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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeUAEAbu DhabiEtihad Premium Lounge: Before & After SSSS Security

Etihad Premium Lounge: Before & After SSSS Security

The Etihad Premium Lounge Review is part of the Trip Report Athens Marathon: The Original Course which includes the following cities:

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.

2015-11-17 05.09.19
Etihad Premium Lounge
2015-11-17 05.11.37
I see you
2015-11-17 05.11.55
Plenty of seating area and plenty of monitors with flight status
2015-11-17 05.12.45
Mousse?
First Class quarantine
First Class quarantine
2015-11-17 05.13.26
The only seating of concern to me
2015-11-17 05.15.13
All drinks are of course included
2015-11-17 05.16.49
The only beverage of concern to me
2015-11-17 05.17.35
The food was basic
2015-11-17 05.17.48
Arabic coffee
2015-11-17 05.19.05
Hummus ya hummus
2015-11-17 05.19.48
The other bar
2015-11-17 05.20.16
A jigsaw puzzle of the seat and bar
2015-11-17 05.21.20
A winning combo
2015-11-17 05.22.13
Style & Shave

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.

2015-11-17 05.38.13

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.

2015-11-17 06.17.49

<==Back to Aloft Abu Dhabi – Onto Etihad First Class 777 to LAX==>

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5 COMMENTS

  1. 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

  2. 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.

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