What I liked
- Better than sitting in the terminal building
- There was natural light coming into the room
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The Lounge in Dublin Airport is a disappointing and small lounge, with obstructed runway views. The food and drink selection is pretty sad. This lounge provides the very minimum of what can be expected at an airport lounge in Europe.
If you come here, do not expect free flowing champagne or luxury!
I attained access through my Priority Pass membership. No extra money was paid to get access for myself, my wife and my daughter. I would not recommend paying for entry to this lounge!
I had a 3 hour layover before my flight to Boston, so I was glad to get some breathing space from the terminal.
The lounge is a small rectangular space with a tiny buffet in one corner. In terms of facilities, there is some seating and a buffet, and that is about it.
The quality of the seating was pretty sad too – just some random office chairs chucked together. The seating reminded me of the waiting room at a dentist surgery!
There were some windows out to the runway - but the views were heavily obstructed. The good news is that there is a decent amount of natural light coming into the lounge.
Worst of all, the lounge was very busy. You couldn’t walk 2 steps without bumping into someone’s legs.
I view this lounge as a bad lounge, as it doesn’t have the things I expect in an airline lounge:
So how do poor lounges like this make money?
Most entrants to the lounge will come in via a Priority Pass membership – which they have already paid for. Each time a customer swipes their Priority Pass, then the lounge will earn a fixed amount. As there are no other 3rd party lounges in Dublin Terminal 2, there is little incentive to spend a lot of money on the lounge. For this reason, most airports have poor quality 3rd party lounges. Other examples example of bad lounges include the Plaza Premium Lounge in Ahmedabad, India and the ANA Lounge in Lisbon.
There are some airports with a lot of competition among 3rd party lounges. London Heathrow is one such example. The Plaza Premium Lounges in Terminal 2 and Terminal 4 are excellent examples of 3rd party lounges. The Skyteam Lounge in Terminal 4 is also very good, and available through a Priority Pass
If you looking to be fed before your flight, then you will be sorely disappointed. The majority of the food came from a packet.
The sandwiches looked terrible, so I only ate some cheese and crackers. This really is the bare minimum (possibly less) of what you can provide in a priority pass lounge.
There was a very limited selection of drinks available, as can be seen from the images above.
My wife had a cappuccino and described it as ‘serviceable.’ I had a green tea, which was surprisingly good!
This lounge offers the very minimum of what can be expected of a contract lounge. The food is very poor and alcohol selection is desperately limited.
Ultimately, it does provide some respite from the busy terminal. It also presents a cheap way to get drunk – if you are ok sitting in a busy lounge, with people walking over you.