Why is the T3 F lounge always so empty?
 

Last week I spent several hours at various times of the day in the F lounge in DXB. At no time must there have been over 25 people in the lounge. I know they're strict about entry requirements (you have to be an F pax), but that still seemed very, very low considering the number of flights departing - each with at least 8 F seats.

Any ideas why the lounge is so empty? Do 'normal' F passengers have better things to do than dine in the lounge? Or did I miss the part where all the action was? Or do the pax like to go to the J lounge instead to people watch?

Maybe not as many F passengers during the summer holiday season?
I prefer to come to the airport around 40-45 mins before my flight (J or F) and go straight to the gate. My home airport is DXB, so it works out well.
I prefer spending the last minute with my kids, rather than in a crowded up lounge.

It is sometimes empty, and sometimes must have at least 60 or so people in it.. most loads are between 7 and 9am in the mornings I would say.. yes, very lightly loaded during the night.. but hey, it's F, and it shouldn't be a damn zoo like the C lounge ^

Couldn't agree more with that. And that is one of the biggest differentiators between the two lounges. (Free spa, a la carte dining and people doing everything for you are the rest). In fact, when I visited the J lounge from the F lounge I almost ran out! :D

Would this suggest some room for elite (4th tier) members? Or would IO suffer then from limited differentiation?

As someone who paid nothing for that F experience, I liked the exclusivity of the lounge. You see some strange people there, and at least you know they are F pax and not some random guests. But practically, yes, a 4th tier at whatever level could give access to this lounge. Even if they started off with only 4th tier flying J, or 4th tier in F being allowed a guest.

If I were EK I'd be rolling out F lounges at lounge constrained airports like LHR/ HKG/ AKL subject to available space. Maybe even huge, new (concept) J lounges capable of accommodating 2-3 full A380s + Golds + guests, and then refurbing the existing lounges as Flounges.

I have never seen over 25-30 pax in the F lounge myself either. Which makes it all the more criminal that this lounge is afforded as much space as it is, while the J lounge gets crowded beyond belief.

Why not add another tier at 100K that allows F lounge access, or allow Golds flying in J access to the F lounge, with no guests allowed to preserve some exclusivity? It certainly would not make the lounge any more significantly crowded. As a OneWorld Emerald member, I frequently access OW F lounges based solely on status, even when flying J, and I never see them full, despite the policy of allowing more than just F pax access. It would be a win-win, if you ask me.

Gold flying J into F lounge -> Crowded as hell, I can tell you. Almost all pax in C are Gold, and even if we say, just 50%, imagine that half of all the C loads into the F lounge.. it will be just as full as the C lounge quickly, with A la carte, massage center going tilt..

If they made IO allowing to use the F lounge while flying C, I would be ok with that, after all EK could decide who they'll give that status.. or making the 4th tier at 150k/200k or something more close to HON status, I would be ok for them gaining access, but having all Golds flying C into the F lounge would result in the same zoo as the C lounge now is.

I hope with the opening of T4 it will bring some ease into the C lounge discussion, the F lounge ist just perfect right now, it can be half-filled already at peak times, and you don't want more than 100 people at max in it. It's not a C+ lounge, it's F. If you aren't flying F, or are very thick buddies with EK, it shouldn't be accessible.

On my usual DXB-ACC vv route, a Gold in Business Class is a very rare event. I usually find that I am one of maybe 1-2 at most (unless there are op-ups in which case virtually everyone is Gold). In Economy Class though, 100-150 Golds are par for the course.

I guess it's strongly about the routes you're taking.. European/Asian/NA/SA Business Hubs to DXB will definitely have a high % of Gold in C. And you don't want those 200+ guys from the HKG lounge in the F lounge, do you? Just imagine it would take only the load from 2 A380s filled with C-Golds to completely destroy the F lounge atmosphere.. 152 extra pax would absolutely kill it.. just think about A la carte restaurant or Spa.. and now think just 50% of those would actually be Gold.. but that's just from 2 A380s... there are a few more birds on the EK schedule those days.. so while I probably will not ever be able to use the EK F lounge again unless I'm lucky, please, please, no, don't allow Golds in C to access it. Or maybe do a new lounge in T4 for Golds in C, with service somewhere in the middle.. that would probably be the best solution anyway..

