Best Lounge in the SkyTeam System
 

So, I was traveling today from DCA and spent some time talking to my colleague about how the clubs have really gone downhill. Overcrowded, drink selection getting smaller, food getting more...interesting.

We started to think about the other lounges we've been in, both on SkyTeam, and with other carriers.

I was thinking about the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at LHR. The place is insane. With the food offerings, hair cuts, massages, etc. it really spoils you.

What would you say is one of the best lounges within the system, what made it so great for you?

AF lounges in CDG - Several
Some in 2F are very close to the planes and very private
The newer ones are very modern
The food selection is great, esp the wines

I personally enjoy the Heathrow SkyTeam-branded lounge the most. Delta's Narita clubs are very nice, however.

+ 1

I also like sitting by the fireplace on a snowy day at MSP C club.

While the NRT lounges are probably some of the best Sky Clubs, they are not really world class, compared to what I have heard and seen of The Clubhouse, The Wing, LH's FCT, etc. I like the Qantas lounge in HKG better than the DL NRT lounges for comfort, food, and drink; the only drawback is the lack of view.

Very true, but when it comes to SkyTeam lounges, we don't have much.

My favourite is the ST lounge at LHR. :)

I'll disregard all the non-ST lounges from the comments above.

The AF/CDG system is really not very good. Skyteam LHR and DL NRT are good, but not world class.

I'll take the KE F lounge at ICN as best in Skyteam. Certainly head and shoulders above all ST mentioned above, IMO.

Nothing beats the Senator/First Class Lufthansa Lounges in Frankfurt and Munich. For Delta, Narita tops the list!

SQ the Private room hands down bar none

for ST, KE lounge IMHO is the best, but I haven't taken F on them yet.

Similar thread on this a bit ago:

1. NRT
2. ICN
3. TPE
4. AMS
5. PVG
6. CDG

LHR Lounge
 

Love that lounge. Had a full breakfast there recently. I wish more were like that. Yes, I'd gladly pay extra.

CDG? Anyone who says that has obviously not seen anything better as CDG lounges are absolute garbage (and I say that as a AFKL Platinum for Life as well as a DL DM2MM).

Best Skyteam are mostly noted above as the KE lounges at ICN (some above say F only but the J lounges are not bad either). the LHR T4 lounge is pretty good for an alliance lounge.

Others need to get out more as the TK lounge in IStanbul is now better than the BA T5 lounges or any of the J or F SQ lounges in SIN, and the only competition really is perhaps the Wing/Pier for "general lounges" and the LH FCT lounges at FRA and MUH.

I think garbage is overstating it. They are okay, IMO. The food selection is average on a good day, as is the drinks selection, but they are at least a decent size and there are a lot of them, so I find them relatively quiet and convenient to my gates.

Agree that KE has good J lounges. I also like LHR T4.

Agree 1000% on the TK lounge at IST. Very nice design, well laid out, good food for a lounge, very good drink selection, good staff, good size. Just a fantastic lounge.

Personally, I find the SQ J lounges at SIN to be very blah. Okay, but not special.

CGK was the best I've experienced. Reaaaaally nice!

Agree wholeheartedly on CDG. Food is just barely better than a SkyClub, in the sense that there is something recognizable as food.

The J lounge in ICN is nice, but I prefer the LHR lounge. Think that one is easily down to personal preference, as the ICN lounge seems more open with high ceilings and views. However the food offerings at T4 LHR are great. (When I was in ICN, they didn't even have any Korean hot food on the buffet, and the other stuff wasn't appealing to me.)

IMHO, Lima has the best lounge. Not crowded, great food and their fresh Pisco Sours are fantastic.

What exactly is the difference between the KE F lounges and the J lounges. If flying BE through ICN, would one be able to avail of the F lounge as well as the J lounge? Sorry, never been to any KE lounge before, I guess I should start when I have a chance.

What food and services does the KE ICN lounge provide that make it so great?

For DL SkyClubs only:

1. NRT
2. MSP F
3. BOS


If we include international partner:

1. AMS KLM lounge - awesome
2. CDG AF lounges - but they ask for more forms of ID than most of us carry

For as amazing as Changi Airport is in SIN, the lounge Delta accesses is pretty lame.

Any with a self-service bar.

At least someone likes it :).

