While LOT Polish may be the dominant carrier at Warsaw Chopin Airport, contact lounges also exist for non-Star Alliance carriers and Priority Pass users. Let’s review the Preludium Executive Lounge.
Preludium Executive Lounge Review (WAW)
This lounge is located airside in Terminal A in the Schengen Area. You’ll find it near Gates 34 and 35 on Level O. After proceeding through security, turn right and walk toward the end of the terminal. Then, you can take the stairs or elevator down one level (from Level 1 to 0) to the lounge.
This is the contract lounge for a number of airlines including:
- Air France
- British Airways
- Emirates
- Finnair
- FlyDubai
- KLM
- Qatar Airways
- SAS
- Turkish Airlines
Lounge memberships are also accepted, including:
- Priority Pass
- Diners Club
- Lounge Key
- Dragon Pass
(and more – see the image below)
If you do not have any of those, you can purchase lounge access for 180PLN, which is about 40USD.
Unless you are starving and also planning to chow down a few too many adult beverages, I do not think you will get your money’s worth. The lounge was crowded and the seating area, while nice enough, did not seem all that better to me than the gate areas at WAW.
Inside, seating is divided into rows, with Ikea-quality Danish modern furniture used.
The central part of the lounge included a buffet area, with an assortment of food and beverage options.
Drink selections included:
- Coffee
- Tea
- Water
- Soft drinks
- Juice
- Beer
- Wine
- Spirits (self-serve)
Food items included:
- Packaged salty and sweet snacks
- Hash browns
- Grilled vegetables
- Bacon-broccoli frittata
- Berlin-style white sausage
- Sliced meat and cheese
- Yogurt
The coffee wasn’t bad.
In the rear of the lounge, bathrooms, showers, and a nursing room were available. The shower was a lot nicer than the shower in the LOT Polish Lounge.
In sort of a quaint throwback to the past, actual newspapers were available. I love that!
CONCLUSION
This is a respectable Priority Pass Lounge and a nice place to wait for your flight, especially if you are looking for a clean restroom or shower. I find $40 better spent elsewhere and would not arrive early just to use this lounge, but I did appreciate its modern decor and amenities.
As Poland modernizes, I hope to see a (good) leftover style from the Soviet era when plants were placed everywhere to make things feel more homey amongst the brutalist concrete.
I love the plants.
We just happened to be in the lounge the same day and I thought I recognized you. My second thought, why is he carrying a rug? But now I know. We’re even in one of the pictures above, but not our faces, just a fun easter egg!