Best and worst OW lounges
Nov 22, 2003 | 11:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
Programs: QF Platinum (OW Emerald); QF Lifestime Silver; BD Diamond Club Gold (*A Gold)
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Best and worst OW lounges
Thought some of you might be interested in sharing your experiences of OW airline lounges, both for LH and SH.
You might want to comment on overall ambience, amenities, proximity to gates or staffing... the choice is yours.
So, to get the ball rolling here's a few nominations. All subjective twaddle of course...
BEST
JFK - BA Concorde Room [unrivalled, anywhere... yet]; J and F lounges are spacious but can get really crowded.
SIN - BA / QF F lounge [though the lack of smoking room is a downer]
HKG - The Wing
TXL - BA [despite being landside, but usually great staff]
ARN - AY J or F lounges both good and spacious
LHR - BA F lounge at T4 good but gets very overcrowded pre SIN and SYD flights. BA J lounges at T1 & T4 much of a muchness - please, someone tell them about the tape recordings of bird song...
WORST
MUC - Shared lounge landside, a profoundly miserable little hole in an otherwise cool airport
FCO - BA. Dark and depressing.
HEL - AY SH F lounge. Small and underwhelming. Better wine over in the J lounge!!
PRG - BA. Shared lounge with all the charm of the Tractor Worker Awards Banquet, 1971.
LIS - BA. Dreary, dreary, dreary [can get to you when the flight has been delayed]
You might want to comment on overall ambience, amenities, proximity to gates or staffing... the choice is yours.
So, to get the ball rolling here's a few nominations. All subjective twaddle of course...
BEST
JFK - BA Concorde Room [unrivalled, anywhere... yet]; J and F lounges are spacious but can get really crowded.
SIN - BA / QF F lounge [though the lack of smoking room is a downer]
HKG - The Wing
TXL - BA [despite being landside, but usually great staff]
ARN - AY J or F lounges both good and spacious
LHR - BA F lounge at T4 good but gets very overcrowded pre SIN and SYD flights. BA J lounges at T1 & T4 much of a muchness - please, someone tell them about the tape recordings of bird song...
WORST
MUC - Shared lounge landside, a profoundly miserable little hole in an otherwise cool airport
FCO - BA. Dark and depressing.
HEL - AY SH F lounge. Small and underwhelming. Better wine over in the J lounge!!
PRG - BA. Shared lounge with all the charm of the Tractor Worker Awards Banquet, 1971.
LIS - BA. Dreary, dreary, dreary [can get to you when the flight has been delayed]
Nov 22, 2003 | 12:19 pm
#2
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,593
I guess you don't fly BA F as you omit the LHR Concorde Room, which is far better than the JKF CR (in fact I would claim that it is the best lounge in the world, but only because of the staff). As for worst lounges, there are dozens (hundreds), but the most surprisingly bad are the CX and SQ lounges at SFO -- both in a brand new lavish terminal, built with no constraints or expense spared (I suspect UA had a role in making the competing lounges as bad as possible).
Nov 22, 2003 | 1:20 pm
#4
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by number_6:
I guess you don't fly BA F as you omit the LHR Concorde Room</font>
I guess you don't fly BA F as you omit the LHR Concorde Room</font>
Nov 22, 2003 | 4:01 pm
#5
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: MEL/LAX
Programs: AAdv GLD(MM), QF LTS, UA MP_nada, HH Gld, SPG, GoldenCircle Jade
Posts: 4,478
HKG - Pier as well as Wing (unrivalled in my opinion - as long as you are into the modern/minimalist ambience) - only lounges which have not left me wanting for something.
LHR CR - it's good but I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be - I prefer JFK CR.
LHR CR - it's good but I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be - I prefer JFK CR.
Nov 22, 2003 | 11:16 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: SYD BXG
Programs: QF WP/LTG | UA P
Posts: 13,664
Best domestic lounges: QF in SYD, BNE and MEL.
Worst lounges: anything in LAX TBI. The new LAX T4 AA/QF lounge would be great if they had any catering at all (I don't regard pretzels and apples as catering!). All that money spent and you still have to venture outside to get something reasonable to eat.