At MSP I'll take C whenever I can. Much prefer the style, plus the beer is better.

KLM in AMS is pretty nice, but I can't compare to most of the other favorites here.

I thought MAN was pretty good. Went in there New Year's eve

I haven't seen any of these international lounges, but IND deserves a mention just for the Woodford. Same terrible food as the rest of the sky club system, though.

PVG??? REALLY?? PVG is one of the worst clubs I have ever been to on any alliance in any airport. This isn't even a skyclub lounge anymore (it's a complete mess that just about all airlines take part in)

CVG has woodford, too, is rarely crowded and has great agents!

CVG was completely and disgustingly over packed last week Tuesday, just like every day care center in the DL system.

Oh Yes a big +1 from me ^ - it is currently my home airport and it is a relatively new lounge and so far, when I have been in, it has not been crowded at all. Very nice. And yes - Woodford helps

While I've never been to PVG, I have to put in my vote for the AF lounge in LAX as the worst I've been in. Feels like it's 100 years old with measly snacks and very little in terms of comfort.

I personally really like the domestic VA lounge in SYD. I know it's not technically SkyTeam, but I accessed it in November as a DM connecting off the DL LAX-SYD flight en route to ADL. Very spacious, good food/drink selection, and nice shower rooms, especially after a full day and night of traveling from MCO!

how about, the one I'm in right now. Tahiti airport has a skyteam lounge. Shared with Air Tahiti Nui. Blew me away. I didn't think skyteam would have a lounge in an airport with service only 3x weekly. Its not bad either.

Hands down...the newly renovated/updated Prestige Lounge at ICN....wow

Maybe you read the title of this thread and thought it said something completely different.

Wasn't very impressed with PVG for J, and what I glimpsed of the F lounge didn't look much better. ICN was one of the better experiences--especially love the Remy Martin (or was it Hennessy?) XO self-service. AMS (KLM) provided a nice way to kill six hours between flights as well.

Outside SkyTeam, I've enjoyed the CX lounge in HKG and especially BA's Arrival lounge in LHR.

I can't think of a domestic lounge (i.e. USA) that approaches the quality of the better international ones. However, the BA lounge in SFO was pretty nice and provided direct boarding to my flight. Never experienced that anywhere else...

Glad to hear about the CX lounge in HKG...flying MIA-JFK-HKG-DPS in CX F in May. :)

JFK Oasis in the top 20 maybe?

The ICN KE J lounge, since it moved, is just not the same (even though at first look it looks very similar). Sure, now it has 5 showers instead of 3 (a +), but, now it has small wobbly round tables vs. the long solid table at the edge (looking out at the window), except the very last portion of it, and the Business Centre. Meaning: there is much less space for one to use a laptop now comfortably, and often all the laptop spaces are full. Also far less electric outlets there now. And still just Korea/EU style electric receptacles there; when they moved one would think they'd put it multi-style electric receptacles (like most hotels have), not forcing one with, say, a US or Japan power plug get out an adapter just to plug in. Really with the move now it has just gotten worse, unfortunately..

And, still as always, the Internet there is dead slow. 28.8K modem speed, at best. Every time I've been there. Before and after the move, it's practically unusable how slow it is. That's a big :td:. Can't get any work done there, unless everything is local on your laptop (good luck trying to get into your corporate VPN or such; heck, even loading up flyertalk.com takes a good 5 minutes; to read one thread with three pages will easily take you 20 min, given ~5 minutes to load up each page of it).

The ICN lounge has a lot of potential, but with super-slow and unreliable Internet and now far less working space and less power outlets, it's gotten even worse. It's only good for a quick stop for the usually rather decent foot, and the showers (now with 5 rarely one has to wait very long).

AF at NRT is quite good, I'm surprised no one mentioned that. Better (non-alcaholic) drink selection than the DL SC there at least. And, at least then can avoid the police at the NRT SkyClub (last time I was there a big section was cordoned off, lots of police interviewing staff and guests there... don't know what happened, but I didn't feel like sticking around and finding out).

THIS

I don't know if I'd call it the best in the system, but the AF Salon at JFK is pretty nice, particularly the food selection around dinnertime.

ICN lounge.

ATL B17.

On a serious pick I would go with ICN (KE) then NRT (DL, only because I never thought to try the others).