This one shocked me when I got a few messages in caps from Jason this morning (I’d probably still be in bed otherwise).
Just this February Qatar Airways opened a brand new lounge in Bangkok. This was a business decision that made sense as Qatar Airways flies six (!) daily flights between Bangkok and Doha – an A380, three 777s, a 787 and an A340 (one of the 777s continues to Hanoi). While the 777s feature an inferior product (none of them feature Qatar Airways’ new QSuites), Qatar Airways features one of the world’s best business class products, and their outstation lounges have been known to be particularly luxurious as well.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Doha Airport
Well, as of today, Qatar Airways no longer displays their Bangkok lounge on their website. While I’ve never been, I particularly enjoyed Loyalty Lobby‘s review of the lounge. It looked comfortable, the food looked good, and there was also a mocktail selection, which is one of the things I look for in a top airline lounge.
Instead, Qatar Airways displays access to Thai Airways’ five Royal Orchid/Silk Lounges at Bangkok Airport – four of which I’ve been to (reviews here, here, here and here), and none of which are particularly nice, and none of which look half as nice as the Qatar Airways lounge did. Although they’re hub lounges, whenever I fly Star Alliance out of Bangkok I actually prefer the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge and the EVA Air lounge, both of which are outstation lounges. That’s saying quite a bit. (That’s unless I’m entitled to a massage, which Thai Airways only offers to their own business class passengers)
Drab seating in Thai Airways’ Royal Silk Lounge Concourse D
If Qatar Airways did this intentionally, that would be quite sad, in my opinion. I don’t know what happened, and I’m not sure why Qatar Airways didn’t turn to their partner Cathay Pacific, who also offers a lounge in Bangkok (it’s in line with their lounge designs in Hong Kong and Taipei, which are significantly nicer than Thai Airways’ lounges). However, this represents a downgrade for the passengers flying in premium cabins on all seven flights out of Bangkok Airport.
Was this a mistake, or does anyone know the reason behind the lounge’s closure?