What’s Qatar’s Bangkok lounge actually like?
Most airlines focus their time and money on lounges at their home airport. British Airways has eight at Heathrow. Emirates has its flagship First lounge in Dubai, and Qatar has more top-tier lounges in Doha than is sensible. What’s more interesting to me are the outposts: the lounges in far-flung places that range from less than average to surprisingly decent.
Quick Summary
Quick summary of Qatar’s Bangkok lounge
- It’s an attractive space with an informal entranceway. No sign-in desks, just staffers who get you into the lounge quickly.
- There is a dedicated sit down dining space, with hot options you can order from the menu
- The staff here are excellent, and there are a lot of them. They will ensure that you have enough food and drink.
- The bathrooms are ok but are dated compared to the rest of the lounge. There are showers in the lounge.
- There’s also a business centre, prayer room and dedicated free wifi.
Where is the Qatar Lounge located?
Most of the lounges at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) are located a floor below departures. Check in and go through security, then follow the signage. At some point, you will take an escalator down a floor and see further signs for each individual lounge.
The lounges are grouped together, and it’s easy to miss where the signs go when they go from listing all lounges (and there are many) to smaller batches. For the Qatar lounge, it’s around a five-minute walk from security to the front of the lounge. The escalators down to the lounge are in the D concourse.
The lounge opens in three blocks throughout the day:
- From 5:45am for the morning flights out of BKK. It closes at 9:25am, fifteen minutes after boarding starts on the final morning flight.
- From 4pm for the early evening flights, closing at 7:30pm, just after boarding opens on the 8pm flight
- From 10:30pm, closing at 2:30am, covering off the two very early (or very late) flights
Who can access this lounge?
Access to Qatar lounges depends on your status, your cabin, or whether you are willing to pay for entry.
- If you are travelling in Business or First with Qatar, you’ll get access. Bangkok is one of the few destinations served by Qatar’s A380 with a First cabin. That is the only Qatar plane that has First Class (there are some leased ex-Cathay planes that also have a First but it’s not really Qatar).
- If you have Privilege Club status of Gold (oneworld Sapphire) or higher (and are travelling on a Qatar flight)
- You can pay to access Qatar lounges.
You will also be able to access this lounge if you are flying on a oneworld airline. Any traveller who is in First or Business Class, or who has a high enough status, will be allowed to enter.
There is no entrance desk in this lounge. Staff stand inside the front door, scan your boarding pass and then welcome you into the lounge without being seated. It makes it a little less formal, and when we walked in at around 11am there were five members of staff there.
One Qatar team member then walked us into the lounge and gave us a one-minute tour of the space. It is not a huge lounge, but it was helpful to be signposted towards the sit-down dining space.
What’s the lounge like inside?
It’s an attractive, modern space with comfy seating and some views outside of the terminal building (more on this in a moment).
The colour scheme doesn’t feel like Qatar. There are some blues in there that look more like Finnair, but you do have some gold and darker woods that hint at it being run by a Middle Eastern airline. It is a great-looking space.
This is not a huge lounge but it has a lot of passengers to cater to every day. Qatar has up to six flights daily from Bangkok to Doha, and some of them are very premium-heavy. Qatar’s largest A380 is currently running twice a day on this route, and you have two morning 777/787 flights that depart less than an hour apart.
Our flight was the 9:55am, which was the last one to leave in the morning. That meant the lounge got reasonably busy right after we arrived, and we were the last guests in when we left to board. Even at its busiest, it wasn’t too much.
The seating in here is extremely comfortable. We were in this lounge after just four hours sleep, and we were fighting to stay awake.
What food and drink is on offer?
There’s a drinks area on the right-hand side of the lounge that also has some glass jars of cookies. The place to be if you want food is on the left-hand side, where there’s a self-service buffet and sit-down dining.
As you walk in, there are three larger communal tables that seat four people, and a smaller one for two. Go beyond the food stations, and you’ll find another dining room that has tables for couples or groups of four. It was easy to miss this part of the lounge so it was quieter whenever I passed it.
As soon as we sat down, we were invited to read the menu (via a QR code placed on each table) and order drinks. Once these arrived, our food order was taken. Kate had the banana and chocolate pancakes, which she said were good. The presentation was certainly interesting.
When I ordered my coffee, I was asked if I wanted a dark roast or light roast – I have never been asked this before. Initially I went for dark, had a second cup of light, and preferred the former. I guess it was nice to be asked.
I helped myself to some pastries and then had some toast. There are croissants and pain au chocolat, alongside a cinnamon danish and bread options. There’s a fridge with fruit and healthier options.
There’s another food station that has a chilled juice area and four hot containers. Each of those contained two options, and that included beef sausage, beans, mushrooms and egg options. There was also potato rosti.
It’s a perfectly passable self-service selection, but when you add on the seven options on the menu it becomes a decent breakfast.
Bathrooms in this Qatar Lounge
This was the main negative in the lounge. Firstly the signposting to the bathrooms is poor. You go down a corridor at the back of the food area, and then you’re confronted with a large wooden door. It will, eventually, open under it’s own steam (there is a sensor at the top of it) and you’ll enter a unisex space. There are cubicles for men and women, each of which has it’s own sink.
There are showers in this lounge. The bathroom has an attendant who will point you towards them.
Inside, the bathrooms are mid. They aren’t dirty, but they don’t feel clean. Compared to the rest of the lounge they feel dated and unloved. Given that there are only two bathrooms for men, and two for women (one of which was out of order) it’s also easy for it to get busy.
The toiletries weren’t very high-end. The body lotion and hand wash were from Euphoria, which I haven’t been able to find any reference to online. Given Qatar’s relationship with Diptyque, I had hoped for better.
What other facilities does this lounge have?
Apart from the showers and dining, there is a small business centre with two computers. There’s also a prayer room and free wifi.
The views from this lounge are interesting. There is floor-to-ceiling glass along the long, back side of this rectangular space. That runs from the dining space to the initial seating area to the quieter seating on the right-hand side. What’s outside those windows, I have no idea.
It appears to be a very large courtyard. It’s part of the airport, but there are no planes there. There’s some grass, and what looks like discarded compost bags. Some bits are flooded (it is the rainy season). It feels like the airport started out with a grand plan, and either stopped halfway through or they’re just not finished yet.
It doesn’t detract from the lounge, and you can’t really see it perfectly as what sits between you and the mystery space is the wrapper around the building.
The verdict: The Qatar lounge at Bangkok
As far as outstation lounges go, it’s not a bad one. The food is good; in fact, the dishes you order from the menu are really good, and it’s clean and comfortable.
The best part of this lounge is the staff. It is heavily overstaffed, and they offer great, attentive service. It’s not a case of trying to catch their eye if you want something; they will be popping by your table to see what else they can get you.
If you/re flying with Qatar, or another oneworld airline, you have a lot of choice. There’s the attractive Cathay Pacific lounge, the JAL lounge or – if you’re travelling in First with Qatar – the Miracle First Class Lounge. That space is accessible only to travellers in First on Qatar, or those with Emerald-level Qatar status.
Out of all the lounges that you could access, this is likely going to be one of the best options. For a four-hour visit, you may want to dip into the Cathay Pacific lounge, or if you’re travelling in first, the Miracle lounge. If you just need a coffee, some food and somewhere comfortable to sit for ninety minutes, then this lounge delivers.
Rating the Qatar Bankok Business and First Lounge
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