To kick off our trip to the Maldives, we flew from Washington to Dubai in Emirates first class. Emirates uses the Air France-KLM Lounge as its contract lounge at Washington Dulles (IAD), so I wanted to review the lounge in this post. The lounge underwent a major renovation in 2019, so I was curious to…
Continue reading: Review: Air France-KLM Lounge Washington Dulles Airport (IAD)
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Visited this lounge in 2018, and although it’s been updated since then, I recognized it right away from your pictures. My first thought was what a lackluster lounge for an Emirates F send off. Just visited the combined F/J lounge in SFO before our flight to Dubai - what a difference.
This lounge was “renovated” a few years ago, but very little changed. It’s a middling offering with a sclerotic choice of food. The morning highlight is the guy who works the front desk - very helpful and very friendly.
The bar usually has a bartender serving whatever one wants, including in the a.m.
You’re correct that the dining area is the best place to plant yourself, as nobody really knows it’s there.
The lounge works for a temporary seating area before a flight, but anything over an hour and you’ll likely go a bit stir crazy.
There’s also a dedicated first class seating area in back near the loos, however this is the same as the AF lounge in Joburg - it’s simply roped off and if you sit there you’ll be like a zoo animal on display; there is literally nothing special about it.
I still don't understand the star rating at all. You're flying Emirares in First, and the lounge is mediocre at best. Yet you give it four stars. Two would sound better?
Imagine paying $10k+ (like our resident only pay cash for first class tickets Endre) to fly Emirates on first class and this is the lounge you get.
Voyage le 9 Mars. Le lounge était très occupé difficile de trouver 2 places côte à côte. Buffet moyen. Accueil bien. Manque de place ?
I use this lounge quite often. It gets VERY crowded with PP.
I do like the quality champagne and bread, a little touch of France.
There should have been eggs with the french fries. I suspect they're having a supplier issue with alcohol - last time I was there (a couple of weeks ago) sign said "no vodka or gin"
Priority Pass people have to leave about 3pm before the lounge fills with all the evening flights on AF/KLM. They don’t use that room behind check in for pre-flight dinners. The bar is manned in the afternoon, and from what I see on my flights most are getting champagne which is probably why it’s out.
When I flu KLM from there they were boarding status-pax and business class passengers directly from the lounge
@ Daniel, you must be new to this blog?
Ben runs on champagne. That’s how the additional two stars can be explained.
Surprised Emirates doesn't have a lounge (even for one flight) - Etihad has its own lounge - actually pretty large with table service dining. Maybe the Emirates flight overlaps.
When I travel international on UA - I usually go to LH lounge, then Turkish Lounge, then Air France Lounge, then United Lounge. The Lufthansa lounge is my favorite with both Senators upstairs and business downstairs. You need to get in Turkish via Start Gold - otherwise Priority Pass isn't allowed during prime time.
The AF/KLM is attractive but pretty much just a standard lounge.
IAD terminal A/B has 4 lounges (6 if you’re flying LH) that you can enter via Amex/PP.
Turkish is my first choice. Their food is the best. But if it gets crowded, the others might have better seating, if not as great food.
What's happened to the old Etihad Lounge at IAD? Seems like something Emirates may want to look at taking over since Washington seems to be a pretty premium market for them (given that they were operating an A380 there earlier in the year and now offer their best 777 First Class).
If you think IAD is one of the nicest US airports, then you've not travelled much in the United States.
The club is empty in these photos ...Why? Ij reality is the club is overrun before flights and the auther didn't darr shoe a photo of the buffet around flight time. In April there were no seats at all when I and my wife arrived 90 minutes before a flight. There was virtually nothing left on the buffet and they were still accepting Priority Club members. No meals were being served because the dining area was being used for overflow. A remodel was done last year to add more seats in the same small area and the place is still too small. The review is questionable.
Gosh love seeing pictures of the bathroom ... not, and have it captioned with something to do with "drinks"
Loved the pics of my home town airport. Your're right that Concourse A/B is one of the best in the U.S. That said, how can the same airport have the worst Concourse in the U.S. with C/D?
Not sure why UA puts up with that.
