tarts) but there's a good drink selection.

G

We will be on the last BA flight from WAW to LHR (leaving after 6pm). However, c-w-s mentioned there is a similar lounge in the non-Schengen area - the reviews for the Fantazja were good. I will read up on the Bolero lounge. We will see which lounge is easy to get to without the queuing hassles.

I often fly WAW-LHR and Fantazja is my preferred choice now - if you worried about time, just leave Fantazja allowing enough time for passport control and if the flight is not boarding soon, just pop into Bolero. Note you can ask agent in the Fantazja lounge to find out for you what time BA flight would commence boarding - they don't mind to help as their lounge is usually very quiet.