Review: Coral Executive Lounge Bangkok Don Mueang Airport
Intro
With a couple of hours of sleep at Le Meridien in our back pocket, the next part of the Asia adventure needed to continue into Vietnam. Today, we would be flying onboard Vietnam Airlines on their only direct flight from Bangkok (DMK) to Da Nang (DAD). This route is excruciatingly early, with a departure time of 5:05 am in the morning.
With our business class ticket, we were granted access to the Coral Lounge at Don Muaeng Airport. The lounge is a bit better than I expected, but it is not a place where I would like to hang out for hours, especially because there are no toilets in the lounge!
Let's get into it!
Location And Access
The Coral Lounge is located right outside of the security checkpoint and to the left. If you go past the Starbucks, you have gone too far. You will see signs pointing you towards the lounge and a small one outside.
In terms of access, most (not sure all about all) business-class flights originating out of Don Muaeng will gain access to this lounge such as Vietnam Airlines. However, this lounge is also accessible to priority pass members.
Lastly, there is an option to purchase a day pass (up to 3 hours) to enter.
Around The Lounge
Upon having your boarding pass manually written down, a grand escalator will be waiting to take you downstairs.
The staff informed me that there was an upstairs part to the lounge, but this was closed for renovations when I was there.
The lounge was empty at 3:30 am, probably due to the time😅. It seemed spacious, well decorated and had lots of comfortable seating to choose from. Whether you wanted a table to sit down and eat at or some bigger chairs to relax in, they had it all.
Food+Drink
At this hour, the bar was rightfully closed. However, later on in the afternoon, there seem to be spirits, beer, and wine available free of charge. I will give credit to the Coral lounge here as the bar looked beautiful.
Even though it was early in the morning, a full arrangement of breakfast items had been laid out, from noodles to eggs to rice and more. The simple aspects of cereal were available, as well as toast with a toaster! I did decide to go to Starbucks though, since I'm a sucker for Starbucks (a 3-minute walk away).
Amenities
In terms of other amenities in the lounge, there was nothing. There are no showers, no bathrooms, or anything similar during this time. Perhaps after the renovations, more work will be done (I will update this as I am heading there in a few weeks to DMK). The Coral Lounge is more of a place to hang out and have a bite and a drink before heading on to the plane.
The service was pretty good, though; I found the staff to be friendly even at 6 am in the morning. Although, it wasn't as good as the Delta One Lounge (2 different markets).
Final Thoughts
In comparison to other priority pass lounges, the Coral Lounge isn't that bad. With complementary food and drinks, plus comfortable seating, there are certainly worse ways to spend a couple of hours in an airport. However, without the likes of showers and having to walk outside the lounge to use the toilet, there are certainly better lounges.
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