While Zayed/Abu Dhabi International Airport may not be my favourite connecting hub, the new Etihad Airways Business Class lounge is a real step up from their previous offering. With the region full of excellent airports, lounges, and airlines, can Etihad really compete?
Disclosure: I was previously employed by Etihad Airways with this visit taking place after my employment with the company ended. I paid for entry as it was not included with my ticket.
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Space, space, space
The biggest difference you’ll notice with this lounge compared to its predecessor is the sheer amount of space. Located across three floors, the lounge occupies a large amount of surface area resulting in a long and skinny design.
This is a double-edged problem/benefit though. On one hand, this results in the lounge currently having more than enough capacity for guests even at peak hours. The issue comes from poor signage and people congregating either on the ground floor food area or top floor bar.
A case in point comes from there being two banks of showers on the middle floor. One set, where the signs point towards had a lengthy wait – yet we then walked just a minute on the same floor to find the other bank deserted. This signage issue isn’t unique to this lounge or airport though, with others in the region – notably Doha Hamad’s poor signage being another example.
A benefit of this new lounge set-up being a long skinny affair is the amount of light you will get during daytime hours. Along with a lighter colour scheme compared to the heavy woods and golds of the old Etihad era, it will be a more comfortable place to stay.
Good range of seating
Thanks again to the space on offer, there’s actually an excellent choice of seating available across all the floors to suit your visit. While I settled primarily for the sofa-style seats, there was also plenty of dining tables that fit groups of two and four people.
More private, solo options are also dotted around – which isn’t always a consideration when lounges are designed. While I could’ve easily missed them, it would be nice to have a few higher backed seats that are suitable to work from.
Ample USB-A ports are dotted throughout the lounge, although for a lounge launched at the very end of 2023 one might expect these to also feature USB-C. This being a standard that was officially launched in 2014, with widespread adoption towards the end of the 2010s.
For family travellers, you may be pleased to see that a family room is also available.
Far better showers
The biggest issue with the previous lounge at Terminal 3 was the poor ventilation. Even when taking a cool shower, relative in this part of the world, the shower rooms would become sauna-like.
I liked the design of these shower rooms. While the marble (effect?) may not be to everybody’s taste, lighting was excellent, ventilation was great and water temperature and pressure were good. If Etihad were to improve in this area, better quality or branded amenities would be appreciated.
The toilet washrooms carried the same design as the shower rooms and were also impeccably clean.
Excellent food and beverages
On the ground floor, is the excellent ‘Liwan Global Dining’ area. Effectively, it is a buffet with several live cooking stations.
I didn’t manage to get too many pictures of the serving stations, but the breadth of food was good. Like the Pearl Lounge, there is a bias towards South Asian food but with a little more variety including Emirati dishes. Flavours were great and it was just a bit below Qatar Airways’ Al Mourjan experience in Doha. What was quite nice about this dining area was the different feel it had that made it feel a bit closer to a dining experience in traditional Abu Dhabi – even if it was a sanitised airport lounge version.
A bar can be found at the centre of Liwan Global Dining, with signature lemon mint offered – which is my second favourite travel beverage after Finnair’s blueberry juice.
As a contrast, the top floor again features a buffet offering many of the similar dishes but also has a centrepiece bar. It’s a beautiful looking bar and is a nice place to spend time. Here’s the full range of spirits on offer – there are some noteworthy spirits such as The Botanist gin however the selection doesn’t feel the most premium.
Across the whole lounge, two champagnes were offered including Duval Leroy and Devaux Grand Réserve. Both tasted good to me, but I am certainly not a wine connoisseur.
Coffee is available from the bar areas as well as at several self-service machines throughout the lounge. Alongside the self-service machines are packets of premium crisps, including truffle flavour that were great, and cans of soft drinks.
Final call for boarding
The lounge is connected to a couple of the boarding gates at Abu Dhabi. You will need to keep an eye on the boards, but the entrance staff will let you know upon entry if you can use this service. This is not like Emirates where you can be admitted to every gate from the lounge. In short, if you have an A380 flight – you will be able to use the lounge boarding service as the A380 jet bridges are located near the lounge. Other flights will vary.
I have mixed thoughts about this offering. Firstly, don’t sit or relax anywhere near these boarding doors as people will begin arriving extremely early. Second, it just all gets a little disorganised with people crowding and not forming orderly queues ruining the lounge atmosphere. On the other hand, it is nice to be able to do this – as impractical as Etihad make it.
Conclusion
Easily, this lounge is far better than what preceded it at Terminal 3. The days of overcrowded Etihad lounges at AUH are over, at least for the near future.
The airline has got a lot right with this lounge. Tasty food and drinks, a comfortable choice of seating, great showers, and lots of space. I can easily recommend it, even though areas for improvement should be noted (such as poor signage!).
This lounge does not beat the likes of Qatar Airways or Cathay Pacific at their hub airports – since they are clearly in a league of their own – but you are bound for a pleasant visit if you come here. Access is included with Business Class fares and for Etihad Airways’ elite passengers. If you’re travelling in Economy, you can pay AED 490 (around £1o0) for four hours entry per person. That’s steep and, if I weren’t writing for TLFL, I wouldn’t be paying that myself – as nice as the lounge may be.
