A new business lounge has opened at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, which in a few months will become the largest in the airport's operating terminals. The Moscow lounge is located in the Sheremetyevo-3 (D) terminal near boarding gate #30 and serves passengers on international flights, reports Travel.ru's own correspondent.
If desired, passengers from the neighboring terminals Sheremetyevo-2 (F) and E can also use it, but they will have to allow extra time (from 5 to 15 minutes) for the subsequent passage to their boarding gate. They may wish to do so - in terms of its characteristics, the lounge surpasses most alternative lounges at the airport. It is available to business class passengers flying with Aeroflot and Elite Plus level members of Aeroflot and SkyTeam loyalty programs, as well as holders of Priority Pass, Lounge Key, Lounge Club, Diners Club, Lounge Charter cards, plus business class passengers of some other airlines using the Sheremetyevo-3 (D) terminal.
At the moment, only the first phase of the new hall has been launched, located at the level of the usual "clean zone" of the terminal. By the end of spring, new areas should be added to it at the expense of the former "Blues" hall, currently closed for reconstruction on the floor above. After that, "Moscow" will become one of the largest halls in the airport.
The Moskva has implemented a number of conveniences and solutions that were previously absent in all or most of the Sheremetyevo lounges. In particular, almost all seats are equipped with electrical sockets, and in many cases this is a set of 1-2 regular sockets with the ability to connect foreign standard plugs and a pair of USB sockets for mobile devices.
Despite the limited size of the hall, it is equipped with half a dozen different zones (dining room, bar, rest, etc.), and armchairs, sofas and other seats are available in a dozen options, which will allow almost everyone to find the most comfortable place for themselves. There are no separate cabins for rest in the hall yet, but they are planned in the premises of the former "Blues". A work area with computers and showers will also appear there later.
For now, a children's room is available in Moskva — a separate room at the end of the hall, where little passengers have a selection of toys, books, coloring books, etc. The room is isolated from the main hall, so children and adults will not interfere with each other (but you can look from the room to the hall and vice versa through small windows).
Other amenities include hand luggage lockers at the entrance, the ability to take coffee with you (which will be appreciated by passengers who have arrived at the last minute and do not have time to drink coffee in the lounge), two large TV screens (at night, the staff turns off the sound or turns off the TVs altogether), and the absence of doors at the entrance to the toilets - this will appeal to passengers who do not like to touch the door handles after washing their hands. True, passengers sitting nearby will hear the sound of water in the sinks, but they will be spared the rattling of the doors.
The simplifications also affected the doors for the staff - to enter the utility room with a tray in hand, it is enough to press the button with your foot instead of the usual battle with the doors. Another advantageous difference from the old halls in the terminal is that the staff can replenish food supplies from the inside of the counters, without disturbing passengers.
The food and drink selection is roughly in line with other lounges in the terminal, except that it has been slightly expanded in certain areas. For example, the beer selection is slightly larger, but the quality of this selection is still far from ideal. In addition, when we visited the lounge in mid-January, there were no beer glasses or bottle openers. The selection of salads has been increased, three first course options are offered during the day, and about the same number of second courses, at night there is almost no choice of hot dishes due to low demand, but cold dishes are available in the usual volume.
As in other airport lounges, strong alcohol disappeared from Moskva since early January — according to an unofficial version, due to problems with the behavior of individual passengers. At the same time, 0.6-liter bottles of drinking water were once again replaced with two-liter ones, which led to a sharp reduction in its consumption — previously, many passengers took small bottles with them.
During the day, the lounge offers some kind of view of the airfield from the window – though, like in the Classic lounge in the domestic flights sector, this is a view through the common “clean zone”. Nevertheless, this is progress compared to the completely windowless Jazz and Blues. Overall, the lounge turned out to be quite decent, and will probably become the preferred choice for many Sheremetyevo passengers in the near future. You can see a photo gallery of the new lounge on the Travel.ru Facebook page.
Source: travel.ru