Worst lounges: anything in LAX TBI. The new LAX T4 AA/QF lounge would be great if they had any catering at all (I don't regard pretzels and apples as catering!). All that money spent and you still have to venture outside to get something reasonable to eat.
Nov 23, 2003 | 3:15 am
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: None any more
Posts: 11,017
The first class / emerald section of the new QF/AA lounge is good - quite nice food (not up to The Wing, but better than most lounges) good showers, but strangely no internet access.
Nov 28, 2003 | 12:48 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
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Well impressed by some of our regulars posting their thoughts but would've thought this string would've amounted to more by now...
Nov 28, 2003 | 2:15 pm
#10
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Circle City
Posts: 3,568
Best: Santiago, Hong Kong, Taipei, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, London
Worst: Anything else. Especially anything beginning with "admirals" and ending with "club".
Dallas flagship lounge was nice. Was. Miami too. Denpasar is a nice shared lounge. Beautiful view.
Worst: Anything else. Especially anything beginning with "admirals" and ending with "club".
Dallas flagship lounge was nice. Was. Miami too. Denpasar is a nice shared lounge. Beautiful view.
Dec 1, 2003 | 10:59 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: SE1, London & White River, South Africa
Posts: 24,655
Best
LHR - Concorde room is wonderful - and better than JFK imho on the grounds of champagne offer alone!
IST - BA Terraces lounge is very decent place to wait, with lovely staff(though very small)
HEL - I really like the business class/Emerald's only lounge in the non-Schengen section.
TPE - CX's lounge is a mini Wing - very neat.
Worst
CGK - shared user lounges with some of the scariest food I've ever seen. Crap a/c too
DEL/BOM/CCU - oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. All awful but the shared user lounges at DEL in particular plumb the depths - packed, smoky and only ONE drinkie! Worse than any AC.
MNL - both QF and CX lounges are poky little holes with crap drinks and minimal snacks
[This message has been edited by Swanhunter (edited Dec 01, 2003).]
LHR - Concorde room is wonderful - and better than JFK imho on the grounds of champagne offer alone!
IST - BA Terraces lounge is very decent place to wait, with lovely staff(though very small)
HEL - I really like the business class/Emerald's only lounge in the non-Schengen section.
TPE - CX's lounge is a mini Wing - very neat.
Worst
CGK - shared user lounges with some of the scariest food I've ever seen. Crap a/c too
DEL/BOM/CCU - oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. All awful but the shared user lounges at DEL in particular plumb the depths - packed, smoky and only ONE drinkie! Worse than any AC.
MNL - both QF and CX lounges are poky little holes with crap drinks and minimal snacks
[This message has been edited by Swanhunter (edited Dec 01, 2003).]
Dec 1, 2003 | 12:11 pm
#13
Original Poster
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I must be in a minority here, but I really think the JFK Concorde Room knocks the socks off the one at LHR every time. It's more spacious, beautifully designed and generally a decent wine list.
I thought the LHR Concorde Room was small, cramped, dated and, most of all, very overrated.
It's all just personal opinion though.
I thought the LHR Concorde Room was small, cramped, dated and, most of all, very overrated.
It's all just personal opinion though.
Dec 4, 2003 | 6:09 pm
#14
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Melbourne, Vic, Australia
Posts: 55
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Markie:
I pretty much nominate all OneWorld lounges in the international terminal at LAX as the Worst.</font>
I pretty much nominate all OneWorld lounges in the international terminal at LAX as the Worst.</font>
Dec 4, 2003 | 6:57 pm
#15
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: MEL/LAX
Programs: AAdv GLD(MM), QF LTS, UA MP_nada, HH Gld, SPG, GoldenCircle Jade
Posts: 4,478
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by virtualtroy:
I must be in a minority here, but I really think the JFK Concorde Room knocks the socks off the one at LHR every time. It's more spacious, beautifully designed and generally a decent wine list.
I thought the LHR Concorde Room was small, cramped, dated and, most of all, very overrated.
It's all just personal opinion though.</font>
I must be in a minority here, but I really think the JFK Concorde Room knocks the socks off the one at LHR every time. It's more spacious, beautifully designed and generally a decent wine list.
I thought the LHR Concorde Room was small, cramped, dated and, most of all, very overrated.
It's all just personal opinion though.</font>