We’ve just learned that the Star Alliance plans to open a branded lounge at Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN), making it the second global alliance to operate a lounge at the airport, as there’s also the oneworld Lounge. This announcement shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given that we needed to see some sort of a solution for the future of Star Alliance lounge access at the airport.
Basics of the Star Alliance Lounge Seoul Incheon Airport
A Star Alliance Lounge is expected to open in Terminal 1 of Seoul Incheon Airport, by taking over the existing Asiana Airlines Business Lounge West. The expectation is that the lounge will open in the second half of December 2026.
What’s going on here is that Korean Air has acquired Asiana Airlines, and as of December 17, 2026, Asiana will formally cease to exist as a brand, and at that point, the airline will also leave the Star Alliance. The airlines have already co-located at Incheon Terminal 2, so operationally, that will be an easy transition.
Historically, Star Alliance carriers have primarily used Asiana for their contract lounges at the airport, despite the airline no longer flying out of Terminal 1. Still, the airline has continued to operate the lounges, but that will finally be changing.
The Star Alliance Lounge will serve passengers traveling with 14 Star Alliance member airlines serving Incheon Airport, connecting them to 29 destinations worldwide. The lounge will follow standard Star Alliance lounge access rules, so it’ll be open to Star Alliance Gold members, as well as all Star Alliance first and business class passengers.
This will be the seventh Star Alliance Lounge location worldwide, joining Amsterdam (AMS), Buenos Aires (EZE), Guangzhou (CAN), Los Angeles (LAX), Paris (CDG), and Rio de Janeiro (GIG).
This is a logical solution, but don’t expect too much
Up until now, we didn’t have much of a sense of what the future Star Alliance lounge situation at Incheon would be. I figured a former Asiana Lounge would be vacated, and that it would be taken over by the alliance or an alliance carrier, so this makes perfect sense.
The one thing I’d mention is that it sounds like this lounge will immediately be transitioning from Asiana to Star Alliance, with no sort of a closure. That’s of course good in terms of being able to continuously serve customers. However, this also sounds like it’ll just be a hand-me-down lounge, so don’t expect much in the way of design or great features.
Admittedly it’s not like Star Alliance even has much of a lounge design concept in general, so I guess that’s not too off brand. I am curious if the lounge eventually undergoes a refresh, or what the long term plan is. In general, I’ve always found Asiana’s lounge network to be rather underwhelming.
For what it’s worth, this lounge has belonged to Priority Pass for quite some time, so only time will tell whether or not that partnership continues. Currently only one Star Alliance Lounge location participates in Priority Pass, so I’d lean toward “no,” but who knows.
Bottom line
The Star Alliance intends to open a lounge at Seoul Incheon Airport Terminal 1 in late 2026, essentially just taking over the space of the former Asiana Business Lounge West. With Asiana fully leaving the Star Alliance and the brand ceasing to exist, it’s logical that the airline will finally vacate the lounge in its former terminal.
So it’s good that there will continue to be a Star Alliance option, but this won’t be some existing, purpose built facility.
What do you make of plans for the Star Alliance Lounge Incheon?
@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.
What about the Star lounges in AMS, EZE, and GIG?
@ Wilson -- My mistake, post updated to reflect that, thanks!
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!
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?
Are you upset with the review, or the 'ethics' of 'refundable' tickets?
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...
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
@Andrew_M Judges? Fraud? @Lucky did this one single, brief time. He didn't bilk them for much of anything at all (unlike the examples you provided), and probably even helped them out much more with his review. As Sgt. Hulka once said, "Lighten up, Francis!"
@PhilBob
"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,...
@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...
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.
Sounds like the petulance of a failed influencer.
@andrew_m So, a post by Gary from 2014 is your top source? Okie dokie...
Do we get to vote on that! :)
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.
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...
@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.
Oh no! I was there last in MNL, early 2025, so I guess I got in before it closed.
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.
Wonder if SQ will keep its lounge at ICN or join the *A lounge.
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.)