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After visiting the Swissport Lounge Chicago (review here), we still had some time to kill before our SWISS flight to Zurich Airport (ZRH). We walked down a few gates and decided to check out the SAS Lounge. Both of these are located in Terminal 5 (along with the Delta Sky Club® and LOT Polish Airlines Business Lounge that is slated to open later this year). The lounge is small at only 2,000 square feet with seating for 117 guests. It will be interesting to see if this space continues to be operated after SAS joins SkyTeam or of its passengers will just use the Delta Sky Club® like Air France and KLM currently do.
Access
Access is granted to passengers flying in Business Class or First Class on Star Alliance airlines along with Emirates. Star Alliance Gold members plus one guest are allowed in regardless of the cabin they’re flying in that day. Star Alliance has flights from Air India, Austrian Airlines, Copa Airlines, Ethiopian, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, SAS, SWISS, Tap Portugal, and Turkish Airlines. Air Canada, ANA, Lufthansa, and United Airlines depart from Terminals 1 and 2. A same-day boarding pass is required to enter the SAS Lounge. When entering the lounge, there is a desk to check boarding passes to the left.
Anthony’s Take: After being in the Swissport Lounge, this space was a welcome change. It’s bright with large windows and has a design that is aligned with SAS’ lounges in Scandinavia. Amenities are limited to Wi-Fi as well as some food and beverages.
Bar
There is a self-serve bar with wine, liquor, beer, and soft drinks found on one wall of the buffet area.
It held some red wine as well as a decent selection of liquor.
White wine was located across the buffet area.
Soft drinks and beer were in a refrigerator next to the liquor.
The coffee machine was out of order.
Brewed coffee and hot water were both available.
Food
Lunch/dinner was being served during our visit. There is a buffet with several salads, cold cuts, cheese, and salad ingredients. There are also cereals, snacks, and cookies on offer. There is no hot food here.
Salads and cold ingredients
More salads, cold cuts, and cheese
Cereal and crackers
Wrapped whole fruit and cookies
Seating & Decor
The lounge has the same feel as other SAS lounges in Scandinavia with light woods and a minimalist feel. It was packed during our visit and seating was tight. As mentioned, the lounge holds 117 people and every seat was filled.
There are some tables near the buffet with outlets. Outlets were also at just about every seat.
I enjoyed watching the planes outside the windows.
Amenities
This lounge offers free Wi-Fi and the food and beverages mentioned above. There are no restrooms in the lounge or any other amenities.
Overall Impression:
This lounge is better than sitting in the terminal, but nothing great. It will be nice when the LOT Polish Airlines Business Lounge opens later this year to offer a new space for Star Alliance flyers.
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
