The Dacia Business Lounge, formerly the TAROM Business Lounge, at Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP) is a mixed bag. While I was very thankful to wait for my flight here instead of the gate area, it is by no means a leading lounge of Europe.
Dacia Business Lounge Bucharest Review (OTP)
The 24/7 Dacia Business Lounge in Bucharest (OTP) is now the only lounge at Henri Coandă International Airport (as far as I could tell) in the international terminal, but is not a Priority Pass lounge, making it essential to fly business class if you want lounge access.
Prior to the pandemic, this used to be the TAROM Business Lounge and remains almost exactly the same inside, but has been renamed Dacia after the ancient Dacian kingdom (eventually conquered by the Romans in AD 106). The hub of Dacia was Transylvania in present-day Romania. The bust outside the lounge is of Decebal, the last Dacian king.
My business class boarding pass from TAROM was sufficient to gain access to this lounge, located on the upper floor of the airport in the international terminal (past security) near gates 7 and 8.
Seating
Past the check-in desk is a small seating area, followed by the buffet, followed by a larger seating area. At 4:00 PM, the lounge was quite crowded.
Plugs are limited, but there is a “charging station” for your mobile devices, if necessary.
Internet was not lightning fast, but also fast enough to avoid a lag…
Food + Drink
A buffet included self-serve cold items (sandwiches, pastries, yogurt, fruit, salad) and hot items that were served by a member of staff, cafeteria-style (pizza, falafel, fried potatoes, breaded chicken). Drinks included water, coffee, soft drinks, beer, wine, and spirits (the spirits were served by staff).
I got chewed out by one of the women for taking pictures of the food.
“No picures! No picures!”
While the overall selection was limited, I thought the falafel with tahini sauce was good enough for a snack…
The Greek salad also wasn’t bad, though the Feta would disgust every true Greek.
Smoking
If you turn left as you enter the lounge, there is an enclosed smoking area.
Restroms + Showers
Restrooms are located outside the lounge (at the top of the escalator adjacent to the entrance) nad open to the public. There are no showers.
CONCLUSION
So is this an average lounge or a below-average lounge? Just based on other SkyTeam lounges in hub airports, I’d say this is decidedly below average and the service was not at all pleasant. That said, the falafel was a nice snack and at least I had a quiet place to sit with a power plug and wi-fi!
Is SkyTeam the only alliance which has member airlines with no own lounges whatsoever? UX has never had one, CSA abandoned theirs, and I just discovered RO has done the same. Aerolíneas Argentinas also don’t have a lounge at what effectively is their main hub (AEP- they do have one at EZE), and they don’t even offer access to the Priority Pass one.
I have never come across that phenomenon on *A, and I rarely fly oneworld airlines.
What you point out is so true and such a weakness in SkyTeam.
SkyTeam members are in for a very pleasant surprise when SK joins. I quite like the SK lounges and even the little SK Lounge Cafes at smaller stations like TOS.
https://liveandletsfly.com/sas-cafe-lounge-tromso-review/
Hopefully AFKL will make SAS offer lounge access everywhere they fly- they currently use very few, if any, contract lounges.
“Good news!”
“What?”
“Dacia! Has a lounge!”
“Great! anyways…”
Does a Business Class departure ticket on any airline get you ac cess to this lounge? We’re flying Lufthansa from Bucharest to Frankfurt at the end of May.
According to Lufthansa Lounge finder, yes, you have access.
https://www.lufthansa.com/ge/en/lounges
On my last trip trough OTP (last September) I discovered a second lounge at the far end of the pier. It was no nicer in terms of amenities (and quite a bit smaller), but way less crowded.
And the hot food items are a new addition – they weren’t there last year or the year before.
There’s a MasterCard lounge in the (newly sectioned-off) non-Schengen area of the airport, which takes Priority Pass etc. It looks very similar to this and was incredibly dirty when I used it. Plates and glasses on nearly every table, crumbs and dirt everywhere.
Also very hot as it was exposed to the terminal building (which doesn’t have AC even though it’s built like a greenhouse). And a pathetic selection of pre-packed food only, nothing fresh.
Unfortunately there’s also no fast track security and it’s a long walk from the extremely busy security area to some of the gates, so you’re kinda forced to get there early to allow enough time.
I’d definitely try and avoid OTP in future.
Can’t belive I totally missed the other lounge. Priority Pass website lists no lounges in OTP.
This is not true. I just attempted to enter, no priority pass accepted in any lounge in OTP
Hard to believe, but the food and general offer shown here is a considerable improvement on the past few months and years. Overall, the lounge is adequate, but nothing more. OTP overall is efficient, but not particularly enjoyable. The layout doesn’t help.
I couldn’t agree more with your report, I was there last year and what a mixed bag. Gr!eat pics though
This lounge is now the Schengen lounge.
The Mastercard lounge at the end of the terminal is now the non-Schengen lounge.
Still no Priority Pass or SkyTeam Elite Plus?