Review: Coral Finest Business Class Lounge Bangkok Airport (BKK)

Great to know. In general, BKK lounges leave a lot to be desired.
Spent some time in the Cathay, JAP and Emirates ones last week. The Emiartes lounge was the only decent one.
I didn't bother with the Miracle lounge (used by Qantas) due to terrible experience in the past (please stay away from their buffet!)
The clear winner for anyone flying Oneworld premium is the Qatar lounge... Beautiful and friendly. Sadly it only opened as I was heading to the gate.

Concur with Mike about BKK lounges being decidedly ho-hum. Then again the airport has always been second rate compared to arch-rival Changi. I remember Thaksin Sinawatra saying in 2012 that BKK's new terminal would eclipse Changi(!). Simple things like lack of maintenance, lack of cleaning, poor air conditioning throughout the entire terminal, lack of seating etc etc all add up. That's why I actually valued lounges in BKK more than most other airports anywhere else. You could escape the crowded, humid conditions in the rest of the terminal.

Now there are the S-gates and brand new lounges to go with them. They take a while to get to so anyone lounging in the classic part of the airport should budget at least 15 minutes of transit time for the new gates.

I would say this lounge looks on par if not better than the Thai Airways J lounges at BKK which IMHO are pretty poor for their hub.

I've never been clear on this kind of rating system. Is this 4.5 stars based on the fact that it's a Priority Pass lounge or is it 4.5 stars on the scale of all lounges meaning that it's only a slight step down from the best business class lounges?

Because those mean very different things especially if passengers have multiple options out of BKK does the 4.5 stars mean you would actively recommend anyone use this lounge over others?

Per the Priority Pass website the lounge reviewed is located at International Concourse C, near gate C1. Is the website correct?

Still nicer than ALL of the Alaska Airlines lounges combined.

The star system is very confusing. I have understood it to be a sort of reflection of Ben's expectations. Clearly, this lounge exceeded them, but this does not make it one of the world's best lounges.

I was at the S-gates 3 nights ago. At this time, there are 2 Priority Pass lounges run by "Miracle Lounge" open for business. Shower facilities were also available in one of them.

@ CJH -- There are multiple Coral Lounges. The one I visited was this one:
https://www.prioritypass.com/lounges/thailand/bangkok-suvarnabhumi-intl/bkk20-the-coral-finest-business-class-lounge

@ Yoloswag420 -- The star rating system is intended to be relative, so the idea is to make clear that I think this lounge is much better than average for a Priority Pass lounge.

I like BKK airport, but they could sure use a lot more seating.

"I’m not sure who can use them now, or why they’re blocked off."

Why not just ask someone who works in the lounge about them?

Some of them have Air Asia X pillows if I recall correctly and indicate they are only for Air Asia X pax. That said, have sat in there before and no one bothered me about it.

The sheer selection of Priority Pass lounges at BKK is fantastic, and there are several decent ones. I don't know that any PP lounge (anywhere?) will compare to a good non-PP airline lounge, although the China Air lounge in BKK is decidedly worst than all but the Oman Air PP lounge there. Several BKK PP lounges also have water bottles so you can grab one to take with on your flight, and the free massages are a nice touch from the couple that offer it. Maybe need a roundup of the best priority pass lounges in the world?

Agree that miracle lounges (of which there are many) are nothing great and the Qatar lounge in BKK is great with good selection of foods that look and taste good.

If only Priority Pass lounges in the USA were as nice as the Coral Lounge that you visited. DFW is my home airport and the Priority Pass lounge (terminal D) and Premium Plaza longe (terminal E) are adequate at best. I was just in the Priority Pass lounge in Charleston, SC where the food was not edible. But the staff were friendly and at least the drinks were free. Always enjoy reading your posts.

It is always at least 10 degrees F too hot — and sticky — in the BKK terminal building.

You're right about that, Jack. Hot and stuffy all throughout the terminal. But you get respite in the lounges. And generally the departure gate areas, which are under the main departure concourses are more bearable. But the worst area for blazing heat is around the juncture of E, F, and G concourses. My Thai friends tell me that AOT economizes by always keeping the aircon low, to save money. Also, the glass cage design doesn't help in a tropical environment with the sun beating in(!!) Worst design ever.

On our first pointspros redemption Ben recommended a stay over in Bangkok so we could enjoy the full Thai first experience in this lounge. My wife still regales her friends with the story about the spa. I always remember when they asked us what we wanted for breakfast, I asked for a menu and they just replied 'Just tell us what you want and we will make it'. Thanks Ben

Great timing.

I’ll be at BKK Wednesday and will check out this lounge, thanks for the writeup!

The 2 rooms are pretty expensive. The smaller one with the single bed will cost you 2500 Baht for 3 hours while the nicer double room is at 3500 Baht - which is roughly 100 $ for 3 hours.

Love this lounge.
BKK is one of the best airports for lounge hopping, especially for PP members.
I think we have visited around 6-10 lounges overall in this airport, and this one is just great! Thank for the trip down memory lane!

This is certainly not the coral lounge that was available on our recent trip to Chaing Mai.

However when it comes to alcohol it appears that it is probably the same. When you show a picture of alcohol the menu is unreadable and the bottles make no sense except for the Vermouth.

In the other Coral there were only fruit wines (sweet) and sweet "cocktails" made with some alcohol of some sort. Nothing like real wine or real scotch, vodka, etc.

Buyer beware - it looks like the alcohol is non-existent except for small glasses of watery local beer.. and some horrid fruit wines.

Ben - if you have more information that we can read giving what real alcohol is available it would be nice.

It’s amazing how much the quality of Lounges in BKK have gone down. I will always remember the Thai F lounge, and of course the buggy on both ends of the trip to HKG in high regard. The A380 F was pretty good too. The private living rooms in the lounge was certainty a first for me, however this was probably 10 years ago.

The domestic Thai and Bangkok Lounges have always been garbage though. I wonder who is running the old Transero Lounge these days

Hi Ben, is it possible to visit the lounge in a different concourse from the one I'm flying out from? I have an Asiana flight (concourse C) that leaves BKK after midnight and was thinking of arriving early and maybe checking out two lounges with my time. I'm assuming you'd recommend this Finest Coral in concourse D, and which other one? Thanks 🙂

I am at present at the Coral lounge next to gates C.This is the worst lounge I ever encountered.The food served is only catering for Indian guest either vegetarian or Chicken Biryani.The taste and smell is terrible and being in a lounge in Bangkok I expect at least some tasty Thai food.Nevertheless there was not one single Thai dish offered.Thank you but this is not what I want.This was the once in a lifetime experience for me.Never again.

Do you know if any of these lounges have a smoking area please ? Good write up to thank you