Last week Turkish Airlines opened a lounge in Miami, making it only their fifth lounge outside of Turkey (complementing their lounges inBangkok, Moscow,Nairobi, andWashington). This is exciting because it’s a Priority Pass lounge, making it the only traditional Priority Pass lounge location in American’s terminal.
Continue reading: Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami Airport
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Great review Lucky!
Was wondering, would MIA airport TSA allow someone to visit the lounge if they are not flying from D or E?
Perhaps they let Turkish Airlines passengers through there and they then have to reclear.
Also curious if I can fly frontier from G, and visit the lounge somehow in E.
Any thoughts appreciated!
@Ben I was in the airport yesterday and went through security in Terminal E, to the left if Qatar check-in. And there is both TSA Pre-Check (which I used) and Clear. Following security, and after the stairwell, there is a banner and signage for the lounge. Are there two different Terminal E security clearances??
Izz. Sure, people have done just that to visit the AMEX Centurion Lounge for years, just means you have to go through security twice.
Excited for my next MIA flight to check this out!
@HiAperture
Perfect! No worries about security twice as I have TSA precheck and no bags with me to carry around. I was just worried that TSA at E/D might not let me in, if my flight departs from G which is not connected airside to E/D.
So alcohol was available in the lounge before 7 am? Isn’t that illegal in Florida?
Glad to see that passengers can have a piece of choc cake along with their Irish coffee at 7am.
Yuengling and Clamato.... Were they stocking the fridge from the bargain bin at Publix?
@Lucky, so, if TK doesn't use this lounge for their own flights since they fly from a different terminal, which lounge do they use? Presumably, they pay another operator to use that lounge and then charge priority pass for entrance to this one. You are right, something is very odd about this.
MU also has a lounge in PVG T2, even though they only operate in T1. The T2 lounge is co-branded with Plaza Premium, accepts Priority Pass, and is used as a contract lounge by many airlines. See https://www.prioritypass.com/en/lounges/china/shanghai-pudong-international/pvg4-no-77-vip-lounge
Think its possible Turkish is venturing in the contract lounge market competing with the likes of The Club, Escape, etc.?
This is the only way to explain this Miami lounge and certainly would be a welcome development in the contract lounge space.
Lucky, Turkish is currently building a second lounge in MIA in the H/J terminal. That lounge will be for their customers and probably any Star alliance operating out of H/J. This one is a contract lounge run with Global lounge network.
What is exciting about this? I guess I’m missing the point... but then again I go to the airport to leave the airport. None of that food looks good at all. Look at those half sausages. I bet those are gross. People go to the airport to eat that food. Not to stereotype here... but you have an AMEX Platinum card And you would rather eat that garbage than treat yourself for Proper breakfast for a few bucks
If I understand correctly, Turkish has plans to essentially establish a lounge brand, like AMEX Centurion I guess, with TAV airports.
Ryan- I think you are in the wrong blog. This is a travel blog. Frequent flyers go to the airport to eventually leave but do want to spend the time in between relaxing rather than being in a crowded seating area where there are 50 seats for 300 passengers. The food at most Turkish Airlines lounges that I have visited, is above average and much better than most (though not all) restaurants inside the airport.
You also must not have been in a Centurion Lounge lately. While some are crowded, some are not and they have upped their game when it comes to food.
Ryan- Guess you've never been in Concourse E at MIA then. The worst lounge spread would be an improvement over the limited and disgusting options within the terminal.
Another TK Lounge coming in Mia Terminal H http://www.globalloungenetwork.com/#/projects
@gurujanitor Yuengling isn't bad, and a nice treat for us folks from the Left Coast where it is not available. Mix it with Clamato and you have a Michelada! Enjoy.
Hello Ben, would you please do a write-up on the business case for destinations such as Casablanca (Air Maroc), Doha (Qatar), and Istanbul (Turkish) from Miami? I live in Miami and am not aware of a huge immigration population from those countries in Miami. Is Miami even a business hub that would attract business travelers (connecting even) from those three places? It's interesting when Austrian nixes its seasonal service to Miami, but these MENA airlines can support year around business. Seems pretty random. Not complaining, obvs I used them a lot for transatlantic and beyond.
Ben, since you already have a painting of Winston (totally not judging at all), have you ever considered getting one of those replica stuffed animals of Winston as well?
Once this lounge is discovered by PP users, it's going to become a disaster. The space is tiny and it's clear they're trying to do wayyyy too many different food options for such a small lounge, so the hordes of PP users are going to destroy the buffet area.
Hopefully, there will be a TK lounge for PP users at JFK or just any PP accessible lounges. It seems that Bobby Van Steakhouse is no longer part of Priority Pass. The upcoming Centurion Lounge at JFK would be great, but it will also get very overcrowded soon.
I'm sitting in this odd lounge right now. All pleasant though I think they may still have the same food out that you photographed two weeks ago.
On the viability of airlines like QR and TK out of Miami:
QR interlines with AA and provides good connections out to the middle East and beyond for the southern US, Caribbean and central america saving transiting further north or Europe.
This is so nice - I can’t believe they even have bathroom! This is definitely an exciting for us based in South Florida. By the way, I just stopped at the new Istanbul airport today and Turkish Airlines’ lounge was really really impressive. More motivations to protect my easy gold status. 🙂
So not a Star Gold lounge? Weird. Would have been nice to access this airside for UA flights departing from concourse G to complement the airside access to the Avianca lounge for UA flights departing from concourse H.
Qatar are sending business class passengers to this lounge as of the time I write this. I arrived at the lounge at 3pm (for QR918 at 6:35pm) and the lounge was packed, there was basically nowhere to sit. I left and and made the 10 minute walk to the AA Flagship lounge. The full lounge could have been due to an SAS flight that left at 3:45pm rather than priority pass members (which left from concourse H though, and is quite a walk), but I didn't stick around to find out. Previously I was sent straight to the Flagship lounge.
@the guy who asked about the viability of the QR flight to Miami, I've been on it return four times in as many months and J has been full every flight.
There’s also a door to the right of reception that leads to a separate, much quieter seating area with great tarmac views. Limited food and drinks there but you can move between rooms to access food and drinks in the main lounge area. We were assigned to this area when there was a wait for the main lounge. Not sure how or why but we were grateful!