I think this review is pretty spot-on. We have used this lounge lately as the Turkish lounge is often too crowded. I will say that our last couple visits, also in the morning, had full bar service and slightly more food choices. It's not a lounge I would necessarily seek out, especially if there is room in the Turkish lounge since the food is much better, but a croissant, some fruit, and a mimosa (or two) is not a bad way to start a flight!
While I understand the outrage from many about how this is a terrible start to an EK F experience, it would behoove some of us to think of the practical aspects. If you were in charge of the customer experience at EK, what would you be able to do differently/better? There are few lounge options at IAD that would fit the timings and location of the EK flights.
Complaining for the sake of complaining just makes all of you look like amateurs.
Does Air France not have elevated food/drink for La Premiere passengers, like at JFK? I thought that was a feature they were introducing after renovation.
I believe 3 is his average rating, and 4 would mean above average but misses the mark. Though I could be mistaken, believe he touched on this topic recently
Actually, EK used to use the Etihad lounge as a combined first/business lounge before EY shut down the lounge completely when Covid hit.
It’s a great space, and it made a lot of sense to share it, as the carriers have flights at different times of the day so crowding between the two was never an issue.
If the EY lounge ever reopens, hopefully EK will make use of it again.
There is small La Premiere dining room to the left when you enter.
I like this lounge, like the BA one, it is better in the evenings when flying the airline’s business class or first.
“Not sure why UA puts up with that.”
You’re confused.
The terrible C/D concourse remains *because* negotiations with UA to (at least partially) pay for a new one have gone nowhere.
@ Jimmy’s Travel Report -- Agreed, it's absolutely not a great lounge for Emirates first class, but it is a solid lounge for Priority Pass.
@ Daniel from Finland -- I'm ultimately judging this as a US Priority Pass lounge (since that's how most people would enter the lounge during the day), rather than as an Emirates first class lounge. Similarly, I would rate this lounge lower if this is what the service were like when Air France flights depart in the evening, as there's an elevated food & drink offering then.
For a US Priority Pass lounge, I do rate this above average, and that's where my star rating comes from.
@ Andy -- Hah, when I passed through security I tried to see if there were any obvious signs of the lounge nearing completion, but I couldn't find it. It's supposed to open this year, but who knows, since construction delays happen...
@ Luis -- Sadly the outstation lounge experience leaves a lot to be desired at so many airports, especially for non-alliance airlines.
@ Randy -- Always found it interesting that Etihad had a lounge, though it was opened at a time when Etihad was trying to open lounges all over the place. Even though Etihad is back to offering pre-pandemic capacity to Washington, the lounge hasn't opened, and it's my understanding that it might close permanently. If so, curious to see what happens to that space.
@ grandhotel -- Yeah, I haven't traveled much in the United States. that's definitely the issue. 😉
To be clear, the A & B Concourses are among the nicer concourses in the US (in my opinion), and not the airport overall. What terminals in the US are nicer? Maybe some terminals at DTW, DFW, and SFO, but I'd say this portion of the terminal is in the top 10% of airport terminals in the country.
@ Sherrie -- Nope, unfortunately not. But if you have another card with a Priority Pass membership you could get into this lounge, subject to capacity controls.
Priority Pass holders are like plagues of locusts. AF/KLM have no incentive to supply any decent catering, and would be certain that free-flow champagne is an unintended inclusion.
As traffic recovers there will be pressure to dump PP and restore some degree of exclusivity.
Agreed that the Turkish Airlines lounge has better food offerings but can be [overcrowded and] hard for PP card holders to get into. For those with PP card from Chase Sapphire Reserve or Capital One Venture X, the PP restaurants at IAD would be better choices assuming one has the time to sit down and order from the menu.
Visited the AF-KLM lounge last year and would rate it a 5.5 or 6 out of 10.
@MoJoe, what the PP restaurants at IAD? I thought there was none since there are lounges.
Hi Lucky!
The area behind the bar used to be reserved for First Class passengers. I thought Emirates contracted the "new" Etihad Lounge, at IAD, for First and Business passengers. I wonder what happened with that -- unless the Etihad Lounge has yet to re-open. It was quite nice--for what it was.
IAD is my Stateside HUB. I'll be interested in seeing what has/hasn't changed at the airport over the last year.
