Korean Air Prestige Lounges
Location
- (Terminal 2, Air Side)
Upstairs (4F) of GATE 253
Upstairs (4F) of GATE 218
Upstairs (4F) of GATE 281
Operating hours
- East Right : Upstairs (4F) of GATE 253 : 06:00 ~ 22:00
- East Left : Upstairs (4F) of GATE 253 : 06:00 ~ 23:30
- Garden West : Upstairs (4F) of GATE 218 : 04:00 ~ 22:00
- Garden East : Upstairs (4F) of GATE 281 : 06:00 ~ 22:00
Eligible passengers
1. Prestige Class passengers
2. a SKYPASS Million Miler Club and Morning Calm Premium Club member in Economy Class.
* 1 accompanying passenger on one of SkyTeam carriers
3. SkyTeam Elite Plus members
* 1 accompanying passenger on one of SkyTeam carriers
4. SKYPASS Morning Calm Club members
* Entitled to access Korean Air Prestige Lounges owned by Korean Air only,
up to four times during the 2-year membership period.
* Access available to an accompanying passenger with additional deduction
from the access mileage allowance
* Lounge access is available on the day of the travel at your departing airport
and may be subject to lounge availability.
5. Mileage redemption passengers using Korean Air Lounge Award
6. Prestige Class Passengers on Korean Air operating flights
Reference: Korean air Homepage
Korean Air’s newly renovated lounge with elegance
Korean Air unveiled a new brand image last year and simultaneously carried out lounge renovations. This is my second time using the newly renovated lounges. As far as I know, not all lounges are open yet because the renovations are still in progress. Several areas are under construction.
This time, I tried the Korean Air Prestige Lounge. There are a total of four Prestige Lounges, and among them, I used the Prestige East Lounges located near Gate 253. Two lounges, one on the right and one on the left, were fully open.
If you take the escalator in front of Gate 253 up to this floor, you will see the east lounges. There is a lounge on the left and a lounge on the right. You can enter either one, but the layouts differ slightly. Since one side tends to get crowded with guests, they recommend the one that is less busy. It is a simple system where the gate opens when you scan your boarding pass.
Prestige East Left lounge
Upon entering the lounge for the first time, you can feel a very different atmosphere compared to the Korean Air lounge of the past. While the previous lounge used sky blue to create a cheerful vibe, the current one primarily uses gold and navy blue to give off a classic yet stable feel. I felt that it has become much more luxurious.
An interesting feature of the lounge on the left was the “Ramyun library,” where you could actually cook and eat various types of Korean ramen. I thought it would provide a fun experience for foreigners. You can get hot water and eat ramen boiling vigorously on an induction cooktop. It was nice that a wide variety of ramen was available. In fact, it was so popular that we had to wait in line to eat.
Another interesting point was their effort to offer a variety of Korean dishes. They had a bibimbap menu, so I could mix the vegetables and rice of my choice with the sauce I wanted. It was fun. However, since I had to pick up all sorts of vegetables, it felt like it got messy easily. Tteokbokki and gimbap were also served.
However, they did not only serve airline food. To cater to people of various nationalities, Western dishes such as pizza, pasta, and meatballs were also provided.
There were soft drinks like carbonated beverages, and if you went to the bar, there was also an alcoholic beverage menu. Interestingly, the craft beer sold at the Itaewon branch was delicious, as expected.
It was also nice that there were plenty of seats. In particular, there were seats with power outlets for charging laptops, spaces where families could gather and relax, and areas where two people could eat facing each other. It can accommodate various groups of guests.
The restroom was also incredibly clean and beautiful, using marble and gold lighting.
Prestige East Right lounge
I visited the lounge on the right during a different trip; perhaps because it was evening, it was more crowded and the food was running low. Still, the food was quite tasty, and it was interesting to see that they had stir-fried sundae.
The overall atmosphere was similar to the lounge on the left. However, there was no place to cook ramen. The left side seemed more spacious.
A change so great it makes you want to applaud
When visiting lounges of other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, I couldn’t help but feel that Korean Air lagged a bit behind; however, after visiting the newly renovated lounge, I felt truly proud 👏 It felt like it had been upgraded to the next level. I hope Korean Air continues to develop further in the future.
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