Etihad Business and First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi Review

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This is part of the Around the World 2015 Mega Trip

By now, you may know that I kind of loved my Etihad flight in their new Business Studio, but I was also very excited to try out their lounge at AUH. Let’s just say I wasn’t let down. The lounge combines both First and Business class passengers and it also includes a spa where you can get massages, a salon where you can get shaves, haircuts, etc, and obviously food and drink. Bling, bling.

Hmmmmm which way should I go?

The lounge is enormous with multiple eating stations, resting areas, work centers, showers, a prayer room in addition to the Spa and Salon. It’s a great lounge, but when we were there it was CROWDED. I actually wasn’t anticipating this many people occupying the lounge, and certainly didn’t think we would have as much trouble as we did finding a table to eat at, but we circled for a bit. We also were able to make appointments for a massage, although we did have to wait over an hour to get in. It’s worth noting, as well, that we purposely funneled through this lounge to check it out, as our flight was leaving from a different terminal and that terminal’s lounge was under construction. I’m guessing that is why the lounge was so crazily crowded.

I do have to say, if I were flying first, I would have been a little let down. Other international first class lounge I’ve been in have minimal guests and certainly there is always a place to sit. In here, it was like being part of the herd.

But, we were lowly business class travelers headed to South Africa for roughly $30, so how could we possibly complain!!!!

After we had our massages we settled in for a snack and some free wifi.

Overall:

I really liked the lounge. It had great massage facilities, a salon, plenty of options for food, coffee, and other beverages, and provided an extremely well done lounge facility to relax in between flights. But, how does it compare with the new United lounge in LHR or the Sakura First class lounge in Tokyo? It competes, and both of those lounges are first class. Is it the nicest, most luxurious lounge I’ve ever been in? No, I wouldn’t go that far. Would I rank it high on the list? Absolutely. I suppose a fair comparison would be their lounge at IAD. That lounge is a great lounge, one that provides a distinctly premium experience of sit down food, and in lounge boarding. This does neither of those, but it’s a high volume lounge that extremely nice. If you end up in transit or in Abu Dhabi was a destination, it’s worth checking this lounge out if you have time.

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Monkey Miles Related Articles

Is this the best ever offer?

There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

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Main Cast:

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Supporting Cast:

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