Brussels Airlines Star Alliance temporary Lounge - Brussels Airport Pier A

Review of Brussels Airlines Star Alliance temporary Lounge - Brussels Airport Pier A

The Brussels Airlines' Schengen lounge at Brussels Airport (Pier A) is closed for renovation works since April 2014. As a replacement, a temporary lounge has been opened two floors down at gate A39. Let's begin our photo tour.

The lounge entrance

Seating area just after the reception desk, with food & beverages corner at the end

 

Selection of newspapers and magazines

The view was nothing special: no runway views and only a few planes at faraway gates

Here's the food & beverage corner:

Breads and spreads (jam, Nutella, honey), pastries, soup

Wines (white, rosé, Cava), water, some fruits, cheeses, olives and sandwiches

 
More drinks

Beers (Leffe blonde, Leffe brune, Hoegaarden, Stella Artois)

There were also a few bottles of red wine and liquors on a counter (forgot to take a photo).

Tea and coffee

So basically this temporary lounge offers the same as the permanent lounge under renovation with two extras: it looks more modern since it's new and it has restrooms attached. The only two annoyances, however, are the limited space (it does feel cramped) and the boring view. We look forward to discovering the renovated lounge at the end of 2014, hopefully with shower facilities and a rest area!

Brussels Airlines Star Alliance Lounge - Brussels Airport Pier B

Brussels Airlines Lounge @ Brussels Airport Pier B at 11:30 a.m on Thursday 14 February.

The lounge is also used by other Star Alliance passengers (I was flying with Turkish to Istanbul). While I was there, I saw some Etihad passengers, which is quite surprising since Etihad is not currently a member of Star (or any airline alliance for that matter) and also because its partner Jet Airways has its own lounge at Brussels Airport's Pier B.

Here's the entrance and reception area

They have a small computer room at the end (the orange walls). The best seats, in my opinion, are those with a view of the 25L runway.

Let's have a look at the catering: tea, coffee, soup

Pastries, jams, Nutella

 

A fridge with drinks and cold snacks

Here's a closer look at the food selection, from top to bottom:
- Fruits
- Sandwiches (salmon, cheese, chicken)
- Butter, cheeses (Rondelé, Port Salut, Vache qui Rit, Babybel, Camembert), yogurt
- Olives, salami, ham sandwich.

Bread, nibbles and spirits

Newspapers - the selection of international titles was rather limited (only one FT, one IHT and a Turkish paper)

Before a medium-haul flight lasting less than 4 hours, as was my case, Brussels Airlines' business lounge at BRU Pier B is an OK lounge. I had some drinks and snacks while using the reasonably fast WiFi and watching the planes taxiing outside. It's small, so it might get crowded at peak times. There was no hot food, but for me the snacks were fine. My only gripe was the absence of toilets - one has to exit the lounge and walk down the corridor and use the restroom which looked quite tired (the same as those by the gates downstairs). Before a long-haul or connecting flight, however, one would expect a more comfortable lounge with serious food options and better amenities, like showers and reclining chairs.


This post is part of the following series:
Flying Turkish Airlines from Brussels to Africa

Brussels Airlines lounge at Brussels Airport
Brussels-Istanbul flights return
Istanbul-Niamey flights return
Turkish Airlines CIP lounge at Istanbul airport
TourIstanbul complimentary Istanbul tour between connecting flights