The Worst Airport Lounge I've Ever Been To - Priority Pass

The Worst Airport Lounge I've Ever Been To

Ben Schlappig — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 23:10:12 +0000

I'd like to think I have fairly low standards when it comes to airport lounges. Don't get me wrong, I've been to what I consider to be the world's best lounges, so I've certainly had a taste of the good life. But much of my lounge time is spent in lounges with cubed cheese, Soviet…

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Tim — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 21:49:15 +0000

Remember, -actual- business travelers aren't the core reason for the lounge. It's provincial-level cadres. Almost every Party and government official reception room looks like this. Hainan Airlines probably knows it sucks, but they can't give the commercial travelers (especially rich foreigners) something better without inviting trouble.

Brett — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 01:43:46 +0000

all the Chinese airport lounges seem to all be like this. I’ve been to ONE good one out of about 5. The CA lounge at PVG was pretty solid, outside of its Internet coverage. Way better than their PEK offering. Having been to a couple PP lounges they’ve been exactly like these ones. Basically no food, if there’s drinks there’s no ice, no wifi or it’s unusable. The seats are from the Mao age and they’re all oddly decorated. The terminals in my experience with PEK PVG KMG have all been better. Not GOOD but better.

olivier — Sun, 28 Apr 2019 16:53:47 +0000

Experiencing now the Shity business lounge in shanghai with Hainan airlines. The place is under construction, sound of the grinder for 2 hours. Hot water and Aiki chinese noodles. Hot beers in a hot fridge and loudly people around. I won’t talk about service because their is not. Btw I recommend Air china.

Mark West — Sat, 13 May 2017 10:04:25 +0000

If you have not had the chance to try the 'luxury' of ANY Ethiopian Airlines lounge across Ethiopia, then you have not experienced even the cusp of desperate airline lounge fodder. The fact that this disastrous airline is allowed to remain part of star alliance is beyond me. I have more stories than I care to relate about their frightful customer service both on the ground and in the air... but that would be OT.

Anthony Joseph — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 20:11:58 +0000

If you thought those lounges were bad, my absolute worst experience was Shenzhen lounge used by Hainan Airlines. The aiport terminal is totally awesome. The lounge was so tiny, but what drove me out of there in less than 5 minutes was the awful stench of whatever congee they had in the buffet at 7:30 in the morning..... Ended up having a great breakfast sandwich and coffee at the starbucks outlet.

Michael Schaible — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 12:21:15 +0000

Typical lounge in a second or third tier city in China. I have had many experiences like that before domestic flights. But what surprises me is that HU - as a "Skytrax 5-star airline" - does put its international travellers into this kind labour canteen. Shows me once again that Skytrax is just as corrupt as the FIFA.... My worst ever lounge experience was actually the Emirates First Class lounge (opposite gate 123) in Dubai. From the atmosphere it was better than the Chinese domestic lounges but from the service terrible from A to Z! Yes, it was at 2:00 in the night, ahead of a First Class flight to Beijing. The receptionist was sleepy and unfriendly, no staff inside (later I found out they were hiding inside the kitchen), no a-la-carte as I do expect in a First lounge, the buffet was actually a massive downgrade from the BUSINESS lounge!!!! I took a salad from the buffet and finally got a waiter to ask for oild and vinegar (none of those on the buffet or tables). He disappeared into the kitchen after promising to bring it to me. After 10 minutes he came out empty-handed. I was upset when I heard they changed my gate to 221 and I could have used the other First Class lounge which I had better memories from. And I was even more pissed when I wrote this story to Emirates and after several reminders and eight!!!!! months they sent me this computer generated nonsense - not one word dealing with my complaint!!!!

TheTruthIs — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 23:35:51 +0000

@ABC Girl, If you like Asian snacks that went out of date in June 2015. I saved one for you. It'll even be better when it arrives in June 2016. I use lounges for rest and relaxation mainly. After a 14 hour flight from China I'm stuck at LAX AA Admirals club for a 4 hour late flight to TUS. Luckily they have a shower and a few cubes of cheese.

ABC Girl — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 22:52:46 +0000

A bit surprised at your comment regarding the snacks. I LOVE Asian snacks, and would take them any day over cubed cheese (I also hate cheese, but that's beside the point...). In fact I would try to slip some of those Asian snacks into my bag if nobody were looking...I'm not a fan of dollies but I go to lounges for the free food and snacks, not the aesthetics. :P

TheTruthIs — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 20:08:01 +0000

Earlier today/yesterday I used the CSX Hainan VIP #6 Lounge. Terrible. Nothing cool to drink and no alcoholic beverages. The beige carpet was worn, torn and extremely dirty (possibly never cleaned). The packaged snacks were out of date by at least six months. Doilies are fine with me especially if they're used in a traditional setting and are clean, these weren't. The furniture was also filthy. Thought for a minute I'd awaken ed in India. I just arrived back in LAX on Hainan BC and it was a very good flight, food was very good and service was excellent. This time I watched them pull the bedding from sealed bags. And I agree with Ben, the comforters are very comfortable. Two of us were traveling Hainan based upon Ben's original $1,350 BC tip and I overheard another guy mention OMAAT to his seat mate that that was why he'd purchased the ticket. Don't tell Ben though or he'll figure out away to better monetize his tips. I believe Hainan will change/update their premium lounge once they begin getting negative feedback from passengers to CSX. It's one thing to have disillusioned passengers riding on extremely discounted tickets and yet another to maintain loyalty to passengers paying $4000-$6000 a pop. I'm sure they want their LAX-CSX to be a success. The Chinese know how to go upscale as well as stylish when they want to compete. Meanwhile, does anyone want a warm Coke and a package of year old stale chips?