[Anonymous]

[RichHI1]

BA shut its lounge in Lisbon and moved in with AF/KL. Now they are remodelling and have moved to the Blue Lounge which is in completely the opposite direction from the Non Schengen gates to London resulting in a 20-25 minute walk (negotiating all the lost arriving passengers in process).
Lisbon is not a One World Hub but I guess both BA and IB use it.
Anyone know what the long term plan is here?
Seems to be a common move now for BA to shut its lounges and move in with others (much as happened with JAL and co moving into BA at LHR T3 (Glad AA is still separate though I like BA first class lounge as a change).

[Bucksnet]

The more airlines that share a lounge the larger it can be, and the more facilities it can have as costs are shared. From memory, BA, IB and Finnair all have flights from LIS so could share a joint Oneworld lounge, however I suppose it’s better for BA to be near the non-Schengen gates and the others to be near the Schengen gates.

Does anyone know the layout of LIS airport and if a central lounge is possible, but not too far away from either set of gates?

[elbarto]

LIS could become a OneWorld hub if the rumored acquisition of TAP by IAG goes ahead. Airlines had probably put investment in new lounges as Portela is due to be replaced by a new airport at Alcochete, but that’s been put on ice for the foreseeable future as the Portuguese have run out of money.

[RichHI1]

Also moving a truly local airport miles away is not necessarily a positive move, as per the Athens experience…
That said there is a lot of rebuilding and development going on at Lisbon currently (including the remodel of the AF/KL lounge BA have used since they closed their own.)
If TAP does go 1W and TAM follows as part of LAN then Latin America becomes effectively a 1W monopoly.

[VintageKrug]

Consolidating within a single oneworld lounge can reduce costs for the airline and increase facilities for the passenger.

[Author]

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