Airport Lounge
An airport lounge is a closed-off space past security where a one-off entry fee, a better ticket or the right credit card buys you quiet, comfort and, above all, food and drink included in the price. I won't pretend otherwise: the eating is the main draw for me 😊 And yet I managed to avoid lounges for years - I first set foot in one on the way back from Tel Aviv, with a stopover in Vienna. Ever since, they've been as much a part of my layovers as the queue at passport control.
What You Get in a Lounge
What's on offer varies a lot from lounge to lounge. Some have nothing but sandwiches, fruit and a few kinds of sweets, others a hot buffet with several courses and a bar with a wide choice of alcoholic drinks. One thing they all share: eating and drinking is included in the entry price and it's unlimited - you eat and drink as much as you can manage. At an airport where a plain bottle of water costs as much as lunch, the entry fee pays for itself fast.
What I enjoy most is that the better lounges serve local food. In Vienna I had a classic Austrian strudel, in Istanbul excellent couscous and Turkish meze. Add a glass of wine or beer and two hours of waiting for your flight just fly by.
Sabiha Gökçen: My Home Base for Layovers
Most often I sit in the lounge at Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) on the Asian side of Istanbul. It's my main gateway to the Middle East and Asia - I fly from here to Iraq, Iran, to Kyrgyzstan or further into Turkey, to Cappadocia for instance.
The second reason is more down to earth: Sabiha Gökçen is an insanely crowded airport. It's the home base of low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines, and the food in the terminal is some of the priciest I've come across anywhere on my travels. The lounge is my escape hatch here - somewhere I can actually catch my breath before a night flight.
Where I've Eaten Best So Far
After years of layovers I've been through enough lounges to compare them. Two of them deserve articles of their own:
- Sky Lounge, Vienna. My favorite so far. The hot buffet kept being topped up even two hours before closing time, the wine list was all Austrian (the red Small Hill went down beautifully) and alongside the apple strudel there was an excellent quark one too. Clean, quiet, the airport announcements turned down. This is exactly what a lounge should look like.
- iGA Lounge, Istanbul (IST). A huge 24-hour lounge above the bustle of the terminal - from the upper level you can watch the airport buzzing even after midnight. I arrived at night on my way to Mauritius: most of the hot buffet was already closed, but the couscous from the cold buffet was excellent - if a restaurant had served it to me, I'd have been delighted. The sweets, on the other hand, fell far short of what Turkish pastry chefs pull off in the city. The staffed bar pours Efes beer, Turkish wine and gin and tonic, and there's Turkish tea as well.
Tips From My Layovers
- You don't have to pay your way in on the spot. Plenty of credit cards and travel programs offer lounge access for free or at a discount. But you can also buy a one-off entry right at the lounge reception. Watch out though, they're often full.
- Keep an eye on the opening hours and on the time of your visit. Some lounges run around the clock (the iGA Lounge in Istanbul), others close in the evening (the Sky Lounge in Vienna). At night the hot buffet tends to be scaled back, too.
- Read the reviews beforehand. A lounge is no automatic guarantee of quality - some are packed, noisy and the food isn't up to much.
- At a staffed bar, don't be shy about going back for another. In Istanbul the staff had their hands full, but nobody minded when I came back for another glass.
A Food Stop Between Two Flights
I treat lounges as food stops along the route - they're often the first or the last place where I get to taste a country's cooking. You can tell a good lounge by how reluctant you are to leave it - even with a plane to an exciting destination waiting for you. And how about you - do you go to lounges, or do you save your appetite for the in-flight meal?
Safe travels!
Sky Lounge Vienna Airport
I didn't set foot in an airport lounge until a layover in Vienna - and it turned out to be one of the good ones. Sky Lounge in Terminal 3 serves turkey meatballs, cheesy Kasspatzln noodles and two kinds of strudel, and the bar held nothing but Austrian wines. You can pay your way in on the spot, or get in free as a perk with a credit card.
iGA Lounge, Istanbul Airport
Istanbul Airport (IST) is Turkey’s main international airport, with a capacity of 200 million passengers per year. For a more comfortable layover, passengers can visit the iGA Lounge, which is open 24/7. The lounge offers amenities such as a buffet, bar, and showers. The buffet includes Turkish appetizers, salads, filled rolls, and sweets, while the bar serves beer, wine, and cocktails. Non-alcoholic beverages, coffee, and Turkish tea are freely available. The lounge boasts a view of the bustling terminal, a modern interior, and plenty of seating.