The IGA lounge in Istanbul offers an interesting alternative to airline lounges, with good facilities, but its food and beverage offer is not very exciting.
As my flight from Saigon arrived more than 40 minutes early, I had to kill more than 3 hours of connecting time in Istanbul. On the outward journey I had tried the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles lounge and was planning to try the airline’s business lounge on the return, but since I had time on my hands I added this IGA lounge to my program.
You’ll find a summary of articles about this vacation in Vietnam at the bottom of the page.
Location of the lounge
It is located on the mezzanine, above the duty free area in the middle of the terminal.
It’s right next to the very pretty Skyteam lounge (at least from the outside).
On the other hand, the lounge is on the same footing as the other lounges when it comes to proximity to gates: given the size of the terminal, your boarding gate could be a 5- or 20-minute walk away.
Access to the lounge
The lounge is open to passengers of certain airlines, depending on their status and class of travel, and to holders of Priority Pass, Dragon Pass, High Pass, LoungeMe and IGA Pass cards.
It is also accessible by paying admission.
Lounge layout
It is very large, with different zones, as shown by its map.
I’ll just stick to the area closest to the entrance and take a look at the buffet.
Once past the entrance, a long corridor leads to the lounge.
I then enter the lounge proper. Like Turkish Airlines, there’s a piano.
There’s plenty of space and the tables are well spaced out.
It feels a bit like the Turkish Airlines lounges at this airport: there’s plenty of room, but you don’t want to sit anywhere. Not much in the way of quiet or privacy.
Nice view of the terminal and duty free.
On the other hand, everything is very well indicated.
And as you can see, there’s a terrace that I rushed out to discover.
It is wire-mesh and overlooks the tarmac.
Unsurprisingly, this is the smokers’ corner.
But that’s where I’ll be spending most of my time. After a long flight, it’s nice to breathe fresh air. Given that it’s the middle of the night, it also helps to avoid dozing off.
And to round off this visit, perhaps the coolest corner of the lounge: a bar with a pool table!
The buffet
It is located in the center of the lounge.
At first glance, I think there must be a lot of choice, but all the stations offer the same thing.
As you can see, this offer will be rather limited.
One station also offers hot dishes, not very varied.
The range of beverages presented here consists exclusively of softs.
I assume alcoholic beverages are available at the bar I saw earlier.
In the end, rather disappointing, but maybe it’s because of the time? I’d had the same disappointment with Turkish Airlines on the outbound flight at a similar time.
Facilities
In addition to the terrace, the lounge offers showers, massages and a prayer room…
Atmosphere
A bit weird. Quite quiet as it was around 4 a.m., but it still felt like being in a station concourse.
Bottom line
In this lounge, it has the same shortcomings as the Turkish Airlines lounges at this airport: huge but with no privacy and nowhere you’d really want to sit down.
On the other hand, the terrace, unattractive as it is, is a real plus.
The articles about this vacation in Vietnam
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