Dinner time and with a little feeling of dread I headed to the Dublin Airport DAA Executive Lounge. I think the decor in this lounge is really on the nose and this is after it was recently renovated.
It is the only show in town for almost all the airlines in Dublin. This is your lounge whether you’re flying Air France, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Swiss, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Luxair, Finnair, British Airways and more.
A Warm Welcome
Just to the left after security screening are the stairs to the lounge. By an amusing quirk of design, when you turn at the landing you climb up directly towards the door to the men’s toilets.
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- Modern Lighting. In 1947.
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- Men’s toilets in sight!
Turning left at the top brings you to a desk where you boarding pass is scanned. Today the person was friendly and asked if it was my first time in the lounge or not. Replying negative saved me the spiel about what was where.
A Quiet Word On Decor
This lounge was renovated earlier in 2017 and to my astonishment they managed to make a barely passable lounge worse. Thought has been given to installing an easy to mop floor, but that’s about it. The furniture is new, clean and fine, but I don’t love the overall effect.
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- FIDS and a plant
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- How… pleasant!
An Irish friend of mine flew business class for the very first time, using British Airways to Helsinki via London Heathrow. Even he commented that the Dublin DAA lounge was “shit” whereas the British Airways Galleries Club lounge at Heathrow was “amazing”. It’s not just me!
A Veritable Feast For Dinner
Yes folks, this dinner spread will amaze you. The feast in here is worthy of quality international carriers such as Qatar Airways, Lufthansa and British Airways. Or not…
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- Honeyed Spelt, Butternut Squash and Feta Salad
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- Cheese but no crackers, despite the sign
A couple of types of cold healthy salad type dishes are available and they taste very good to be fair. I also quite like the crockery they are served in. Cheese is also available in several varieties which I guess you can have for dessert.
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- More cheese and rolls
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- Water and what was juice
My biggest gripe here is the lack of choice. The quality of the food is great however the choice is lacking. In addition they were a bit slow to notice things running out. I had to ask a staff member to replenish the ice bucket and to bring out forks as there were none of each.
Pots and Christmas Delights
There are little pots of what seems to be hummus or some kind of tapenade with garlic which you eat with the carrots and celery sticking out of them. These are really nice! For those just snacking, tiny little pots of crisps or popcorn are available.
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- Delicious pots of yum!
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- Mince pies! Crisps! Popcorn?! Ginger bread men???!
A kid dropped his crisps and the metallic clang reverberated through the lounge. Since it’s Christmas, the mince pies are out and they’re gorgeous. Alas, the Ginger Bread Men were rock hard and felt like they would break my teeth.
Oh So Soupy!
Something that is invariably good throughout Ireland is the soup. I love potato soup and it is usually available in the lounge. When I got there it was all gone but was soon replenished.
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- There be Potato Soup!
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- Biscuits, mugs and well, stuff
Rather than a bowl, you get it out of a flower pot shaped thing which I do like. The soup is so good I had two bowls… along with my 48 mince pies and the healthy salad thing.
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- Dinner on a budget is served!
Letting the side down was the stale bread, which is a sorry thing considering Irish bread is so very good. Still, I was flying in economy class with no meal and I managed to fill myself up.
Overall Thoughts
Perhaps I should remember that the DAA and by extension this lounge is a state owned company and like all state run enterprises can be a bit hit and miss. Usually I can always find something to gripe about regarding this lounge, which is a bit of a shame.
You would expect that the lounge would try to showcase the best of Ireland but no. Instead the bare minimum of food choice is provided in an environment that is bland at best and garish at worst.
The only saving grace is that much of the limited food available is quite good, though some is not perfect. The lounge is kept clean, so those people do a good job, and when I pointed out the missing things, they were replenished very quickly.
Dublin is a very busy airport nowadays so it’s high time another lounge was built by someone in order to compete with this airport offering that makes me frown. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I always fly out of here early in the morning as I’m usually connecting in Paris. The breakfast options are non existent. Very dull. The other lounge passed US Customs in T2 is much more creative.
Dull is definitely the right word when it comes to the food offering here. It’s a shame, because to an extent the lounge represents Dublin and Ireland. I’ve not tried 51st and Green after US Pre-Clearance, but I will in May so I am looking forward to it. I hear it is a step up. Thanks for the comment!