The Star Alliance has just announced the opening of its newest branded lounge, and it’s the brand’s first in Asia.
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Star Alliance Lounge Guangzhou Airport basics
The Star Alliance has opened a lounge at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN), in China. The lounge has opened effective immediately, and follows standard Star Alliance lounge access policies, meaning it’s open to Star Alliance first and business class passengers, as well as Star Alliance Gold members.
The new 24/7 lounge is located in a dedicated space on the upper level of the existing GBIA lounge in the Terminal 1 international area. It’s not a very big lounge — it’s just 750 square meters (~8,100 square feet), with seating for 100 guests.
The lounge features a glass facade offering tarmac views, and amenities like workstations, and seating for both relaxation and productivity. There’s also a 100 square meter VIP room available upon request (which seems like a huge space to dedicate to this purpose, given how small the lounge is?). The lounge also has a bar, buffet, restrooms, and shower suites. Then there’s art from local artists, as well as a “tea appreciation corner, where guests can experience the region’s renowned tea culture.”
Interestingly, Star Alliance plans to open a second branded lounge at the same airport, in the upcoming Terminal 3. However, more details aren’t yet available about that.
At present, 10 Star Alliance airlines fly to Guangzhou, including Air China, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, and Turkish Airlines. Those airlines offer a total of 774 weekly departures, to 50 destinations, in 10 countries.
Below you can find some pictures of the new lounge (which doesn’t look particularly modern — obviously it’s just the repurposing of an existing space, with minimal investment).
Star Alliance’s current lounge network
For travelers, one of the major benefits of the global alliances is access to alliance lounges. While a vast majority of these are lounges operated by individual airlines, each alliance also has some branded lounges.
In the case of the Star Alliance, the company currently has lounges in Amsterdam (AMS), Buenos Aires (EZE), Guangzhou (CAN), Los Angeles (LAX), Paris (CDG), and Rio de Janeiro (GIG). Some of the alliance’s lounges are quite nice (like the one in Los Angeles), while some are a bit less impressive (like the new one in Guangzhou, based on the impression I get).
Star Alliance is tied with SkyTeam when it comes to the size of its branded lounge network. SkyTeam also has six lounges, in Dubai (DXB), Istanbul (IST), Santiago (SCL), Sao Paulo (GRU), Sydney (SYD), and Vancouver (YVR).
As a point of comparison, oneworld is the newest alliance to get into the lounge game, and currently has locations in Amsterdam (AMS) and Seoul Incheon (ICN).
Bottom line
The Star Alliance has opened its first branded lounge in Asia, located in Guangzhou Terminal 1. It’s always nice to have more alliance lounge options, though I wouldn’t expect this to be the most impressive lounge in the network, since it just takes up a small part of an existing lounge. Still, if you’re traveling through the airport, this new lounge option is something to keep in mind.
What do you make of the new Star Alliance Lounge Guangzhou?
Note when I used the Premium Lounge at T2 last time, the staff told me no photos allowed anywhere in the lounge. Out of curiosity, I asked them how about in the shower room, to which they still said no. Even when I left the lounge and tried to take a photo of the list of airlines sending their guests to the lounge on the plaque outside of the lounge, they still came out to stop me. Not sure if this practice will be followed by the *A lounge.
There is also the Star Alliance lounge in Sao Paulo (unsure if it is just branded or managed by the alliance, but I assume it is alliance-managed...)
What about the Star Alliance Lounge in Nagoya, Japan? Closed?
Nagoya had the first Star Alliance Lounge in Asia
One of the best priority pass lounges I ever experienced was at Guangzhou. This was back in 2017, so I can't remember which lounge it was, but it was spectacular. It was one of the main lounges I always thought about when I told people how much better the lounges were abroad than the US. It's a great airport to transit.
Oneworld has lounge at LAX too.
It’s managed by BA QF and CX however is not a OW lounge per se in addition the branding is completely different.. and better.
With local wi-fi accessible only by scanning one's passport into WeChat, which then has to be scanned into a Windows '95-based kiosk, which then has to be printed on the flimsiest possible chit.
That probably explains why I carry Hong Kong SIM cards into the mainland.
Why does Skyteam have a lounge in IST? How big is their operation there? Obviously it is a massive Star Alliance hub because of TK’s operations.
Has that lounge reopened? I seem to recall it had sustained serious fire damage a little while ago.
It burnt down in May 2024 and it hasn't opened yet.
Aeroflot, Air France, KLM, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia and TAROM all fly to IST.
Aeroflot is persona non grata and not a SkyTeam member
There is no T3 in Guangzhou.
Construction of CAN T3 is over 90% finished. T3 will open Q3 next year together with the 5th runway of the airport!
Its being constructed plus two more runways. opening by 2028
Ben I think FCO has a Star Alliance lounge too. Well it did a few years ago when I was sitting in it. Maybe it is gone now?