I don’t think there’s an airline in the world that’s more focused on controlling every aspect of their premium cabin experience than Emirates. They continue to offer chauffeur service for first & business class passengers on arrival and departure (something that Etihad is in the process of cutting), and they operate over 40 of their own lounges around the world.
I understand the logic of them operating their own lounges in London, New York, Singapore, Sydney, etc., where they have several flights per day. However, what’s amazing to me is how many lounges they operate at destinations they serve once daily. Unlike other airlines, Emirates doesn’t contract their lounges out to other airlines, so they’re paying high rent and staffing costs, often to only be open for a few hours a day. It’s a huge investment for them.
Well, Emirates has just officially opened their newest lounge, located at Boston Logan Airport. While the lounge had a soft opening in April, it’s now officially open to passengers traveling on Emirates’ daily 777-300ER flight between Boston and Dubai.
Lounge access is available to first & business class passengers, as well as Skywards Platinum & Gold members. Emirates’ new Boston Lounge is located in Terminal E, near gate E11. Passengers will be able to board the flight directly from the lounge, which I always find to be a nice feature.
The lounge is ~7,500 square feet, and has seating for up to 123 people, which should be more than enough to accommodate the passengers on the flight eligible for lounge access (the 777-300ER has eight first class seats and 42 business class seats, not accounting for elite members who have access).
Emirates used to have two daily flights to Boston, though a while back they cut service to many US destinations, and the second daily Boston flight was among those cuts. Construction on the lounge started back when they operated two daily flights. I guess we’ll see if that second flight eventually gets restored.
Here are some pictures of Emirates’ new lounge, in which they’ve invested 6.7 million USD:
The lounge looks beautiful, and I’m a big fan of Emirates’ new lounge design, which I find to be much more agreeable than their previous overuse of dark wood and faux gold.
This is Emirates’ fourth lounge in the US, as they also operate lounges in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. Previously Emirates passengers traveling out of Boston Logan had access to The Lounge in Terminal C, which is also a Priority Pass lounge. Suffice to say that this is a very nice improvement for passengers.
How much it cost to spend 4 hours at Logan Airport in Boston? I am not one of those frequent flyer privileged card holder. I am just a unprivileged minority passenger flying by Emirates to Dubai for a week vacation.
I think E11 is one of the new A380-capable gates at Logan. Maybe Emirates is considering putting an A380 on BOS-DXB?
@Phize, it does look like EL AL. I don't think EK even caught that. lol.
Perhaps AS (the little airline that thinks they invented First Class) will allow EK to administrate their 5 flights a day and permit their paid First Class guests a much needed lounge convenient to their gate.
I think goes to counter the point Lucky is always making that Emirates and their neighbors in the ME3 don't benefit from government subsidies. This post effectively makes the case that this not an economical decision though it supports their premium cabin experience. In other words, they can offer a superior premium experience at a competitive price point since they don't have the same constraint to the P&L that a fully private carrier has. Would...
I think goes to counter the point Lucky is always making that Emirates and their neighbors in the ME3 don't benefit from government subsidies. This post effectively makes the case that this not an economical decision though it supports their premium cabin experience. In other words, they can offer a superior premium experience at a competitive price point since they don't have the same constraint to the P&L that a fully private carrier has. Would I like to fly Emirates and have this experience? Absolutely so I am not anti-ME3, but I believe strongly in free and fair markets and that is nearly impossible to achieve with a "government entity" competing with a private company with two very different profitability constraints.
Any ideas if the lounge is restricted to Emirates Gold/Plat or if Gold members from partner airlines such as Qantas also have access?
This is weird, but it shows just how much money Emirates is spending that could probably be cut to better improve its bottom line.
If it wasn't for this post I wouldn't know El Al flies to Boston. Airlines open premium lounges where the clientele is mostly business type. Helps secure bulk rate contracts with area businesses.
Wonder if the long rumored JetBlue/Emirates lounge sharing will result in any JetBlue access to this lounge, perhaps on TCON Mint only. Especially if EK maintains just 1 flight a day for a while.
Am I the only one who sees an El Al plane in the back of the title picture? Hahaha. The irony...
Just imagine if El Al passengers got access to this lounge.
I wonder if Emirates has started changing their policy of not contracting their lounges out to other airlines, perhaps as part of their cost-cutting measures -- because Virgin Australia now uses the Emirates lounge at LAX for some of their elite frequent flyers (though not for their business class passengers, somewhat oddly, who use the Etihad lounge). https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/experience/at-the-airport/international-lounge-access/
And given that Emirates has a close partnership with Virgin's rival Qantas, clearly Emirates is not being...
I wonder if Emirates has started changing their policy of not contracting their lounges out to other airlines, perhaps as part of their cost-cutting measures -- because Virgin Australia now uses the Emirates lounge at LAX for some of their elite frequent flyers (though not for their business class passengers, somewhat oddly, who use the Etihad lounge). https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/experience/at-the-airport/international-lounge-access/
And given that Emirates has a close partnership with Virgin's rival Qantas, clearly Emirates is not being too picky about who they let use their lounge in that case.
I don't see why emirates would open a lounge in Boston, where they have one daily 777 flight, and not in someplace like Athens, where they one daily 777 flight from Newark and twice daily from Dubai, meaning three daily total flights, where a lounge would be more used
Great! This should also reduce the overcrowding in the Priority Pass lounge in Terminal C which was becoming annoying.
Agreed that the new design is much MUCH better than the 90s-era wood/gold combination they've been using. Plus, as someone who's fairly meticulous (read: anal-retentive) about uniformity, I love that you can go to any EK lounge in the network and everything will be familiar. It's like Starbucks in that manner, and I absolutely appreciate it. It's almost like it's a taste of "home" no matter where you are. And I would 100% continue choose...
Agreed that the new design is much MUCH better than the 90s-era wood/gold combination they've been using. Plus, as someone who's fairly meticulous (read: anal-retentive) about uniformity, I love that you can go to any EK lounge in the network and everything will be familiar. It's like Starbucks in that manner, and I absolutely appreciate it. It's almost like it's a taste of "home" no matter where you are. And I would 100% continue choose EK over another airline based strictly on the uniformity of the experience.