Review: Korean Air First Class Lounge New York JFK Airport

Lucky,

Off the top of your head, what are the 10 best lounges in the continental US? I'm guessing Virgin Atlantic's lounges would make your list, along with most of the Centurion lounges. What else stands out?

Yeah, I'm not sure what the deal is with Korean Air lounges. Definitely not commensurate with their on board experiences. The first class lounge in Incheon is nice though. I think you were there in 2014? But last time I was there they boarded first and business class passengers together, so by the time I left the lounge for the gate, there were 10 people in front of me despite only 2 people in the first class cabin.

Yeah, the KAL lounge at JFK is pretty woeful on both sides (business and first).

Just in case anyone was wondering, there are no security cameras in the first class lounge, so if the model A380 "fell" into someone's carry-on "by accident" there'd be no digital record of that happening.

I'm not suggesting anyone do that, I'm merely observing... 🙂

In all seriousness, those models are expensive; when the Thai Airways International office in Chicago was closing down in the early aughts, they called me to let me know. I asked where the (very large) model 747-400 was going to go, and they told me it was for sale for US $1,000. Yikes! I didn't purchase it, and I wonder where it ended up.

Fun fact:

The "God Bless You" you see on Saudia planes is a nod to the late King Abdullah (the most popular in the kingdom's history) who wrote it on an F15s after it was delivered back in 1998.

As a tribute to him, all Royal air forces and Saudia aircraft have it on them.

Ben, if memory serves, you should still have access to the Air France Lounge. That is what we did when we flew Saudia since that Lounge is so terrible.

Just for your information, the water you mentioned here is manufactured by one of the company of owned by Korean Air. And it is regarded as a quite genuine water in Korea.
I also don't think this water really fits for first class, but from Korean company perspective, they might have reasons to put that water there.

"It’s not often I’m tempted to file a complaint with the TSA (since I’ve become use to this kind of stuff), but her behavior was ridiculous."

You really showed her.

At JFK Saudia gives SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers flying in business first class lounge access. Not sure if that also extends to ST Elite or elite passengers in coach. Business class passengers without status are given access to the KE Business lounge. But I'm not really sure why they bother since both sides are nearly the same and both pretty terrible, and they don't seem to give First class lounge access based on elite status at other outstations, at least not as a general rule.

In my experience, when a lounge agent doesn't care which side you go (First or Business), it tells you straight away that there is no real difference between the sections.

If there's any substantive difference, lounge staff will police it like it's the DMZ.

@Kieran. Agreed. Fortunately, at least for KAL's 2 pm departure, one can make use of the Air France lounge if you have Priority Pass.

TSA at JFK is among the worst out there. While to some extent it may be a NYC thing, I find that TSA at LGA is among the best, so there is something else at play.

@ Lucky claims: "While Korean Air has a fantastic onboard product, their lounges across the world are among the worst out there. Absolutely embarrassing, in my opinion."

I have been to this Korean Air lounge at JFK, as I have been to their lounges at ICN and NRT. The notion that "their lounges across the world are among the worst out there. Absolutely embarrassing, in my opinion" is simply ridiculous, except for the "in my opinion" part. The objectivity of this report should be judged by taking into account the fact that the writer was incensed by an altercation he had with an agent manning this lounge.

He should have refrained from writing this review because of the clear "conflict of interest."

@ DCS -- I have been to their lounges at NRT and ICN as well, and I stand by my statement.

@Lucky, is it possible to access this lounge on an international arrival?

1. is there airside connection from intl. arrival to departure
2. priority pass site said everyone needs to have a boarding pass departing from T1 to access this lounge. would the agent allow arrival passengers?

Well, you can stand by your statement, but we are free to view it in the light of your recent altercation and utterly negative response to it. The claim that KAL lounges are among "the worst out" there is so over the top -- I've been many much worse lounges -- it reflects an emotional response, and not an objective analysis...

G'day.

@DCS. Having been to the locations discussed above as well as others, I also believe that KAL's lounges are among the worst out there, especially compared to other international first class lounges. Take a second look at the photos from JFK. It's baffling given how nice their onboard first class experience is.

@SINJim -- We are all free claim anything that we wish to claim. In the end it is YMMV, so let's just stop making the claims, which are neither credible nor provable. There is absolutely nothing wrong with how the KAL lounge at JKF looks. It is neither the best, nor is it the "worst out there." It just there in case someone needs it while waiting.

There is no point to be made here other than that the host of this site had a bad experience, which could have been avoided if handled differently, and I already said how I had and would have handled it if I had been is his shoes.

'Nuff said.

I am flying first on the 12:50AM KE flight to ICN later this year. Is there another lounge that we can use instead of this one? I have no status with Sky Team but do have PP. This lounge almost looks as bad as the BA First lounge at ORD.

It's a wretched, dismal lounge, even by the low standards of the terminal it takes up space in, but is it any worse than the Wingtips Lounge in T4? I guess the issue was that's an F lounge though...

And that it's run by an actual airline. The only worse lounges I can think of are all contract lounges.

@DCS. Just to be clear, Ben is a professional critic so his eview is subjective by design unless there is a claim to statistical research to support a point. A critic is defined as, "a person who judges the merits of literary or artistic works, restaurants, etc, especially one who does so professionally."

I agree with Anthony- would love to see a top 10 best airports and airport lounges post with lots of pictures and info, Lucky!

I agree that KE lounges are underwhelming for a major Asian carrier. And Incheon is their home base, it should be a flagship lounge for them.

I was offered the FE F lounge as an F pax on TK at JFK a few years ago. It was a colossal disappointment in all the ways discussed herein. It was worse than a United Club. I went straight to the Senator lounge. TK no longer has F, but why they arranged for their F pax to use that janky-ass KE "F" lounge is beyond me when they had Senator Lounge access.

Hi,

Do agree with Lucky aka Ben about KE lounges. They are indeed in my opinion among the worst lounges. Been to their lounge in ICN, LAX, JFK and NRT and all of them are the same dull, boring and horrible food/drinks offerings.
I don't understand why for such a reputable Asian airline, that they can have such a lounge...even compared to today's US based airlines lounges which is much better than the KE lounges. The only ones worst than KE would be those based in North Africa, i.e CAI, TUN, etc - which is understandable as their on-board product is as mediocre as ground service.

This isnt a first class lounge, but a lounge for first class passengers. While the first is a lie, at least the latter is technically correct.