Confirmed: first Oneworld-branded lounge for ICN
 

As suspected and rumoured, Oneworld has now confirmed its first Oneworld-branded lounge is soon to open at Seoul T1. Official ribbon-cutting in January but I hear a 'soft opening' could take place in the second half of December, if the lounge is ready in time. More at https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...d-seoul-lounge

This is good news. The lounge available for AA flyers was underwhelming to say the least.

Next? Berlin? Athens?

I'd always have thought Berlin would be on the list, especially as this was a new-build terminal.

Glad to hear that. It's about time!

After just a "few" years of delays :rolleyes:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c2d184f82.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...acedcaf88.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1486d7e6e.jpeg
staff says opening tomorrow!

Did the lounge open in the end?

Seems open. Some images from a Korean site.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a13be87e0b.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4bbff3a3d4.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ec05122b1d.jpg
As found on dprime here

In the post it also says passengers with Priority Pass will also be able to access the lounge from January. :eek:

Curious that we haven't seen a press release or similar official comms, as well as the blogsphere lighting up with this news.

Well, it was Christmas after all. Doubt a lot of PR people at the Oneworld org were working over the holidays.

FYI: more pics and first-hand details now up at https://www.executivetraveller.com/r...oul-icn-lounge

Interestingly, some Oneworld airlines are still sending travellers to their contracted ICN lounge, eg CX directed a mate to the Asiana lounge – but he'd head the Oneworld lounge was open so swung by there without problem.

Although the lounge opened in a 'soft opening' mode, Oneworld is holding off on a press release until the lounge's official opening later this month.

Really needed but the problem is that ICN belongs to Skyteam KE. I wonder if an Oneworld lounge can be made at their hubs these are LHR BA shared with Skyteam VS NRT/HND JL shared with Star Alliance NH and US SEA AS DFW & JFK AA and HKG CX.

I'd like to offer an answer but I can't quite understand your question – perhaps you could try rephrasing it? Is there a series of airports you're suggesting might also be good fits for Oneworld lounges?

Yeah, not sure what value a separate OW lounge would add at OW hub airports. In most if not all cases, the home airline’s lounge will be better than a hypothetical alliance-operated lounge and accessible by all OW F/J/status pax.

The 'official' opening date will be 20 Jan! Many airlines including CX still inform their passengers to use Asiana lounge instead of Oneworld lounge.

Rephrase reply
 

I'll rephrase it for you Why would Oneworld choose ICN to open their first Branded lounge? Even though it's home to Skyteam and Star Alliance Carriers Korean Air and Asiana. Yet the better choices are their Hub airports like DFW AA and SEA AS North America followed by Asia and Oceania HKG CX KUL MH NRT/HND JL and SYD QF. On the European Middle East and African regions these should be LHR BA MAD IB HEL AY DME OVB S7 (suspended due to the Ukrainian war) CMN AT MCT future WY.

I think the idea is that the airlines who have the hub would be responsible for having their own lounges, and the alliance lounges are in outstations where several airlines fly but not enough to justify having their own lounge. If you look at the SkyTeam lounges they are in non SkyTeam hubs (YVR, DXB, IST, SYD, SCL, ex-HKG) or the *A lounges (FCO, GIG, CDG, LAX, AMS, EZE) they’re all hub airports, but for airlines in other alliances (with the exception of LAX but that lounge predates Polaris lounges so makes sense). I wouldn’t expect a OW branded lounge in a OW hub airport, since they already have lounges available. I look at them as (hopefully) a step above whatever contract lounge the individual airlines were using.

As an aside, didn’t CX used to have a lounge at ICN? I would swear I went to it ~10 years ago, what happened to it?

Thanks for elaborating on your question, allianceflyer9506.

Why do you feel those 'hub' airports would be better choices for a Oneworld-branded lounge?

Those hub airports you've cited – DFW, HKG, KUL, NRT/HND, SYD, LHR, HEL etc – not only all have lounges from Oneworld members, those are usually hosts to flagship lounges, and in some cases there are several member airline lounges there (eg LHR, HKG) – so you'd think that would actually deliver zero benefit for Oneworld to open its own lounge in those locations.

On the other hand, ICN is served by seven Oneworld airlines, which between them have around a dozen flights, but none of those airlines have their own lounge. (CX used to have a lounge but it was shuttered some while back). And this is precisely the model that Oneworld is aiming for.

Instead of Oneworld airlines sending their first & business class travellers and frequent flyers to an assortment of other lounges, often run by competitor airlines or being third-party independent lounges, there can be a single Oneworld lounge for all those airlines and their loungeworthy passengers, and ideally as the network grows these Oneworld lounges offer a broadly consistent experience.

Yep JL and CX used to have their lounges in ICN few years ago but JL Sakura lounge closed in 2012 (and JL suspended all routes to ICN in 2018), and CX lounge closed in 2018 due to terminal rearrangement. OW airlines now use main building of T1, so don't need to go to concourse anymore.

Thanks for your insight on this topic and back to the question I based it on the fact that Star Alliance has a branded lounge of their own at one of their Hubs LAX that UA passengers can use for international and possibly LAX-EWR/IAD/ORD their Eastern and Central Time Zone hub to hub route from LAX.

FYI: my review of the new Oneworld Lounge at Seoul is now up, and Oneworld execs tell me a second lounge is already underway to open in the second half of this year. (No, I can't say where, although I feel I do have a very good idea).

https://www.executivetraveller.com/r...oul-icn-lounge

Been there this week. Interior design and showers are nice, but overall, it feels more like a Priority Pass lounge rather than an airline Business Lounge. Food was dry and rather tasteless, also felt like it's been standing there for hours.

Didn't use the bar, but that's probably one of the better aspects, too.

To be fair, almost every lounge at ICN has that vibe - there's nothing spectacular.