I found the Ethiopian Airlines Star Gold lounge at its Addis Ababa hub to be quite underwhelming in terms of amenities, but still a huge upgrade in space and decor versus its prior generation of airport lounges.
Ethiopian Airlines Star Gold Lounge Addis Ababa Review (ADD)
Ethiopian Airlines has two lounges in ADD, one for “Cloud 9” business class passengers and a Sheba Platinum / Star Gold lounge for those using frequent flyer status to gain entry. As I was flying economy class to Frankfurt, I had access to the latter lounge via my Star Gold status with United Airlines MileagePlus.
Access + Hours + Location
The lounge is located in ADD Terminal 2, near gate A14. It is open 24/7 and access is available to all Star Alliance Gold members, regardless of cabin of travel.
This lounge is nearly identical to the nearby Cloud 9 lounge in terms of design, space, and amenities including food and drinks.
Floor Plan + Seating
The lounge is divided into several sections:
- Lounge
- Bar
- Café
- Dining Room
- Reading Room
- Smoking Room
- Prayer Room
- Washrooms
- Showers
- Children Area
The lounge was not crowded, with most sitting near the entrance. It’s a huge lounge, though, and as you continue to walk deeper into the lounge, there was copious seating available.
While there are not as many power outlets as chairs, universal outlets and USB-A outlets were often within reach.
Food + Drink
I found the food and drinks underwhelming in this lounge. First, the Ethiopian coffee station was unstaffed (though it was 10:30 pm…).
The buffet selection included hot food, salads, and soups, though it was very picked over and there was water all over, as if the food had sat on ice that had melted.
Coffee and tea were available, but served in paper cups (the same cups Ethiopian uses to serve drinks in economy class).
The bar had a small selection of beer and wine.
Children’s Room
A small room designated for children was quite spartan, with a picnic bench but little else.
Restrooms + Showers
Shower suites and restrooms are available in this lounge.
CONCLUSION
When I think about Star Alliance lounges at carrier hubs, I think about Thai Airways’ excellent lounge in Bangkok or the most excellent Turkish Airlines’ lounge in Istanbul. This lounge is not in that league..not even close. But even the new Terminal 2 at ADD is not the most comfortable place to wait for your flight, so this lounge is the better alternative. I think Ethiopian Airlines could do better, but the space itself is quite nice and big improvement over the last generation of Ethiopian lounges.
I last was in ADD in 2016, so admittedly a lot has changed. The lounge back then was dumpy, but also kind of charming. It looks like this lounge took the same offering, but laid it out in what is basically an Admiral’s Club 2015 design. Nobody really expects the ET lounge in ADD to match the SQ lounge in SIN, so in a sense, it’s almost worse that they renovated.
I dunno. Why are our expectations so low? It’s a huge airline and profitable one. Why not have a large and beautiful lounge?
I’m a frequent guest there, often taking the FRA flight when returning to the US. Your review is fair although usually the serving area is better kept. I’ve only used the showers once. They are tiny. Also, during busy periods the lounge becomes very noisy.
ET is a very good airline. One of the best things to happen to my travels is them joining Star Alliance. Why isn’t the lounge better, why do they change aircraft often, why is their app so wonky, all good questions. It just seems they have a tendency to fall back into third world habits and standards, when they are very capable of more. Low expectations as you say.
Fair comment. Indeed, they are capable of doing much better. They can be one of the top 10 airlines