Oneworld opened its first dedicated lounge early this year (read more) at Seoul’s Incheon Airport in South Korea and also later in Amsterdam.
I don’t often travel to/from/via South Korea, but I had a chance to experience the lounge this morning for an hour or so while waiting for Malaysia Airlines departure to Kuala Lumpur.
You can access Oneworld’s page for their lounges here.
Oneworld’s Lounge information for Seoul’s Incheon Airport:
Oneworld Seoul Incheon Airport:
Oneworld’s lounge information indicated that Malaysia’s dedicated lounge at this airport would be the Korean Air one, but the business class check-in desk handed me the invitation for the Oneworld lounge, which was also printed on the boarding pass.
Regardless of Malaysia’s preferred lounge at Incheon, I could access the Oneworld lounge based on my class of travel (business) or frequent flier status (higher than Sapphire with any of the alliance airlines).
There is clear signage for Onewoeld and KAL lounges. The Oneworld lounge is above the Starbucks store, but you take the escalators up a bit earlier.
There was a Christmas tree by the entrance.
The entrance is futuristic-looking and has some information about the lounge, such as the WiFi passport and Dragonpass entry requirements (you can use it to enter, but you must be traveling on an Oneworld airline).
You can store your small bags in these lockers.
The bar opens at 3:30 PM, but there are some alcoholic options available at the breakfast buffet.
There are two coffee and tea stations with some cookies and jelly beans.
Breakfast alcohol selection.
There were some Western and Asian breakfast options.
There is a small dining area by the buffet.
There is a separate coffee machine with opened noodle cups.
I would call this “structure” a birdcage.
And what about this “eye” that is staring at you?
You can also sit it inside it.
There is a quite private area behind the “eye”.
The lounge also has showers, but I didn’t check them out.
There are a couple of work cubicles.
Then there are two small rooms that you can use to have a meeting or get some work done.
Conclusion
The lounge is a weird mismatch of various chairs, colors, and shapes, and I wonder how well it can age.
The “art” piece that allows you to sit inside is really a towering figure in this space, and you can pretty much see it from anywhere in the lounge. I wonder if they have a CCTV camera installed in the eye.
A friend commented that this looks like an Austin Powers movie set, but the word that came to my mind was bubblegum.
The lounge was not busy when I was there from 9:30 to 10:30 AM, but supposedly, there are more passengers in the afternoon and evening when most of the longer-haul flights depart.
I was chatting with the lounge attendant, who told me that 400 to 500 passengers usually visit the lounge daily, and most come from Cathay Pacific.
Swissport manages the lounge on behalf of Oneworld and the airlines. At the entrance, there was Dragonpass signage indicating that it might be accessible for members of some of these lounge programs but not Priority Pass.
Overall, I like the lounge quite a bit. It is certainly colorful and has plenty of different spaces to sit down and “explore.”
Have you been to the Oneworld’s Seoul lounge yet, and what are your thoughts on it? Please comment below.
