Soon, it is time for us to make our way to Portugal! Excited to be heading to a new country. To get to Lisbon from Budapest, we will be flying Lufthansa as well! This is a continuation of our ticket from Milan to Budapest! I have shared about my flight experience in Lufthansa Economy Class during COVID earlier and will not be doing another flight review since they are rather similar and there isn’t much to share about economy flight Intra-Europe. Do check that out if you are keen. We were up “dark” and early for our first flight from Budapest to Lisbon while transiting in Lisbon. We got to the airport in no time given that there was virtually no traffic and after checking in smoothly we are off to check out the lounge Lufthansa offers in Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport.

Access Requirements

The Platinum Lounge is open daily from 5am to 8pm. Star Alliance premium cabin customers as well as Star Alliance Status holders are allowed access to the lounge. You can also access this lounge via lounge program membership like Priority Pass. Since I was flying in Lufthansa Economy Class I had access via the Krisflyer Gold Status. We simply presented our boarding pass and were promptly welcomed in.

Arrival & Location

Despite a note on the Lufthansa website that the lounge will open up 2 hours before flight departure, “*** Opening times may vary. In general, the lounge will open no later than 2 hours before the Lufthansa Group flight. ***”. The lounge only opens at 5am sharp. The lounge is located in Terminal 2A right next to gate A12. Which is only a short walk away from the gate that our flight will be departing from. As it opened, there was a rush for everyone to get in and a long queue was formed. Thankfully the lounge attendants are rather efficient and friendly 

Platinum Lounge Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport

The lounge is not too huge and comes with perhaps seating for around 80 pax. It certainly fills up once it opens given the amount of morning flights. As a matter of fact, there are two Lufthansa flights departing at this hour, this notwithstanding those entering via a lounge program like Priority Pass.

The space in the lounge is mainly filled up with the usual typical lounge couches in groups o 4 to 6. Nearer to the refreshment area, you can find some proper tables and chairs which are better suited for dining. Here are some pictures of the lounge. 

The refreshment area is located near the entrance and rather narrow, with the crowd and everyone struggling to get food and drinks it was undoubtedly jam-packed with people. You can find some sorts of pastries, cold cuts, cheese and a salad bar. What was really cute was the make your pancake machine that certainly brought back memories of being in Alaska lounge back a couple of years ago. The pastries were flaky and fresh!

Oh well! Given that I am in Europe, despite the early hour, you have a full choice of self-served alcohol and I certainly see a couple of people indulging in drinks even when it’s barely 5.30am in the morning. There are some local Hungarian sparkling wine, red and white wine, spirits as well as 2 types of beers. For the rest of the world, you can find a coffee machine, a water dispenser as well as some sort of soda fountain that dispenses orange juice and that is a strong indicator that the orange juice sucks. It was absolutely disgusting! Alcohol is certainly a better choice. I apologise for the lack of photos since it is way too crowded to get a good shot. 

The lounge has its own toilets and while it’s no-frills I do appreciate having one inside as you do not have to share it with even more people in the terminal and for a solo traveller, I generally feel safer leaving my bags in the lounge rather than carrying everything to the public toilets with me. 

Conclusion

I appreciate having a space to wait for my flight and perhaps if you like, a drink or two while waiting and to avoid spending money on overpriced snacks and drinks in Airports. I stayed briefly before my gate opens at 5.55am. This is certainly not one lounge that you should come to the airport early for and it is not the best contract lounge I have seen around as well. The offerings here make me even more thankful for the breakfast box that my hotel prepared for me earlier. It is pretty bad that a full-fledged airline is using this lounge for its premium customers.