- Introduction: From Saint-Tropez To Sylt, And Beyond!
- Review: The Carlyle New York, A Rosewood Hotel
- Review: Emirates Lounge New York (JFK)
- Review: Emirates A380 First Class (JFK-MXP)
- Review: Hotel Martinez Cannes, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- Review: Airelles Saint-Tropez, Chateau De La Messardiere
- Review: The Library Lounge Nice Airport (NCE)
- Review: SWISS A320 Business Class (NCE-ZRH)
- Review: Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport The Circle
- Review: SWISS Alpine Lounge Zurich Airport (ZRH)
- Review: Sylt Airport Lounge (GWT)
- Review: Lufthansa CityLine E190 Business Class (GWT-FRA)
- Taking One Of Lufthansa’s Shortest Flights (118 Miles)
- Our Lufthansa Delayed Bag Experience
- Review: The Wellem Dusseldorf, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- Review: Hugo Junkers Lounge Dusseldorf Airport (DUS)
- Review: Condor A321 Business Class (DUS-ATH)
- Review: King George Athens, Marriott Luxury Collection
- Review: Hotel Grande Bretagne Athens, Marriott Luxury Collection
- Review: Goldair Lounge Athens Airport (ATH)
- Review: airBaltic Airbus A220 (SAS Wet Lease)
- Review: Grand Hotel Stockholm, Sweden
- Review: Amex Restaurant Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN)
- Review: New Finnair Business Class A330 (ARN-JFK)
After spending some time in Greece, our next stop was Stockholm, and we flew there in Scandinavian Airlines Plus (the carrier’s premium economy equivalent). The flight was actually operated by a wet leased airBaltic Airbus A220, but I’ll be reviewing that in the next installment.
In this post I wanted to review the Schengen Goldair Handling Lounge Athens Airport (ATH), which is open to Priority Pass members and premium travelers on select airlines.
In this post:
Goldair Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) location & hours
There are two Goldair Lounges at Athens Airport, with one being in Hall A and one being in Hall B. We used the latter prior to our flight to Sweden. After clearing security, we proceeded through the maze of duty free shopping, and followed the signage toward airport lounges.
The lounge is located in the Schengen zone, opposite gate B13. That’s a pretty central location, and it’s only about a five minute walk from the security checkpoint.
The lounge is open daily from 3:30AM until 10PM, so those are quite some long hours that cover a vast majority of departures.
Goldair Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) entry requirements
The Goldair Lounge is primarily a contract lounge, so it’s open to Priority Pass members (there are lots of premium credit cards offering Priority Pass memberships).
Some airlines departing from the terminal that offer lounge access to their passengers will send travelers here. This includes Airbaltic, Air France, ITA Airways, KLM, LOT Polish, and Scandinavian Airlines. So our tickets got us access to the lounge. Note that most Star Alliance travelers can instead use the Aegean Lounge or Lufthansa Lounge.
Goldair Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) seating & layout
The Goldair Lounge Athens is surprisingly small, given how many passengers have access to it. The lounge primarily consists of just one room. Most of the lounge consists of a bunch of rows of leather chairs facing one another — this is the space closest to the entrance.
Then further into the lounge are about half a dozen glass dining tables, each of which could seat three or four people.
Then in the corner of the lounge were two communal glass tables.
That’s it — that’s the extent of the seating in the lounge. When we arrived around 9:30AM the lounge was only somewhat busy, while it was packed by the time that we left, shortly before 11AM.
Goldair Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) food & drinks
The lounge had two main buffet areas, with one primarily having food and one primarily having drinks. The first buffet had juice, yogurt, all kinds of packaged bread, cereal, and a few hot dishes, including vegetable soup, frittata, and two types of Greek pies (one with feta and vegetables, and one with spinach).
The other buffet mostly had drinks, including a Nespresso machine, filter coffee, tea, a variety of wines, and some liquor.
I couldn’t get more close-in shots of some of the wine, since one of the people working there starting yelling at me for taking pictures…
Goldair Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) bathrooms
Bathrooms are located in the back of the Goldair Lounge. I felt like there wasn’t enough bathroom capacity — for example, the mens bathroom had no urinals, and just one stall. The lounge also doesn’t have showers.
Bottom line
The Goldair Lounge Athens is totally fine and unremarkable, if you ask me. It’s furnished nicely enough, and has a pretty decent selection of food and drinks. The lounge is just on the small side, so at some hours of the day the lounge will be packed, and Priority Pass members may even be turned away.
If you’ve visited the Goldair Lounge Athens, what was your experience like?
You visited the wrong lounge the goldair in terminal A has showers and much more bathroom capacity and much large and nicer room
The facilities and drinks in the lounge are good but the food in the morning is terrible. So much salt added which makes all the cooked food options inedible.
I arrived at athens airport and headed fir the emirates business lounge which is non existent. They do however offer entry to the goldair handling lounge.
On arrival to their front desk the two receptionists (if u can call them that) were busy on their cells and i waited in front of them for a minute b4 one if them looked up. No acknowledgment just said u cant come in till 3 hours b4...
I arrived at athens airport and headed fir the emirates business lounge which is non existent. They do however offer entry to the goldair handling lounge.
On arrival to their front desk the two receptionists (if u can call them that) were busy on their cells and i waited in front of them for a minute b4 one if them looked up. No acknowledgment just said u cant come in till 3 hours b4 uour flight.
So after spending 2.5 hours wondering around went back up to the desk. Again on Facebook or whatever. Handed my boarding pass and was told i had to get authorisation at counter.
What counter????? I said in frustration. She coukd she i was getting pretty annoyed so she took biarding pass back andctyped into her system but practically threw the pass back.
