Airport Lounges Trips

Review: Star Alliance Lounge São Paulo GRU

a glass wall with a large ceiling and a large building with people sitting at tables

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Needless to say, I like a good lounge before kicking back and enjoying the best an airline has to offer ( in this case United’s New Polaris on their 772 to Chicago). Star Alliance has a great reputation when it comes to branded lounges, and I was excited to check out their lounge before hopping on our flight home.

Details:

  • When: November 2018
  • Where: GRU ( São Paulo ) Terminal 3
    • The lounge is located just beyond duty free, upstairs, in Terminal 3

How to get into the Star Alliance Lounge São Paulo GRU?

  • International First and Business Class passengers
  • Star Alliance Gold in any cabin, but on an International ticket
  • Priority Pass, Lounge Key, Lounge Club, and Diners Club all have access; however,
    • Saturday to Weds – 7am to 3am
    • Thursday and Friday 7am to 3pm and 9pm to 3am

The coolest part is that you don’t have to be flying in a Premium Cabin or carry Elite status…just have a priority pass. Here’s a list of credit cards that give comped memberships, most with guest privileges

First Impression

The lounge looks quite sleek and I like the open air feature. Often times airport lounges can feel stuffy, but I’ve found the ones that open to the terminal to feel far more spacious. However…it was jam packed. Like crazy, people everywhere, where do I sit, the food is sloppy, packed.

This is where capacity controls are necessary, and usually I can’t stand it when a lounge turns down a Priority Pass member for being overcrowded – the Korean Air lounge at LAX is a great example of misuse ( the lounge can be empty and they say no). This wasn’t that instance. If you’re a Star Alliance Elite or Biz/First passenger…your lounge experience is not peaceful.

With that said…it’s quite nice 😉

a glass wall with a large ceiling and a large building with people sitting at tables

Seating:

There were several styles of seating to choose from, but most had people sitting at them and I wasn’t going to be that weird guy photographing strangers holding Miles for an extended period of time ( I know, even I have limits ), so I quickly snapped some shots.

Food

The main dining area is in the back of the lounge, but there are small setups you can pick off, and a bar halfway between the entrance and the rear dining. Neither Dave nor I felt like battling for food or a place to eat it and skipped all but a quick cookie and water. We ultimately ate at Bleriot, free of charge, with our Priority Pass.

Shower:

While I didn’t use the showers, I did ask to see them, and they looked fantastic. The fell right in line with the lounge in general, sleek, new, fresh, and I’m sure would be great to utilize.

Overall:

While we didn’t spend eons of time in the lounge, or make use of most of the features, it wasn’t because it didn’t look great, or the food didn’t smell great, or the mixed drinks weren’t enticing. It was just so packed that we weren’t compelled to fight off the crowd enough to enjoy it. And that’s a shame, and management should take action to avoid situations like this in the future. The lounge is such a great part of the premium cabin experience, and for a great looking lounge to be so overpacked that I chose to avoid it is a huge miss. I will say that the Priority Pass restaurant Bleriot was great and we found a table quickly.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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1 Comment

  • George May 26, 2019

    It usually gets packed because of the LH/ LX / TP/ CA / SA flights leaving around the evening “rush hour”.
    I’ve noticed that after that the lounge gets less overcrowded.

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