Lounge Report: Seoul and Osaka
 

Seoul Kimpo Int’l Airport, Terminal 1

Club ANA Lounge:

This lounge was situated before immigrations (bad start). I showed the attendant my Elite card and she let me out without much fuss. Upon entrance, I couldn’t help but notice that the lounge only had about 20 or so seats in it and the atmosphere was really quite awful. I took a seat in one of the rather worn looking chairs, then looked around. It was dark, depressing and obviously underbudgeted. There was no business facility of any kind, the only phone was a phonecard payphone and there was no restrooms in the lounge. After a drink from its rather small drinks fridge, I left. My advice: Don’t bother, unless you don’t get access to any other lounge.

UA Int’l First Class Lounge (which let in Business and Star Golds as well... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif )

After I passed through immigrations, I went to the UA lounge where I was greeted by an attendant who had no clue of what’s going on. She had to call another attendant who was actually a “red carnation” to check that I was allowed access and then she let me through. The general atmosphere of the lounge was much better than the ANA lounge, with lots of windows, relatively high roof and etc. I went to the food counter and there was some peanuts, (almost stale) bread, a few cup noodles and etc. Not much in terms of food. There was only 2 kinds of beer, one Korean brand and Budweiser, and a narrow selection of soft drinks. At least this lounge had some business facilities; Fax, photocopier, desk with lamp and electrical sockets for laptops. The newspaper rack had the usual selection. Looking around the lounge, I found a small area with about 8 or so rather comfortable reclining leather chairs and a balcony which had views not onto the aeroplanes but onto the other side with roads and cars. At least it was sunny in the balcony... Restrooms were outside the lounge but at least they had their own. It was not bad and because the lounge was so secluded not many people used it anyway. Whilst my stay, a maintenance worker was doing something to the cappuccino machine, when his mobile phone was constantly going off which was extremely annoying. Apart from that, it was not a bad lounge, but not particularly good either.

Osaka Kansai Airport

Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge

This lounge was situated before immigrations (I fail to see the point in having a lounge before immigrations... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif What do you do if there is long queues for immigrations and your flight is leaving in 2 minute’s time?) It was a long walk from the ANA check-in desk because the lounge was on the other side of the terminal. Upon entrance, I was greeted by a pleasant agent who took my Elite card (and returned it later). It didn’t matter that I hadn’t checked in yet; She was content with seeing the ticket. There was a smoking and non-smoking area (I don’t smoke) and I found the lounge to be well lit with a relaxing feeling. Because it was quite early in the morning, I was the only one in the lounge for a while. There was a good selection of drinks, both alcoholic and soft. Some pastries and cup noodles came into sight but I wasn’t hungry. There was a newspaper rack with some magazines, where I found the magazine “Priority” for PPS members. It was nothing really special. The restroom was inside the lounge, but it only had one cubicle. No complaints apart from that people start knocking on the door after a while. Anyway, I left fairly early to try the ANA lounge... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

ANA Lounge Fuji

I had the lounge invitation issued at check-in and found the lounge quite easily after clearing immigrations. Greeted by a friendly agent who took my invitation, I was escorted to the first class area of the lounge. After I was given a hot towel I was asked my choice of drinks, which she brought with a tray of other snacks as well. Nice comfy chairs and a very relaxed atmosphere. There was a TV which unfortunately only had Japanese channels. The magazine rack left a lot to be desired however and there was a distinct lack of any business facilities. The lounge was spotlessly clean, as with the Silver Kris lounge. A nice lounge, considering this isn’t really a first class lounge (because ANA doesn’t operate any first class flights out of Osaka).

Club ANA lounge

I had a few minutes to spare before boarding, so I decided to give the Club ANA (business class) lounge a try because it was very near the boarding gate. The entrance attendant took my card, wrote down some details and let me through. The lounge was well lit due to the panoramic windows, but the chairs weren’t really comfortable. There was some desks with a phone socket and electrical outlets, and I also found a room with a photocopier and a fax machine. The drinks selection was nothing special, just ordinary, with tap beer, some liqueur and soft drinks. There wasn’t much of a food selection; Chocolate bars, pastries with plastic wrappers and some peanuts. I had to leave for the flights so I didn’t stay there for very long, but I doubt I would have stayed there for much longer anyway. Conclusion: Fuji lounge is much better if you’re Star Gold.

Coming soon: London