Very rude and abnoxious.
The lounge itself is pretty small but is better than waiting at terminals.
Emirates should check the service offering for their premium customers and advise goldair that service is unacceptable.
Yes. And a pretty idiotic guy pouring the slowest smallest glasses of wine and got very very offended if you tried to pour yourself a proper one :)
Visited the Gold Air Lounge twice December 2021 and January 2022; they had a lot of local Greek food which was fresh and fantastic, it was super clean and stocked with many Greek wines and beers. Both times we were in there it was nearly empty... The two staff members were personable and friendly. I found it way better than any of the priority pass lounges I've been in the US
I visited the Goldair lounge in the opposite hall about a month ago before flying premium Econ on American Airlines, with lounge access through my OneWorld Emerald status. It was basically the same as this one but darker inside with less lighting and black stone tile covering the walls. I visited around noon and it was packed. For food they had chicken and vegetables, as well as an assortment of pre packaged sandwiches and other snacks.
The Schengen Goldair Handling Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) is indeed a pretty decent lounge, much better than the other contractor lounge of the Schengen area accepting Priority Pass members, the Skyserv Melina Merkouri Lounge, that was once the lounge of the defunct Olympic Airways (in those days it was a very good lounge, though!). The food offering include good Greek specialities. During Covid times staff were very careful to avoid unnecessary ‘contacts’: they insisted that...
The Schengen Goldair Handling Lounge Athens Airport (ATH) is indeed a pretty decent lounge, much better than the other contractor lounge of the Schengen area accepting Priority Pass members, the Skyserv Melina Merkouri Lounge, that was once the lounge of the defunct Olympic Airways (in those days it was a very good lounge, though!). The food offering include good Greek specialities. During Covid times staff were very careful to avoid unnecessary ‘contacts’: they insisted that customers wore disposable plastic gloves (provided) when self-serving food, and for that reason they insisted in pouring drinks and preparing espressos. Like that whole Athens airport, during peak summertime the lounge gets too hot (the air conditioning not being enough powerful).
Was there in May. Pretty much the same experience as yours, though it was at a more crowded time. There's not much space to walk between the sets of facing chairs, and was amazed by the people who had their luggage and legs stretched in the pathway inhibiting movement, even when I was obviously trying to get by.
By the way, when I was there the bar was staffed and an attendant had to get your drinks. Maybe he/she thought you were going to pour your own drink?
Next time your in Athens you must go to the new Aegean Lounge. I was there a few weeks on Priority Pass and it was amazing. Blew the rest out of the water.
Didn't SAS get rid of contract lounge access years ago for *G and SAS Plus? I'm surprised that they paid for this lounge when there are two *A Schengen lounges at ATH - A3 and LH.
+1 to Basil, the new Aegean lounge is quite nice as I was there a few days ago. Fairly good food selections, lots of unique Greek alcohol options and a highlight for me was an Nespresso-ish pod machine that specifically makes Greek coffee with the grounds and all.
I know youve flown through athens a few times the last few years... have you used either the Aegean or Lufthansa lounges? I'll be in ATH next month and not sure if either is better than this one...
I've visited both those intra-Shengen lounges, though the Lufthansa one only once. The reason being, that for most of the time pre-covid there would even be a line of people reaching outside the lounge trying to get in. The lounge itself is probably the smallest I've ever seen, smaller than the one at Bali's DPS and doesn't even have lavatories! The Aegean lounge is right next door (both are quite a walk after clearing security!)...
I've visited both those intra-Shengen lounges, though the Lufthansa one only once. The reason being, that for most of the time pre-covid there would even be a line of people reaching outside the lounge trying to get in. The lounge itself is probably the smallest I've ever seen, smaller than the one at Bali's DPS and doesn't even have lavatories! The Aegean lounge is right next door (both are quite a walk after clearing security!) and is much larger, but, especially if you're going in the a.m. like the author here, it will get very crowded! You'll probably still be able to find a place to seat, but being an Aegean gold myself, I think they should have upgraded that lounge before pouring so much cash in the extra-Shengen lounge.
Never been to the Goldair lounge, but from reading here and there it seems most people generally prefer the other two (yes, even that tiny LH lounge, most state due to "better food/beverages" than A3's lounge, though I wouldn't agree) over the Goldair one.
Hi Ben - coincidentally we were flying TK from ATH to JFK via IST today. The check in agent gave us passes for the Golden Air lounge but I told my kids we were going to the Aegean lounge since I'm Star Alliance Gold and we were flying TK business class. The new (3 month old) Aegean lounge is gorgeous with far more fresh food offerings, 12,500 SF of space, and terrific staff. Not sure...
Hi Ben - coincidentally we were flying TK from ATH to JFK via IST today. The check in agent gave us passes for the Golden Air lounge but I told my kids we were going to the Aegean lounge since I'm Star Alliance Gold and we were flying TK business class. The new (3 month old) Aegean lounge is gorgeous with far more fresh food offerings, 12,500 SF of space, and terrific staff. Not sure why TK was trying to stuff us into the Golden Air lounge, but I knew better. My son was curious about the Golden Air Lounge so I just got to show him your review while we are in IST at their 56,000 SF monster lounge. What a great coincidence!
You should visit the new Aegean extra Schengen lounge next time you fly out of ATH!!! It is spectacular!
Agreed - skipped breakfast at hotel this morning and just went straight there!
I know you're not much of a beer drinker but could you make your pics so that it's possible to see what's offered?
@ Thomas -- I absolutely would have, but as noted in the post, the guy working in the lounge was yelling at me for taking pictures around the time I was photographing the drink selection, hence the lack of close-ups. My apologies.