I think you grossly overestimate the number of Golds in J. On my US flights and discussions with FAs, the numbers are not nearly that high. The lounge at IAH is never full pre-departure. With regard to Spa and ala Carte dining, the solution is simple: restrict those to 'real' F pax. Such a rule would also only apply to DXB, since it is the only F lounge in EK's network. If EK were to open other F lounges, those could be excluded (similar to the old J lounge rule for Silvers - access only at DXB). Given B747-437B's extensive flying experience, and my own discussions with cabin crew, I am inclined to believe that such a rule change would have very little overcrowding impact to the current F lounge.

As for you concerns regarding dining and the Spa, BA restricts ala carte dining in its F lounges to F pax, and maintains a separate buffet for OW Emeralds and other non-F pax who may be inside. BA also restricts access to its Elemis Spa services to those flying in J and F. It works quite well at LHR. F lounges, while not empty, tend to have quite a good amount of space. The J lounges are never as crowded as EK's T3 J lounge.

EK's only F lounge in its network - the one at DXB - is quite massive. By my estimation, it is the same size as the J lounge. While the J lounge has hundreds of pax and is frequently overcrowded, the F lounge barely hits 50. That, to me, is a massive enough imbalance to justify such a rule change.

Well, I might not have as much flight experience than you have, but I still would assume the F lounge would be flooded with quite some C-Golds when this would happen. And even a only 70% full F lounge (compared to 100% full C lounge) would be just bad. You fly F because you want a quiet time everywhere, including on the ground. You don't want 4 out of the 5 seats around the table occupied.

Yes, it would be indeed possible to only give Spa/A la Carte for F pax, and having the more spacious area just as the biggest benefit, but then EK would have to add another eating area just for the C-Golds (or do you want to show them your BP every time?), and, by the way, the F lounge is smaller than the C lounge as much as I noticed. Around 40% smaller I would say.. certainly have much less seating, smaller eating area, smaller other areas.. for example only one business center instead of 2 (at least you get some better computers there than the IE6 crap in one of the business lounges in C, always use the one closer to the entrance) which I could assume would be quite crammed..

Again, yes, it would be perfectly possible to fit in all C-Golds into the F lounge without overloading it probably, but you don't want a F lounge which is almost full, you want it quite empty, if there are 200 seats available it doesn't mean there need to be 190 of them occupied, quite au contraire.

F Lounge DXB T3
 

The F lounge has the max number of people between 06:00 - 10:00. This is the most busy time in the F Lounge.

At the rest of the times the paxs numbers is indeed pretty low and can give a rather deserted look.

I am actually glad that this place is huge & provides the peace & tranquility that is indeed becoming rare to find in the rest of the EK Lounge's as they are now beginning to resemble to the lounge's of an alliance rather than of a non-alliance one where till occupancy is concerned.

Safe Flying

EGT

My suspicion on views on such a thing would be that those that fly first class will prefer that the lounges are limited to 1st class only so as to minimise the risk of overcrowding whilst those that would benefit from a change to allow others in will be for a change

Correct.. and exactly that time (6-10am) is where the C lounge is busiest as well.. before 6am, there is plenty of space in the lounge lounge as well.. so for those "critical hours" in the C lounge, the F lounge already has quite a decent fill.. not anything zoo-like, but adding say just 50% more pax into it would have it feeling quite uncomfortably..

Just thing that, besides a few crazy guys who like to fly CMB-MLE often, all other EK F pax (besides those that paid an upgrade by miles) had spend several thousands of € for their seats, not wanting to have to spend time with some ordinary C pax.

I assume that at least for a while it will calm down when T4 opens.. any speculations about the lounge situation there?