UTFB

Algiers. Horrible.

No alcohol, food limited to tiny sandwiches containing various unidentifiable pastes and spreads and mini pastries, surly lounge dragons, crap wifi.

PUCCI GALORE

I agree with some of you. I bet that anyone that you asked into any lounge as a guest would jump at the chance.

corporate-wage-slave

Well this is the only one near to the original question to which I personally can relate, but do you actually not bother? The public area outside the lounge isn't exactly a stately pleasure-dome either. Surely you wince and bear it?

BOD presumably relates to the previous lounge, the new lounge is fine. TXL isn't great but I sincerely doubt many people renounce it totally. IST is a borderline case, but it has been slightly improved in the last year (better wifi and tables), ATH isn't brilliant either but still better than the public areas, it's OK for a coffee and biscuit. Ditto RAK. I can't see what the problem is with the new FCO lounge is either. So parallel existence time for me.

So with the closure of Almaty, I don't think there is anywhere that is so terrible one is better off outside. Maybe LCY but that's just thanks to the location issues if using the DLR. But clearly One's Mileage May Vary.

colinscanner

+1 one for SIN -- I often skip lounges all together

- Public area is generally quite pleasant... lots of food choices / shopping
- SIN is probably one of the most predictable airports (e.g. time to get to, check in, clear immigration / security) to travel out of. No need to get there super early.
- BA flights out of are past dinner time so I'd have eaten generally... lately I'm also finding myself go to TGM (Japanese fast food resto) with my unlimited prioritypass

Airprox

Even the brand new BA lounge opened there recently?

bisonrav

HAJ (Hannover) is diabolical. No redeeming features. Having said that, it's better than most of the rest of the airport. Funchal - no BA lounge but a TAP one on Priority Pass or whatever - doesn't trouble the scorer either. Euro lounges do tend to be an unremitting parade of mediocrity. And the Admiral's Club for US domestic is not a club I would willingly become a member of, even if I had spent most of my life at sea in a rusty tub.

I do always come down the elevator at Heathrow and past the seafood bar and wonder whether I might just have gone there for some oysters and a glass of fizz on expenses (plus a few Heathrow Rewards) rather than venison meatballs and finger sandwiches in the lounge. The thing is that getting lounge access is a psychological shift and afterwards you tend to head there regardless. I can't think of an occasion where I've not done that.

Places I like in airports that aren't lounges? Well the Grain Store at LGW TS is pretty good. I like some of the quieter upstairs seating areas in Singapore. I quite like watching the world go by in Indian airports, Ahmedabad is a good one (there's nothing else to do there). When I think back to pre-status days I mainly remember terminals I hated, mostly low cost at Lyon, the Easyjet pens at Milan, KL low cost, Baden-Baden when I was 6 hours early and it was mostly closed, and usually I would head to restaurants or bars anyway. I don't remember it as being an awful experience generally.

Calum

LHR T5, nosey and overcrowded. If it's before 7am or after 6pm I will go in but in the middle of the day, both the CCR and GF are less than sufficient.

abligh

I don't normally bother with the BA lounge in ZRH if flying through D gates - it's the wrong side of passport control for a start. There's another (I forget which) lounge you can get into if flying through E gates which is "OK-ish" unless it's so packed you can't get a seat (reasonably frequent).

N1120A

Didn't know a new one opened. That changes things

erifax

I don't bother with the lounge in DUB (where I'm based). It's just never seemed worth the trip upstairs. I usually just grab a quick bite on the walk to the 200 gates and try to time it for minimal time in the airport.

MarkFlies

TLS: the terminal is bright and airy with the sun streaming in when I've been there. For morning flights, I'm happy with the Paul bakery for coffee and croissants.

The contract lounge is dimly lit and only has pre-packaged madeleines.

technical_bob

LHR T5 galleries north, when connecting international->domestic. If I come through north security, I sometimes walk straight past the lounge in favour of spending my 30 minute wait sitting by whichever A gate my connection leaves from. Galleries north is a stressful, overcrowded, stuffy place. I only go in if my wait is long enough to get a shower (and even then the shower attendants are generally slow/rude).

IMO, there needs to be a recognition that T5 lounges are overcrowded, and some rebranding -- maybe make the north lounge a "grab 'n' go" concept as that's how it's largely used, and keep the larger south club lounge as a more restful/genteel space.

newyorklondon

+1 to this, and - in hindsight - I think this is what led me to ask the question. I think I've been blinkered slightly by feeling obliged (and this is entirely my own issue, nobody has forced me into a lounge!) to use what is selectively 'free'.

AMS is a good example for me. The BA lounge is perfectly fine, but actually I think I have a better time overall not making the trek there, and spending a few euro in one of myriad restaurants/bars in the public areas.

Rubecula

As CWS says, the lounge BA used at Almaty was a shocker. All food and drink in the lounge had to be purchased. BA gave a voucher for 2,000 Tenge to use, £4.24 in todays money. I did not use the voucher.

Not sure if BA still use the SAC VIP lounge at Catania, that is one I would not bother with. Tiny and no alcohol.

Marschel

I'm surprised no one mentioned JFK T7 so far.