New ST lounge in IST
 

Looks like SkyTeam opened up a new joint lounge (for all ST carriers) in IST, based off the LHR T4 joint lounge.

More info can be found here.

I'm surprised they picked IST, didn't realize there were that many ST flights operating there.

Any FTers have had a chance to experience the new lounge yet? Any reports?

Thanks for the information. There are many ST flights into BKK too. I'm surprised that they did not consider a joint lounge in BKK and SIN.

BKK has 2 lounges for ST elite plus members. China airlines dynasty lounge and KLM crown lounge. So there is no need to put a sky-team joint lounge in. I relise they might not be always open at the same times. But i am pretty sure 1 or the other would be open at any times. I know the CI lounge is usually open in the late evening 10pm-3am, 6am-6pm. So i think its mostly covered.

Turkey on the other hand probably doesn't have any lounges which are managed by sky-team airlines, hence they decide to do a joint operation.

I would say Australian top 3 airports Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane need the sky-team joint lounges. (Sydney lounge is being built)

I'm at the lounge just now... As the linked article says, the lounge is very similar to the ST lounge at LHR. It even has the green wall made out of plants :)

Of course it's smaller than LHR but still very nice.

Access
 

Hello from IST!

According to DL.com, Sky Club access should gain access to the IST ST Lounge..,

However, as I suspected, DL.com is wrong. Sky Club membership does not give access unless flying a SkyTeam airline. But the desk agent was very nice and let me take pics. I'll post later!

It's all good as *G means I'm in the awesome TK Lounge!

I thought that, too, but there's a lot more than I realized:

AF: 3 daily flights to/from CDG (only 2 on Tuesdays)
KL: 2 daily flights to/from AMS
AZ: 2 daily flights to/from FCO
RO: 2 ........................... OTP
DL: 1 ............................ JFK
SU: 4 ........................... SVO, plus 1 to/from LED
CZ: 1 ........................... URC
ME: 2 ........................... BEY
KE: 5 times weekly to/from ICN
SV: 3 daily flights RUH/JED/MED

Schedules are for June 2014.

-- Henry

And once you think about it, it's not really surprising anymore. Instanbul has been, for centuries, a transit point, particularly between East and West.

I have no inside information, but my interpretation has been that the location of the SkyTeam-branded lounges is focused on airports that:

• Are not an existing hub of an ST airline (otherwise that airline would normally provide lounge facilities for the alliance); and:
• Are served by a reasonable number of ST airlines/flights (to justify the investment and the shared branding); and:
• Are important locations where ST wants to anchor its presence in the face of the competition (eg: LHR – BA, plus London being an important travel hub anyway; IST – TK; DXB – EK; I’m not so sure about SYD, but I guess Australia’s a white-spot for ST, and SYD is served by at least 7 ST members with long-haul flights)

There are presumably also factors such as the current provision of lounge facilities at any given airport (and hence the opportunities for cost-savings, etc), as well as the availability of a suitable space in which to put a SkyTeam lounge.

Could that be the reason they have chosen IST?

I have a lot of experience of different lounges around the world, but IMHO, the *G TK Lounge in IST is not just the world's best lounge, it is in a completely different category to anything else in the planet - for example much better than the EK First Lounge in Dubai...

So maybe Skyteam just felt they had to do [I]something[..../I]

Press release: SkyTeam Celebrates First Anniversary of its Exclusive Lounge in Istanbul

And with regards to my earlier post:

which confirms at least my first two points...

IST SkyTeam Lounge Photos
 

The lounge was modeled on the LHR T4 ST Lounge. Pics:

Outside sign:
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...71819833_n.jpg

Green wall (same thing at LHR T4):
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...22112634_n.jpg

Seating area:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...ec033a0b4c70c4

Not the best view:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...35e67d9532a578

Oxygen bar:
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...56&oe=5468108D

IST SkyTeam Lounge Photos
 

More seating:
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...76864541_n.jpg

View of the lounge:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...28501129_n.jpg

Thanks a lot for the pics. Indeed, very inspired by LHR lounge. Very nice lounge ^. I'm just surprised they went again with this stupidity of O2 bar :rolleyes:

Any recent reports on this lounge? Is it really open 24/7? I'm contemplating making a ~00:30-6:00 layover in IST and pondering how helpful this lounge would be. It doesn't look like there are sleeping rooms or anything quite that nice. Has anyone been here recently?

Yes it is open 24/24.
Here is a full review with pictures I did in the lounge thread of the AF forum. This was a year ago, but I was there again recently and there was no change.
No sleeping room as far as I remember, but you will see on the pictures that you have sofa in the TV room on which you may be able to lay down.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24894971-post79.html