DXB first class lounge: underwhelming
 

I was looking forward to my first visit to the A concourse lounge this morning. I was not impressed. My comparison datapoints are the TK (business) lounge in Istanbul, which I visit frequently, and the LH first class terminal in FRA, which I only visited once.

The lounge is huge. It's not big, or spacious, it's just huge. It feels much more like a (rather deserted) terminal than like a lounge, especially given the duty free shops and the gates on its perimeter.

There's nothing luxurious about it, nothing that spells first class, in sharp contrast to the FCT in FRA. The way there (from the entrance to the terminal) is long and boring. No personal touches whatsoever.

The food quality is meh. Again, in sharp contrast to FRA. I find even the IST food better.

Perhaps the most annoying feature is the service. The lounge is full of attendants who's main function seems to be to greet you whenever you pass them. It's nice at first, then gets annoying, and borders intruding when they accompany you to the restrooms and wait for you to finish washing up. I really don't want a random attendant to be there next to me when I brush my teeth.

A minor point: there's no storage space. I would have liked to be able to leave my carry-on bag somewhere when I'm enjoying myself.

In short, the lounge is boring. There's really not much to do there (compare with TK), the food is mediocre, and the atmosphere is not very relaxing. It's very quiet, even during rush hours (early morning), which is nice, but not somewhere I would plan to stay for several hours.

Shuly

So sorry.

Did you eat at the buffet or the have the sit down table service? I find the table service to be very nice.

The food was great when I was there a few weeks ago. Full table service, with some nice wines.

I find your comment about being accompanied everywhere quite bizarre. This has never happened any time I've been to any of the lines at DXB.

As for quiet and boring, what were you expecting. A busy and noisy lounge?

To be fair I have noticed a little more "following around" recently. I get accosted for shoe shines and spa whatevers. Not a huge issue at all though.

Couldn't agree more. What a bizarre complaint.

It's a nice place to be for a couple of hours that's it.

I had a delightful risotto with an Australian Riesling last time through. Far better than a 'risotto' I had a few days earlier in BA T3 Galleries First, which seemed to be made with long grain rice and not arborio.

I do think the lounge can be somewhat soulless if there aren't many patrons but then again I see many complaints about QF SYD F being too busy.

It's a nice place for a couple of hours.

Admittedly, it could have more style (but then for me that applies even more to the aircraft cabins �� and seem less cavernous. But then what do you expect with one lounge that needs to cater to a terminal of that size (I am quite sure their passenger throughput is much higher than at the LH FCT) with direct boarding access to all gates? My main other gripes are that they could introduce proper sleeping cubicles for longer layovers, and change the restaurant menu more frequently.

For me the A FCL at DXB is actually (together with direct boarding access for all A gates) the only somewhat positive bit of having to transit with EK at DXB, especially when, as Plat, traveling in C and thus being able to avoid the madhouse EK refers to as the business class lounge.

Agree with this.

I was there at what was for me breakfast time. I sat down and ordered from the menu. I first ordered a Muesli, but they did not have it. I then asked for a cheese and cold cuts platter. After about 15 minutes I got a plate with six slices of pretty sorry looking types of pastrami. No cheese, and a few heated and tasteless rolls. I left it almost untouched and went for the buffet instead. There, food was OK but just OK.

Oh, they offered freshly squeezed juice. I opted for grapefruit and got something that was definitely not fresh.

Again, it's a matter of expectations. It was not bad, but it was also not very impressive.

Shuly

I was greeted by two attendants when I entered the washroom. One of them followed me inside and stood there, towel in hand, waiting for me to finish brushing my teeth. Now that was bizarre. And this was on top of the dozens (literally) of people just standing there at arbitrary places greeting me whenever I passed them. They didn't seem to have any other tasks to perform.

I'm certain there were (much) more attendants than patrons there when I visited (1am-3am). I didn't expect it to be noisy, but it felt weird.

Shuly

I wouldn't expect many lounges these day to encourage unattended bags

I have found the EK lounge to be large and quiet ; no problem getting an area to sit on my own. I cannot see that being large, is a negative

I think it's a great lounge with lots of space and good food options. It's perhaps not in the top tier of F lounges, but still very good. I agree that it isn't atmospheric, but I appreciate the space. My only criticism is that the humidity isn't adequately extracted from the shower rooms, so I find it impossible to get properly dry after a shower.

No muesli?! That's always on the buffet! Same with cheese and cold cuts.

Would probably write in to flag up the issue for the lapse in service.

As for the washroom - you need to go to more places with bathroom attendants and overemployment of underpaid (usually imported) hospitality staff: pretty much the norm to be waited on around the bathroom in many "luxury" places :D

I wouldn't really see that a positive or negative, only part of the cultural offering and how you feel about being exposed to something that is culturally unfamiliar.

For instance, some people perceive luxury to be efficiency, minimalism and cosy and abhor what they see as overattentiveness, wasteful and vulgar.

Others might perceive small, unelaborate and not well provisioned as stingy, cheap and inhospitable to guests - the complete opposite of what should be provided in a luxury experience.

Neither one is correct or wrong.