- Joined
- Apr 11, 2012
- Posts
- 879
I have been to many lounges across the world, would hate to count the number, but it was my first time in the TK lounge in IST. After arriving from BKK early morning it was big surprise to find a really great, clean, well set out lounge, even to the point I e:mailed a colleague telling him this is one of the five best lounges I've visited outside of Australia. I liked the stairs to the lower floor and the food set-up was really neat with those individual stalls cooking the traditional Turkish dishes. Quiet, easy access to internet and an overall calm interior. There were a few people in there so a bit busy, but being 6am i think most were jet lagged. I had to go onto ATH so the transit was also good. I did like the see-through lock-ups and they came in quite handy.
The return leg, wow what could i say, other that trying to withdraw my earlier e:mail to my friend. It was like I had gone to a totally different lounge, even airport. It was like a shopping centre at Christmas time; crowded, kids running around, noisy, dirty, etc, etc,. I just could not believe the two contrasting visits. Just seemed to be like a downtown market as people lined up for the food as it was being cooked and it was gone before it hit the tables. The noise at times was ridiculous, with so many conversations via phone was stunning.
We can all complain, but I do feel for someone like TK and other airlines that have limited space for lounges. Being a rather large airline and attracting more and more frequent flyers in an airport that needs expansion puts them in a difficult position. The amount of people outside was showed that the airport needs to expand. TK cannot have another lounge to relieve the pressure due to lack of space. And what do they do? - hold to a set limit of people in the lounge and refuse others, it just creates complaints, arguments and fights. It would be a great role moving into a new airport like CX did when they moved from Kai Tak which had a very small lounge, but having a small airport that is rapidly growing makes life hard.
The return leg, wow what could i say, other that trying to withdraw my earlier e:mail to my friend. It was like I had gone to a totally different lounge, even airport. It was like a shopping centre at Christmas time; crowded, kids running around, noisy, dirty, etc, etc,. I just could not believe the two contrasting visits. Just seemed to be like a downtown market as people lined up for the food as it was being cooked and it was gone before it hit the tables. The noise at times was ridiculous, with so many conversations via phone was stunning.
We can all complain, but I do feel for someone like TK and other airlines that have limited space for lounges. Being a rather large airline and attracting more and more frequent flyers in an airport that needs expansion puts them in a difficult position. The amount of people outside was showed that the airport needs to expand. TK cannot have another lounge to relieve the pressure due to lack of space. And what do they do? - hold to a set limit of people in the lounge and refuse others, it just creates complaints, arguments and fights. It would be a great role moving into a new airport like CX did when they moved from Kai Tak which had a very small lounge, but having a small airport that is rapidly growing makes life hard.