hmv

Hi everyone,

I am flying in from Newark next Tuesday at 7am and have a 5,5 hour connection @ CPH.

SAS is now offering access to the lounge for 24 EUR per person, but I am wondering if it worth the money or not. Basically I am looking for a place where I can relax for a few hours and potentially grab some sleep. Since it is my first visit to CPH, I am not sure what to expect from the lounge since the reviews I've read have mixed opinions.

nacho

I don't think there's any sleeping facilities at CPH lounge, there are showers available. The food inside is mediocre and for breakfast you can get cereal, bread and cold cut meat and cheese, I think they switch lunch at around 11am, and when I was there last time they had soup and bread. I wouldn't pay to go in unless you love alcohol (I'd rather bring my own food and drink tap water). There are places that you can take rest etc.

Maybe there's a FTer happens to be at CPH and can guest you in.

SKT-DK

It can get quite busy up to the point where they do not accept paid entry anymore for capacity reasons. A Tuesday morning should not be nearly as bad as a Monday, but you could still face a rejection.
If the lounge is really busy, yet they still accept paid entries, personally I would not bother - it will not be a pleasant place to be! But if at reasonable levels, I would pay the money if I were you. It will be a place to freshen up and relax away from the crowds outside. I believe many of the other lounges at CPH accept paid entry at around 250 DKK too though, which might be worth looking into as an alternative.

nanyang

I wouldn't be that negative on the SK lounge. EUR24 is really not that much money - and other options are not that cheap / great anyways.

What I did last month (arriving on SQ early in the morning); bought some 'clean food' from Pret (limited options) to eat in the lounge. This worked quite well.

Sleeping might be a difficult proposition unless one is willing to spend a bit more money?

Jainzar

I agree. I paid that even myself when I had no status nor Plus ticket with already a 2,5 hours layover. Denmark is not really a cheap place so I find the offer worth it.

FT Guest xyzpdq

With over 5 hours I would go to Copenhagen center. Catch the metro for the 15min ride to Kgs Nytorv. Grab some coffee and light breakfast at a local bakery, take a stroll through the center and watch the city wake up for a couple of hours. Get a sense of the city.
If that is not your thing - I would spend the EUR 24 in a heartbeat to get away from the crowds. You will likely get access to business loung downstairs, which rarely is crowded. And EUR 24 will not get you many snack or drinks in Copenhagen Airport.

tgj1974

I would pay, as the others have said, a coffee and a sandwich will set you back at least 15 EUR anyway. With 5,5h, its doable to get into town, but I understand some would find it stressful.

Tango Alpha

I would take the lounge for that duration/at that price, no doubt.

There will be quite full around 7.00-8.15, but then a couple of very silent hours.

AFAIK there is no relly good rest/sleep options in the business lounge.

In fact, I have a SK-flight that morning ex CPH, but right know it seems to be a 7.20-departure - which will be slightly too early to take OP within the lounge.

DragonSoul

If you go in, DON'T EAT FROM THE CHEESE WHEEL, or Cheese-Wheel-o-Death as I call it.

fassy

nacho

Why?

SKT-DK

Why is that any different compared to any other buffet? - I would hazard the statement that the only thing that can make it sanitary questionable is the people using it. But people using their hands to pick up things is a problem of any buffet no matter where.

nacho

Saw a Swedish kid in Sen lounge at FRA last week used his hand to take wine gums and licked his hand afterwards and then put his hand in again back into the jar to dig out his favourite colours. I told the LH staff and the staff told him and he ignored and ran away, and she told the cleaning staff to replace the container.

I'd rather not have seen it happened.

fassy

I am in general not a fan of buffet. I will actively avoid restaurants which advertise buffet lunch or similar.

For once, as you said, a lot of people don't care about basic things like washing their hands, sneezing over the trays, touching everything with their fingers instead of using the serving tools etc. For air line lounges, it is even worse. So many random people walking by and handling the food... and at the same time the serving sizes in the SK lounges are huge. If you compare it to e.g. LX or LH lounges, they put up small offerings of the same stuff up and replace if very frequently. In the SK lounge they put like 10kg of noodle salad and let is simmer under in the open to grow gems for half a day before replacing it.

The cheese wheel is particular disgusting as it is cheese which should be cooled and on that wheel it is luke warm by 9am. Next to the cheese might spoil eventually, the hand-warm cheese tastes horrible in my opinion. At the same time you see people grabbing the cheese-block with their bare hands to hold it since they do not trust the wire contraption to keep the block in place when they cut it. After a couple of hours.... *brrrr*

The other reason I avoid buffets is a different story, not applicable to air line lounges or hotel breakfasts but for a lot of Swedish restaurants. Seems buffet is still en vogue here, even if the rest of the world moved on end of the 70s... If I go out for lunch or dinner, I want the chef to create a meal for me. Things which go well together so I have a pleasant eating experience. I do not want to self-mix my meals and have a plate full of random stuff which doesn't go together.

All of that might sound that I'm very picky and difficult to please. That is wrong, if I get simple but tasty food served under sanitary conditions, I'm fine. By the way, using a bit of caution like this over the last 15 years traveling to the worst places of this fair blue planet, I wasn't sick because of food-borne illness once!

Can't say that to some of my colleagues, one of them is always super proud that he eats everything, from every street-vendor in every part of the world. And guess what, he has been med evaced not just once. And still doesn't learn. I started not sending him to places outside of developed countries for that reason. And now he is complaining the other people get to eat the good authentic stuff

Tango Alpha

Cheese should not be eaten cold! - if you like cheese.

But I acknowledge the hygiene issue if the wheel is used wrongly - which it might often be in such a place.

Not totally true. Sitting in Senator lounge at GVA right now...

Well, this thread has gone slightly off topic.