I'm pretty sure that is still the case. We treated ourselves to La Premiere on July 25, 2021 and we were in the room behind the bar. It's not large, but it has reasonably nice furniture and my family had it ALL TO OURSELVES!
With all of the places you go and the reviews you’ve done, it’s nice to see one of my home airport and my regular lounge. I haven’t flown internationally (or much at all really) since pandemic started, but I made a lot of visits to that lounge specifically in 2019 flying AF/KLM (and one Aeroflot trip to Prague).
Funnily enough, since you mentioned it, the B concourse being so much nicer was actually part of my decision to switch my domestic travel to Delta from United back in 2017.
The majoirty if not all his US readers have a priority pass card and most of us have multiple. This looks to be an outstanding priority pass option for domestic travel so the rating makes a lot of sense.
"Roped off area" - ha! They have this at the AF/KL lounge at SFO as well. It also has a sign that says "first class lounge". The only time when I was invited to use it was when I was flying Korean Airlines first class. When I actually flew La Premiere (pre-COVID), they directed us to the Virgin Atlantic lounge instead. As their own lounge is nothing special at all, and as the gate agents put it, the Virgin lounge has "hot food available". I think this is a general trend with AF/KL on this side of the Atlantic.
When I was last La Premiere, a year or two pre-COVID, they did serve me in the little First dining room. Even better champagne, too. Not as good as the BA Concorde room at IAD in B. I like the Virgin lounge next door, too. It is now one of the Amex Plat partner lounges, has good food and champagne, and I have switched from my TK/LH visits to AF/Virgin visits when convenient.
While I agree that is a pretty limited selection of food, that is not two kinds of french fries, one is clearly labeled as sweet potato, and they are quite different in taste (and different people like different ones), so having both is not odd at all.
Yeah, there is only one PP restaurant (not multiple) at IAD. There are two PP restaurants at DCA, but no regular lounges.
I would doubt they drop Priority Pass: AF/KL lounges have long been on Priority Pass throughout the United States (and in some other countries), long before COVID.
Also, while the cold options like cheese and charcuterie are a little better in the evening when AF flights are leaving, the catering isn't really that much different.
Have they gone back to kicking out Priority Pass guests at 3ish? They did that pre-COVID, but my last few experiences over the past several months, they were allowing Priority Pass entries even in late afternoon when the lounge was packed!
How is it questionable? This lounge is clearly less busy in the morning, when the author was departing. He didn't have evening photos, when it's more crowded, because he was already halfway to DXB.
This lounge is near the bottom of the bottom of the barrel. It's considerably undersized especially considering the number of 777-ER Air France departures. On several visits there have been no lounge chair seats open- only table/chairs. Bar had no liquor of any kind at 6pm on a Wednesday. "They ran out". Very minimalist buffet. It seems they're a wholesale rent-a-lounge (Priority Pass??) Just in- "there's a downstairs but no food or drink there". This is the worst airline lounge I've ever been in.
You must be doing something right if this is the worst lounge you've ever been in. Try any of the non-Polaris United lounges at IAD and let us know if this is still the worst. The IAD Lufthansa lounge can also be worse, especially the business class lounge without windows on the bottom floor.
This lounge is good as far as Priority Pass lounges go. They always have free, high-quality champagne. In the evening, they usually have 2-3 hot dishes (recently I've seen chicken with tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, pasta with meatballs). And even their cold foods are somewhat elevated compared to the pre-packaged food you'll find at other lounges. IAD Turkish does have a better selection of food but it is usually much more crowded than Air France.
We visited yesterday around lunchtime.
There was a charcuterie board and two sandwich types along with pasta and meatballs in red sauce.
The liquor was available, so I knocked down a Knob Creek. My wife did have the Tattinger so that was handy.
It is definitely crowded and was quite warm during our visit.
We loved the Turkish Airlines lounge and found the British Airways lounge to be quiet and comfy. The Lufthansa lounge for Business Class was not looking so great. It needs some redesign as it's showing its age. But they did have gummy bears!
Does Air France lounge at IAD airport give access to fellow Sky Team member airline business class passengers like Saudia Airlines? Thank you very much ...