Star Alliance will open a new lounge at Seoul Incheon Airport in late 2026, taking over the former Asiana Business Lounge as Asiana exits the alliance.
There is something sad about Asiana going away. Was a cool local airline. Had quite a lot of fun flying their A380 to LAX couple years ago.
Don't worry, even though they said they might retire their a380s soon, they're probably sticking around for a few more years while Korean waits for the 777X. They might not even repaint the exteriors or reconfigure the interiors, so you can just pretend it's like flying Asiana still. (However, I'd prefer the Korean ones because Asiana's were far more dense; Asiana 495 vs. Korean 407.)
I recall SQ has its own SilverKris lounge in Terminal 1, which is probably better, anyway; but, it's small and its schedule is limited to SQ flight times (reminiscent of SQ at MNL T3 as well). For the United folks (EWR-ICN did just start), would you pick SQ, or this old Asiana/'new' Star Alliance lounge?
@1990 I miss the SilverKris lounge in T3 as it closed as of June 15, 2026 - was my "go to" Star Alliance lounge at MNL. Was there in early May prior to a flight to Istanbul on Turkish, but it was closed when I took my next Turkish flight in August. Even the Cathay Pacific Lounge was closed. Both closed by the NAIA airport operator (San Miguel Corp). Long story short, ended up at the PP A Lounge due to Turkish's contract lounge (PAGGS I think) being overcrowed. Most other airlines (Qatar, Cathay Pacific, Emerites, etc.) use the new First Meridian Lounge.
It is an easy pick, SQ lounge, even with its unhelpful hours (1:55pm-4:30pm unless SQ is late departing then it extends). The Asiana lounge to be converted is large but pretty basic. They do have a large selection of cup noodles to choose from. Very low expectations here.
The food in those lounges can only get better. I have not been to West one, but i was in the East and Central one. And its atrocious to see an airline that is based in a region with such amazing food, lay an egg in what it offer at its lounges.
You going to buy a fully refundable ticket solely get into the lounge and review it, like you did with the OneWorld lounge in ICN, and again not disclose that you did so in your review post?
Refundable tickets that you book solely to get into the lounge and then immediately refund with no intent to fly is fraud, straight up.
The excuse of "oh, I didn't eat that much, I only needed it for my blog review content" is not an excuse I'm thinking a judge in Korea would accept.
Sounds more like a loophole, not a literal crime.
Separate issue, but related: since airlines are unreliable and US consumer protections are practically nonexistent, I'll occasionally book a fully compliant, refundable backup itinerary—one I fully intend to fly if my primary goes sideways. If the primary operates, I cancel the backup under the exact terms of the contract.
So, if you were a judge in Korea, Andrew, would you make up a reason to summarily execute me, too?
Judges in both China and Germany have convicted people for doing what Lucky did, not sure why Korea would be different:
https://viewfromthewing.com/man-hit-2000-euro-bill-scamming-lufthansa-lounge-access/
https://www.eater.com/2014/1/28/6289899/man-uses-first-class-ticket-to-score-300-free-meals
"didn't bilk them for much of anything at all (unlike the examples you provided), and probably even helped them out much more"
Is that the same excuse used in Afghanistan Iraq Venezuela Ukraine etc?
@Eskimo Not sure what you are trying to reference here. Are you trying to turn my comment and then tongue-in-cheek movie reference into some kind of political thing?
I hate it when other influencers try to get hotels to comp them by saying "I'm giving you exposure" or if they just outright scam the hotel with the same justification. Why is it ok when Lucky does it? Or are you saying those influencers are fine when they behave badly?
@Andrew_M I don't disagree with you about the influencers at all, however, Ben didn't do what influencers try to do. Here is what he said in the comments, "It's not usually something I do, but I wanted to check out this lounge and provide an unbiased review, rather than going to some sort of a media event, where you don't get the real experience." It goes back to the whole ethical/loophole comments @1990 made above, and I can see that you/maybe others have an issue with that. I respect that (and others' opinions on this), and quite frankly, if this was a common occurrence, I'm sure many, including myself, would call him out on it, but this is not what I've seen in the past several years of reading OMAAT.
From my perspective, that comment was worse than the approach taken (with the caveat that I don't remember that post or the comments so I might be missing out on some of the nuance).
It's not like anyone's obliged to ask for a refund after failing to turn up for a flight for which they've checked in, and lots of people have to pay for at least some out of pocket expenses as part of doing their job- whether that's simply commuting or ordering a glass of wine to accompany a meal which will be reimbursed by an employer.
I understand, but on the other hand, Lucky is also permanently banned from participating in MileagePlus for trying to scam that system. So it's not like this is one-off behavior.
There is only one Star Alliance lounge at LAX. Not two.
There is a *A First and *A Business lounge and they are separate, so I believe he is counting them as two different lounges.
Ah yes good point! It’s a pretty decent space with the outdoor deck. Except it seems like the PF Changs exhaust directly spits out of that space ha!
What about the Star lounges in AMS, EZE, and GIG?
@Ben
The Star Alliance lounge in EZE does indeed participate in Priority Pass. I just used it about 3 weeks ago
Aa couple of months ago we flew back from EZE on LH. My first time in the lounge. Not an even fair look. It looks and feels like something out of the 1950's. Every time through SIN, we never stop in Star Alliance. Always use the SQ bus. or FC lounges. Star Alliance lounge is not good there either. Why bother if you can't get it right.
@alanz Ironically, I also recently re-visited Argentina, after over a decade, and agreed, the place (EZE and the country, at-large) has hardly changed that much. (Beyond the airport lounges, wow, how they keep those Mercedes L1114 trucks from the 1960s running...) Compare this to places like mainland China, where they've experienced a century of development in a mere decade. Wild.