[Swissdiver]

During the past months, I used several business class lounges (regular ones, so no “Senator” or “First Class”, just those regular business class passengers can access) in Europe. Here are some observations I’d be happy to see you commenting.

ZRH: The main lounge offers the economy class food you didn’t get on board. Not edible. And no cheese to survive. A disaster. And the wine offering is rather poor. I like however the upper floor (where the long bar used to be), a quiet zone with a handful number of chaise longue. The lounge by D gates is smaller, but not great either.

FRA, LH: Several lounges are there. They generally all offer very basic food and a too bright environment. Poor wine choice.

MUC, LH: Similar to FRA, although there is only one lounge in the Schengen area, to my knowledge.

LHR, T2, LH: Not a bad one, with a couple of hot dishes. The white wine was decent. Some chaise longue are available, but not in a quiet environment. While it is not in an airline base, this one is much better than FRA’s or MUC’s…

LHR, T5, BA (South): Getting there is a bit cumbersome. But even full, the lounge is really enjoyable. OK food. Good wines (sometimes great such as the Chassagne Montrachet 2014 yesterday). Excellent lighting. And many cosy areas. Probably the best of this list.

AMS, KL: Massive lounge, a bit too big. Not so great food, and basic wines. At par with LH although I always like to be able to see the tarmac.

CDG, AF, 2F: Small lounges, generally packed, with good cold food and wine. Not so confortable seating.
CDG, AF, 2E: Large lounges, with a similar offering as above. Lighting all right given the size.

MAD: Haven’t beed there for a little while now. But the one on T4s is rather nice, with decent food and good wines.

4 users thanked author for this post.

sparkyflier, Kjell, Ahmad, cwoodward

[ViajeroUK]

There are two KL lounges at Schiphol, Schengen and Non Schengen, the Non Schengen lounge has recently been completely revamped for KLM’s Centenary year, is on two levels. As well as the regular food and drink offerings there is a restaurant (pre-booking is recommended but I have never seen it very busy) where meals have to be paid for, premium drinks are also available at a cost. This lounge does have views of the apron (E/F gates?).

[MartynSinclair]

I am finding the European businesses lounges rammed full and not particularly pleasant. My main focus for lounge comfort in Europe for stays of under an hour (day time work hours) is comfort, wifi and lounge position, considering my departure gate.

If i can find this by an empty gate, this becomes ‘my lounge’.

For stays longer than an hour, I sometimes head for a priority pass lounge – I find the standards slightly higher than airline business class lounges…

Evening long haul flights – well that’s another story.. 🙂

[Cali2CPT]

I must confess that I’ve largely given-up on Biz lounges, often choosing to stroll, shop or find a decent restaurant if I need a meal and to also plug-in and do some work. ZRH is a great example. Often ridiculously crowded, the offering just doesn’t deliver for me. That said, I’ll be departing in BRU soon with a LH F ticket via FRA to JNB. I’ve been told the Brussels Airlines J lounge is worth checking out?

[Swissdiver]

I’ve been told the Brussels Airlines J lounge is worth checking out

Unless it has been refurbished since my last visit about 2 years ago, it is a joke…

[Cali2CPT]

Swissdiver wrote:

Unless it has been refurbished since my last visit about 2 years ago, it is a joke…

I’ve been told it was expanded/renovated June of last year. That said, I’m not holding my breath…

[SimonRowberry]

I recently used the Star Alliance Lounge at FCO and have to say that it was probably the best J Lounge I’ve used in Europe.

Extensive food and drink offerings and plenty of space (at least at the time we used it).

Safe travels.

Simon

PS Have they got rid of the Long Bar at ZRH??!!

[hi_flier]

The last two times I flew out of ZRH the Swiss lounge was completely full…the rest of the airport wasn’t! I’ve ended up grabbing a coffee at Sprungli to enjoy the relative peace & quiet of the main terminal. Crazy.

[Swissdiver]

PS Have they got rid of the Long Bar at ZRH??!!

I am afraid they have. There is instead a quiet zone, half business class lounge, half Senator’s. Quite the opposite of the smoky and lively place it used to be…

[EU_Flyer]

Swissdiver wrote:

Unless it has been refurbished since my last visit about 2 years ago, it is a joke…

The intra-schengen lounge is great. Lots of seating options, decent food and drink and great views. The extra-schengen lounge isn’t so good.

[rferguson]

I was pleasantly surprised by the Alitalia Business class lounge by the E gates at FCO. An extensive buffet and barista made coffee.

The Finnair Premium Lounge in HEL is also up there with the best in europe offered by the airlines IMHO.

My award for the worst lounges goes to Scandinavian SAS. Dire.

Slightly OT as I know this topic is about european airline operated lounges – but has anyone noticed how terribly poor many of the Asian airlines lounges are? Even in their hub airports. I find it such a disconnect between the onboard experience (which is generally very high aiming for asian carriers) and the lounge experience. I recently flew Asiana and was SO disappointed with their lounges at ICN. KAL’s are not much better. JAL and ANA’s J class lounges are pretty bare bones (even the JAL F lounge is nothing to write home about). SQ/TG/MH are all just OK. The two standout asian airlines for me in regards to lounges are CX and Eva.

4 users thanked author for this post.

EU_Flyer, Ahmad, esselle, Jacob

[Jacob]

I love the Eva Air lounge in Bangkok it is great

[Inquisitive]

Most business lounge in Europe of European airlines are IMO are similar to USA airlines lounge food wise, nothing is really there, except drinks menu is normally extensive and you don’t have to survive the surely Bartenders and searching your pockets for small dollar bills for the tips.

I happened to enjoy a couple of Emirates lounges in Europe and those are great in all aspects.

[capetonianm]

I know I’m a grumpy old git, but I find most of the business lounges overcrowded and overrated. Pushing and shoving and queuing to get a couple of bits of often not very good food and a drink is hardly worthwhile. Lounges are often quite difficult to get to, and I usually try to find myself a quiet corner where I can sit quietly and without people walking past me.

I suppose this is one of the reasons I don’t bother about chasing points and tier status. Even when I used to travel lots on LH and had Senator status, I never much enjoyed the lounges, the big perk for me was 40kg baggage allowance as I could bring wine back from CPT in my hold baggage.

Some of the lounges have a good view of the runways – that is something I always enjoy.

[icenspice]

I enjoyed my brief visit to the lounge at Kiev Boryspil last month.

It wasn’t too busy, has a long terrace with runway views and where smoking is permitted.

Had a great coffee served at the bar and a few tasty lightbites, followed by a Tullamore Dew which I was surprised to see and is the only thing I drink at home 😊

[Author]

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