- Introduction: A Downgraded Adventure To Oman
- Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami Airport (MIA)
- Review: Air Canada Business Class Airbus A220 (MIA-YUL)
- Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Montreal Airport (YUL)
- Review: Air France Lounge Montreal Airport (YUL)
- Review: SWISS Business Class Airbus A330 (YUL-ZRH)
- Review: SWISS Arrivals Lounge Zurich Airport (ZRH)
- Review: SWISS Business Lounge Zurich Airport (ZRH)
- Review: SWISS Helvetic Business Class Embraer E190-E2 (ZRH-MXP)
- Review: Oman Air Business Class Boeing 787 (MXP-MCT)
- Review: Oman Air Business Lounge Muscat Airport (MCT)
- Review: Oman Air First Lounge Muscat Airport (MCT)
- Review: Oman Air Business Class Airbus A330 (MCT-FRA)
- Review: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
- Review: Singapore Airlines Business Class Boeing 777 (FRA-JFK)
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).
In this post:
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?
We recently flew Air France’s late-night departure (23:55) from terminal J. As Priority Pass members, we were not allowed in until the Turkish flight left around 22:30. When we got in it was not crowded at all. We couldn’t stay long but it was good for a couple glasses of wine and some snacks (and baklava of course!). Certainly beats the Corona Beach House in terminal J.
Your description of "Miami busy" spoke to my very soul
I tried it twice in the past 12 months. Both times it was so crowded that I left. In concourse J there is another Star Alliance lounge courtesy of Allianca which is not great but acceptable and usually not so crowded.
I used this lounge last year when it was crowded. Worse than an average Admirals Club with "meh" food options & little seating. As noted, the best place to sit in the lounge is NOT! Stay at an open gate instead.
'but they’re used as contract lounges for all kinds of airlines, including most Star Alliance airlines.'
Isn't a contract lounge a non-alliance lounge? Since this is a Turkish Airlines lounge, all eligible Star Alliance travellers can use it, not just most, or?
Quite disappointing compared to their IST lounge, especially food-wise.
It's not really fair to compare the IST business class lounge with the US-based Priority Pass versions, they cater to completely different markets.
There is also an a-la-carte menu from which you can order hot dishes at all times of the day. You can view it using the QR codes on the dining tables throughout the lounge and order online as well.
For breakfast, they have a few dishes, which are quite good but small portion sizes so you should order a few if you are really hungry.
For dinner, the options are similar to the...
There is also an a-la-carte menu from which you can order hot dishes at all times of the day. You can view it using the QR codes on the dining tables throughout the lounge and order online as well.
For breakfast, they have a few dishes, which are quite good but small portion sizes so you should order a few if you are really hungry.
For dinner, the options are similar to the other Turkish Lounge in Concourse E, with Falafel, Chicken, Kofta (Turkish Meatballs), and more. It is quite good, and it's also Halal (for those to whom this matters)!
In my experience, the food is sometimes delivered quickly (5-10 minutes after ordering), while other times it has taken over 20 minutes.
With this and the buffet, I view this lounge as having a solid food selection, especially as a PP lounge, and on par for a contract international business class lounge at an outstation.
With regards to the food, what time does Turkish depart? Some other airlines that have similar PP/alliance access only bring out the hot food when it's closer to their departure time...
So I take it both TK lounges in MIA are more or less the same in terms of quality with neither more enjoyable than the other?
The lounge does have an a-la-carte menu for all times of the day (I dont know about the middle of the night though). You have to scan a QR code on the dining tables to view it. View my comment on the thread.
Turkish Airlines flights currently depart MIA around 10am and 9pm
The one on Concourse E is a dump. I think they are going for the full cultural experience as the bathrooms are as awful as the public ones at the old Ataturk.
I can’t take Miami busy (I say as I’m about to board a flight with a connection in MIA which I got stuck with because a codeshare airline doesn’t know how to operate a schedule). Miami is just too…. I guess tedious is one more polite way I can put it.
This could be a nice lounge, but it's so busy for 95% of the day that it's practically unusable. Noisy, crowded, messy, clogged up with staff frantically trying to keep all the food and drinks provisioned, and angry guests wandering around trying to find a place to sit. I don't think I've ever seen it without a line of people waiting to be admitted.
They finally have self-service food and drink available again (they...
This could be a nice lounge, but it's so busy for 95% of the day that it's practically unusable. Noisy, crowded, messy, clogged up with staff frantically trying to keep all the food and drinks provisioned, and angry guests wandering around trying to find a place to sit. I don't think I've ever seen it without a line of people waiting to be admitted.
They finally have self-service food and drink available again (they kept everything closed off until late 2022, well after Covid restrictions were lifted) but it hasn't made an ounce of difference.
The biggest challenge, IMHO, is the constant flow of Avianca passengers pouring through the lounge - Avianca has enough presence in Miami they should honestly open a lounge of their own. It's Avianca, and that requires spending money, so it'll never happen, but it would make a huge difference.
There is a $9 Pre-book option in Priority Pass app for both MIA TK lounges. It appears to offer guaranteed entry upon arrival.
Did they get rid of the hot food via QR code? I recall them having made-to-order scrambled eggs, hash browns, and pancakes that you could get delivered to your table with a QR code
in 2022 I had ordered grilled köfte (meatballs)
in 2023 hot meal was limited to Falafel I think, no meat options I could recall.
They still have it! I frequently visited this lounge since it opened, and it is still an option. They have meat options (Kofte), as well as Falafel and chicken, and for breakfast they had exactly what you said when I last visited during breakfast in July 2023.