Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami Airport (MIA)

To kick off my downgraded adventure to Oman, I checked out the Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami, prior to my Air Canada A220 business class flight to Montreal.

Interestingly, Turkish Airlines operates two lounges at Miami Airport — one is located in Concourse E, and one is located between Concourse H & J. I’ve reviewed the Concourse E location, and in this post I wanted to review the Concourse H & J location.

Many might be puzzled by why Turkish Airlines has two lounges at Miami Airport, including one lounge in a terminal that the airline doesn’t even fly out of. The answer is that this is a simple for-profit business play, as the airline saw an opportunity to monetize the lounge situation at the airport.

These lounges are open to Priority Pass members, and they’re the only Priority Pass lounges in the entire airport. Not only that, but they’re used as contract lounges for all kinds of airlines, including most Star Alliance airlines (Air Canada, Copa, Lufthansa, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, and more).

So, how is the Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami Concourse H & J? The lounge as such is fine, but the reality is that it gets outrageously crowded late in the day, as you’d expect, given how many people have access. When I fly out of this terminal in the afternoons, I usually just sit in the gate area, where I can find a quieter place. Fortunately in this case I was visiting in the morning, when crowding is less of an issue (which is also why I’m finally reviewing this lounge).

Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami location

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami is located between Concourse H & J. Depending on which security checkpoint you clear, you’ll either have to go left or right, and just find the long walkway between the two gate areas.

At roughly the halfway point, you’ll find the entrance to the Turkish Airlines Lounge.

In reality, this “entrance” only leads to an elevator, which will then take you up to level three, where the lounge is located.

The elevator is beautifully maintained, as you’d expect from our world class city, and has been for quite some time. 😉

Once on the third floor, you’ll just have to walk down a rather dimly lit hallway, and then eventually you’ll see the entrance to the lounge. If you visit in the afternoons, expect that the line to get in may be snaking around the corner.

Note that some concourses at Miami Airport aren’t connected airside. So if you’re flying American or select other oneworld carriers, you’d have access to the other Turkish Airlines Lounge without having to clear security twice.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami hours

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami is open 24/7, so those are quite the flexible hours! This is the only lounge at the airport that doesn’t close.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami entry requirements

There are a variety of ways to gain access to the Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami:

• The lounge can be accessed with a Priority Pass membership; you can access the lounge at most three hours before your flight’s departure, and there may be capacity constraints during peak periods
• This acts as the Star Alliance lounge in the terminal, so it can be accessed by Star Alliance business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members on an eligible itinerary; Star Alliance airlines departing the terminal include Air Canada, Copa, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish, and more
• This is also used as the contract lounge for some non-Star Alliance airlines, like Emirates, as those airlines send their premium passengers here

As you’d expect, the lounge gets busiest in the afternoons and evenings, when we see the most Star Alliance flights departing from the terminal.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami seating & layout

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami is roughly 10,000 square feet, so it’s a decent size. The lounge has the typical Turkish Airlines decor, as the airline is pretty consistent with its lounge design. The main part of the lounge is one big, rectangular room, which has some dining tables with chairs, as well as seats arranged in rows, facing one another.

The far end of the lounge has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the concourse, though there aren’t too many aircraft movements in that part of the terminal, since it’s not near any taxiway.

The centerpiece of the lounge is the bar, though that’s only staffed in the afternoons and evenings.

The lounge has one of those photo backgrounds, should you want to take a picture here… lol?

Back toward the entrance is another room, which often stays a bit quieter. This has a bunch of chairs with small coffee tables, as well as a circular bench.

There’s also a business center here with a printer, plus a small, windowless room, with seats in rows facing one another.

Off to the side of the main part of the lounge is an area with six daybeds, though don’t expect you’ll get much rest here, as the room is quite bright, and can be noisy (since it’s right off the lounge’s main corridor).

There’s also a play room for kids just off the main part of the lounge.

Lastly, there’s a room for luggage storage. However, this just consists of some see-through shelves. I definitely wouldn’t recommend storing anything here, as that seems pretty risky in terms of theft.

As you can see, physically this is a perfectly pleasant lounge, though there aren’t any exciting amenities. In the early mornings, it’s even pleasantly quiet, though in the afternoons, expect that every seat in the lounge will be taken. And it’s not just that the lounge is busy, but it’s Miami busy — that’s to say that it’s full of people having phone calls on speakerphone, watching TV shows without headphones, etc. 😉

Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami food & drinks

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami has a respectable food selection for a Priority Pass lounge, though the spread is less impressive if you view it as an international business class lounge. Food in the lounge is self-serve, via a buffet.

During my morning visit, breakfast options included muffins, pastries, bread, salad, sliced fruit, cheese, a couple of kinds of sandwiches, cereal, yogurt, and oatmeal. That’s not a bad selection, but as you can tell, there’s not much in the way of hot food.

In terms of drinks, the lounge has fridges with soda and water, there are carafes with juice and milk, and there are also some coffee machines and tea.

As far as alcohol goes, there was a self-serve selection of red and white wine and some beer. In the afternoons, liquor is available at the bar.

Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami bathrooms & showers

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami bathrooms are located in a corridor off to the left side of the lounge.

The men’s room had three sinks, two stalls, and one urinal, so that’s not exactly a lot of bathroom capacity, given the size of this lounge.

The lounge also has one shower suite in the same area as the bathrooms, though I didn’t have a chance to check it out, as it was in use during my visit.

Bottom line

The Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami Concourse H & J is open to Priority Pass members, and is also used as the contract lounge of many airlines. There are only two Priority Pass lounges at Miami Airport, and they both belong to Turkish Airlines.

This is a perfectly pleasant lounge with a large seating capacity, nice enough decor, and a decent selection of food and drinks. My morning visit was quite good, as the lounge wasn’t too crowded. That being said, when I’m flying out of Miami in the afternoons and have access to this lounge, I simply go straight to the gate area, because I know how crowded this lounge gets.

What do you make of the Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami?