The Etihad Premium Lounge Review is part of the Trip Report Athens Marathon: The Original Course which includes the following cities:
- Toronto, Canada
- Detroit, Michigan
- London, England
- Athens, Greece
- Giza, Egypt
- Cairo, Egypt
- Luxor, Egypt
- Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
Click here for the picture preview.
Abu Dhabi airport allows American citizens to clear Immigration before they get to the United States. In theory, it’s a convenient way for American travelers to deal with security before arriving in the US. In reality, it has a couple drawbacks. First, the Eithad Premium Lounge is located before Pre-Clearance, a factor that must be taken into account before having too many glasses of champagne at the lounge. Second, even if you have Global Entry, be sure to check your boarding pass for the dreaded SSSS. That designation means that you have been ‘randomly selected’ for VIP screening services. Just like the first time I used Global Entry and as was the case at one of the tiniest airports in the world, I was put through the silly process of having everything taken out of my bags and was given a nice, thorough pat down.
And now back to the lounge review:
The Etihad Premium Lounge services both business class and first class passengers though first class passengers do have a quarantined section reserved for them. There is a Style & Shave salon that provides first class passengers with a manicure or a haircut, but I didn’t have enough time to go with the standard trim. Other than that, the Etihad Premium Lounge is a prototypical lounge. I was expecting more from it because it is the flagship lounge for the carrier. I have read that a new lounge may be built soon, that this one may be remodeled, or nothing will be done until the new terminal is constructed. None of those options are happening tomorrow, so here’s what you will find if you if you are flying Etihad today.
A Note on the Bathroom
I have to call to your attention that this massive lounge only has one toilet stall for male passengers. This was mind boggling given the number of people in the lounge and unsettling given my food poisoning situation. While nervously waiting my turn, I noticed that the bathroom attendant would quickly clean the toilet before another passenger went in and throw out essentially a full roll of toilet paper with some regularity.
The Etihad Lounge After Immigration
There is another Etihad lounge after immigration which is a small version of the Premium Lounge. I was only there for a few minutes following my enhanced screening session.
<==Back to Aloft Abu Dhabi – Onto Etihad First Class 777 to LAX==>
Sorry to hear about your VIP screening.. I had to go through that earlier this year.. However the issue got fixed after applying for a Redress number
You shouldn’t need a redress number simply because your name is Naif.
🙂
There are two bathrooms in the lounge for males. And I believe they both have two stalls, but I know for a fact at least one of them has two. Either way, it’s still not enough! It’s ridiculous that such a large lounge has such small facilities. I’m glad you pointed that out because that was one of my thoughts as well.
Well I curse that bathroom attendant for saying there weren’t any others. Not a fun experience, thanks for sharing.