Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Amman Airport (AMM)

During my two-part birthday trip to the Golden Triangle, I had an extended layover at Amman Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), between two Royal Jordanian flights.

I’ve already reviewed the Royal Jordanian Crown Lounge Amman, which is the largest lounge at the airport, and also the flagship lounge of the oneworld carrier. In this post, I’d like to review the Plaza Premium Lounge Amman, which opened in 2023 (at least in its current form).

While this lounge is on the small side, I found the design to be reasonably nice, the food and drink selection to be solid, and the staff to be quite friendly. However, the lounge also isn’t much to get excited about, and the food selection definitely isn’t as good as at the Royal Jordanian Lounge, in terms of variety.

Plaza Premium Lounge Amman location

The Plaza Premium Lounge Amman is located in the same general area of the terminal as the Royal Jordanian Lounge. If you’re originating in Amman, you’ll find yourself in the center part of the terminal with duty free shopping. There you’ll see signage for the Plaza Premium Lounge, so you can’t miss it. It’s essentially on the opposite side of the duty free area of the Royal Jordanian Lounge (since the lounges take up different parts of the mezzanine level).

The lounge is actually located one level above the concourse, and can be reached by elevator. In theory there’s a check-in desk on the terminal level, though during my visit, it wasn’t actually in use.

Plaza Premium Lounge Amman hours

The Plaza Premium Lounge Amman is open 24/7, so it never closes. Amman Airport has operations all hours of the day and night, though like many hubs in the region, the most popular banks are very late at night, as well as around the middle of the morning, so expect the lounge to also be busiest around those times.

Plaza Premium Lounge Amman entry requirements

When it comes to accessing the Plaza Premium Lounge Amman:

• The lounge can be accessed with a Priority Pass membership, and select credit cards also offer direct access to the lounge; for Priority Pass, visits are officially limited to two hours, but that doesn’t mean you have to be departing within two hours, so I’m not sure how consistently that’s enforced
• You can purchase access to the lounge, either on the Plaza Premium website, or directly at the entrance, with pricing shown below (it’s interesting how there’s an airport staff price, hah)
• This is a contract lounge, so some airlines send their premium passengers here; this includes Emirates, FlyDubai, and Saudia, among others

At least during my time at the airport, the Plaza Premium First Lounge was significantly more crowded than the Plaza Premium Lounge, which was a bit surprising.

Plaza Premium Lounge Amman seating & layout

The Plaza Premium Lounge Amman is approximately 475 square meters, or around 5,100 square feet, with a seating capacity for 130 guests. So the lounge isn’t huge, but then again, it was also relatively quiet during most of my visit.

Much like the Royal Jordanian Lounge, this one is located one level above the concourse, so it opens up into the terminal. That means the lounge isn’t exactly quiet, it has some birds flying around, etc.

As you enter the lounge, there’s first an area with rows of chairs facing one another, along with a sofa area.

You’ll then find yourself at the bar area, which features high-top seating. The bar is also the point where the lounge basically breaks into two — you can turn left or right, and then the center of the lounge is where the kitchen and bathrooms are. In other words, all the seating is along the perimeter of the lounge.

In one direction, you’ll once again just find rows of seats facing one another, arranged in clusters of four.

There’s a similar amount of seating on the other side of the lounge.

Then in the very back of the lounge is the dining area, which has some cafe-style tables, along with a long table that has seats overlooking the terminal.

The lounge also has a small smoking room.

A few more notes about the design and experience. First, there’s a lack of well placed power outlets, though it’s not quite as bad as at the Royal Jordanian Lounge, because at least some number of seats do offer access to them.

On top of that, unlike the Royal Jordanian Lounge, I appreciate that there’s at least some design aesthetic here. It’s cute how they use sandstone, have palm trees, etc. Maybe it’s a little kitschy, but at least it’s something.

Lastly, I’m totally used to this living in Miami, but the lack of basic manners of other guests always blows my mind — feet all over the furniture, watching videos without headphones, etc. I get that norms just seemingly differ around the globe, but it sure makes me miss Japan!

Plaza Premium Lounge Amman food & drinks

The Plaza Premium Lounge Amman has a self-serve buffet in the back of the lounge.

I visited over breakfast hours, and cold options included yogurt, fruit, a variety of dips, salads, veggies, bread, pastries, and cereal.

Then hot options included scrambled eggs, veggies, potato wedges, bread pudding, zatar manakish, and more.

There was also a selection of self-serve drinks, including an espresso machine, a Coke soda fountain, juice, and tea.

Then alcohol and barista coffee was available at the bar.

There was a basic selection of house beer, wine, and spirits, and more premium options available for purchase.

I ordered a cappuccino, and while it didn’t have any “art” on it, it tasted great.

Plaza Premium Lounge Amman bathrooms & showers

The Plaza Premium Lounge Amman has bathrooms located in the center of the lounge.

On the plus side, the bathrooms are each private. The catch is that there’s only one bathroom for men and one for women, so that’s less than ideal in terms of total capacity.

The lounge also has a single shower suite, though I was told it wasn’t available during my visit, so I can’t speak to how nice it is.

Bottom line

The Plaza Premium Lounge Amman is a perfectly okay lounge, and there are pros and cons to this in relation to the Royal Jordanian Lounge. The Royal Jordanian Lounge most definitely has a more impressive food selection, while the Plaza Premium Lounge has a nicer design and friendlier staff. I wouldn’t arrive early to use this lounge, but I think there are pros and cons to each, and I rate them similarly, but for different reasons.

For example, I ate at the Royal Jordanian Lounge, while I preferred hanging out and sitting at the Plaza Premium Lounge.

What’s your take on the Plaza Premium Lounge Amman?