thijsseh

Yes, flew out of an A gate last week as well. Was directed to the left hand side of the J lounge as you enter. Did not realise that the other half was still closed, our flight departed from A24 I think. So I guess they only use half the A gates at the moment?
Lounge was quite crowded. Was in F the previous lounge visit so can't compare current situation with the B J lounge.

DYKWIA

All the A gates are in use. When we were there in December, we had a flight from the end of the "closed" side of the F lounge. There's no issue boarding from the "closed" section - security and boarding staff were both there.

JudeS

Heads up to Sydney travellers - the Emirates Lounge at Sydney is closed, probably until the latter part of the year and yesterday First and Business class passengers were directed to the Plaza Premium Lounge, which is definitely not Premium and is in fact a very poor substitute. Very poor food, no butter, no champagne or other bubbles and a very poor bar selection. Cramped and uncomfortable. I have voiced my complaints to EK and I know other passengers will do the same. Very disappointing considering the amount I paid for my ticket!

m3red

can you not use the qantas lounge?

JudeS

Yes but I only discovered this after the fact !! When checking in as a J but no longer gold passenger surely people should be made aware that the Qantas lounge is available to them and not the cruddy alternative that is printed on the BP?

BadoRas

The Qantas lounges Australia-wide are often not available. I was flying EK F from MEL to DXB on 14 April, and although the Qantas first lounge says it is open until 10:30 pm on my day of travel, it was closed. It routinely doesn't open, mostly on a whim and because lousy Qantas doesn't bother to support passengers flying on their senior partner's metal. EK on the other hand is comparatively very generous to Qantas members.

This is typical behaviour from little Alan Joyce's airline. I'm so pleased I decided a long time ago to never fly with them again, internationally or domestically. I cannot wait until the Emirates-Qantas partnership ends. Those stupid enough to remain loyal to the Q can then pay the price of being denied access to a far superior airline with better aeroplanes and better customer service.

XXTSGR

Had a live chat with EK prior to my flight and was told there were no lounge facilities available at JNB but that I might get a food voucher.

Checked in to F this morning and BP shows invite to the Shongololo lounge. A pretty dire, almost windowless experience with plastic wrapped food produced two days ago (according to labelling).

I would have preferred the food voucher and gone to M&B for my breakfast…

dwugson

Any recommendations for alternative lounges in JNB given the Emirates lounge is still shut. The Shongololo lounge is a disaster but there are a couple of alternatives I can use with Priority Pass. Doubt the EK lounge will reopen before I pass through in two weeks.

XXTSGR

Personally, I’d just sit in Mugg & Bean, pay for the very reasonably priced breakfast or other meals and enjoy a coffee/draught beer/wine etc. whilst watching the planes and activities outside through the huge glass facade.

Filler03

Flying in J on EK from EWR to ATH. This is the 11:55pm departure. Any lounges open at this time that I’d have access to? Seems we’d have access to the SAS lounge but it closes at 7pm it seems.

larzy1977

My daughter and son 5 and 3 years fly with us on a paid F ticket... they are gold, are they allowed to bring friends into the F Lounge in Dxb? (Friends fly on the same flight out of Dubai, but in economy)

IntrepidAfrican2

I thought only Platinums can guest people into the F lounge? Maybe my info is outdated.

BadoRas

​​​​​Below are the guesting privileges for Emirates lounges worldwide

larzy1977

Thnx didn't knew that!

BadoRas

However I'm not sure if children that age are allowed to guest others.

Hopefully they can. There certainly is no age restriction mentioned!