IAN-UK

I was in the new Pearl lounge, the non-Etihad facility, today - its first day of operation. VERY different in every way to the tired, dumpy old lounge. Not exactly opulent, but spacious and airy. There's an internal buffet area, and a very large terrace and bar - sort of open-air with the terminal.

No mention of a three-hour limit to stays.


STOP PRESS. i missed a whole maze of rooms hidden away behind the main buffet - including yet another bar, another buffet and some private rooms/meeting rooms. A very proud manager showed them off to me 😊

There are showers and bag-dumps, but no sleeping rooms.

Sifu

I�ve just arrived into the new Pearl Lounge today on Day 2. It is certainly an improvement from the previous lounge in the old terminal but very chaotic at the front desk. I�m giving them the benefit of the doubt given it�s only day 2 but I will be back on Saturday for the second trip back to Jakarta!

There was someone calling out for business class passengers in the chaos ant the front and I got prioritised ahead of paying guests with a tour of the facility. Definitely a nice upgrade to the old facility.

Grace B

Somewhat off topic, but I was at AUH last week in transit, flying EY business.

Nothing had moved to the new terminal at that stage, but I must admit the old First Class Lounge was really nice and very quiet. If the new one is better it will be out of this world...

awarty

So, the inbound/outbound flights for both my remaining B2Bs at AUH were cancelled over the past 10 days and all flights were moved over to DXB after an email to the AUH reservations team.

The upside is that its now A332s on all the Gulf sectors (assuming they don't cancel the DXB flights)

Sifu

More updates from CGK today. It looks like the escalators to transfers were working today so theoretically it is possible to do a B2B at CGK with hand baggage only.

However, those who are familiar with the airport will appreciate the walking time required to get from one end of the airport to the other for the transfers will find it a challenge at the best of times to get across the airport if you are on opposite ends. I still would not recommend doing a B2B.

I was one of the victims who had a CMB-CGK cancellation so was routed CMB-KUL-CGK with a two hour connection. It seemed that the transfers desk at KUL on the C Gates were lacking with staff so two hours was just about sufficient to transfer and get a boarding pass. However, I do think I was just incredibly unlucky today.

dvs7310

Most if not all of the references to lounges here are for business lounges, not First. EY has very very few First routes, so not many people here would have seen it. The old EY business lounge was acceptable but not great. The old contract business lounge (UL) was really crap.

JessicaTam

To add to the brain trust - I think a B2B would be possible at the new AUH terminal A. The 'arms' of the terminal are not very long and the transit security is in the middle of the terminal.

I stayed overnight in AUH and did OLCI. I was able to get through immigration and security with a 'print at home' UL BP.

FWIW the Pearl lounge is much better than the terminal 1 version, with one exception. Bring your UK style adapters if you want power. And be prepared to look hard for a power point - they are very few and far between.

Sifu

There are some of the hidden seats at the back near the meeting rooms where there are some more power points! It seems as the majority of people will get as far as the Bar and then follow the room back round.

zat_dude

Can anyone share the email address to UL's AUH team? Thanks.

Sifu

Sending you a DM now

plunet

It's linked to in this thread but the posting where it was shared is this one

nancypants

Searching for another CGK-CMB-LHR fare for April May of next year (it remains competitively priced on UL�s website at around AU$4k return cf QR at $5k and QF closer to $8-12k for similar flight minus the positioning flight to CGK). Interestingly, doesn�t show up on Google flights. Any insight appreciated

Sifu

Currently on my second trip to CGK. There still seems to be some teething issues at AUH with the new terminal but everything continues to flow well compared to the old terminal.

UL passengers were directed to a closed check in desk area as the airport boards had announced an open check in desk but staff were not due to start checking in until T-3:30 vice T-4.

The lounge invitation card was for the old Al Dhabi lounge instead of the Pearl Lounge today which seemed a bit strange as it was correctly printing out the Pearl Lounge on Wednesday. However, no issues as it seems like UL are not the only airline with these issues!

It was a lot more orderly at the Pearl Lounge compared to Wednesday with a queuing system in place for passengers paying for access or using Amex Platinum to get in whilst those with Business Class tickets could show their boarding passes and lounge invitations and be given access to the lounge without queuing. The back of the lounge remains quiet whilst it still remains an open secret. I managed to get seats near the Bar with a free charging point

JessicaTam

I have just finished two runs and am sitting in AUH to head back to OSL with QR .

I got the visa into ID the first time a month ago, and then the second visa just after I left the first time. This caused the immigration computer to get a little confused. The agent thought I was trying to enter the second time on the first visa. So off to the supervisor's office I go. He was pleasant and I had evidence of the receipt for the second visa so no big deal. The conversation did cover mileage and mattress runs so I think I left him a little confused at what I was doing.

JessicaTam

A further data point. The first time I arrived at the new airport (on QR) I was directed to the auto gates. I had my doubts but as I had visited UAE before they worked just fine with my AU passport.