I was supposed to be flying to Abu Dhabi from Washington but due to the bad weather there, I made the last minute decision to leave out of JFK instead. Even though Washington gets the 787 which features a much newer onboard product, I’ve already reviewed it twice and I was interested to see what the 777 is like in First. I also was interested in trying the newish Etihad JFK lounge.

Etihad’s JFK lounge is in Terminal 4 and is located to the left when you pass through security.

The overall look of Etihad’s new lounges are stunning, with gold panels, and triangular shapes it looks modern and sophisticated.

Once you enter the lounge, your boarding pass will be scanned and you’ll be granted access. You may also notice that door to the right, that’s an entryway into the Residence lounge.

Passengers in the Residence, First and Business get access as well as Etihad Platinum & Gold members. Members of partner airlines with equivalent status can also get access. If you don’t qualify you can also pay for access.

I’m a regular at the Etihad Melbourne lounge so I was familiar with the seating areas, dining area, buffet and beautiful looking bar.

The lounge isn’t actually too wide but rather long. The lounge opened in 2015 and is modelled around ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’, this is the style and livery they use on their A380’s, 787’s and newly painted aircraft.

Directly in front of the bar is where the Residence lounge is found. I was given a quick look and can say It’s very similar to the VIP room in Abu Dhabi. Yes, there’s a separate VIP room in the Abu Dhabi First Class lounge.

I just can’t get enough of the beautiful looking bar. There’s a large selection of champagnes, wines, beers, cocktails and mocktails to choose from.

To the right of the bar is where the dining area if found. There are a few open tables but past those walls is the more secluded and quiet area.

Here is the more secluded area. The lounge offers a small a la carte menu and there’s also a buffet available if you’re not wanting food from the menu.

The buffet has a decent range of both hot and cold food options.

There’s also a good selection of sodas, beers, and wines available and of course, Arabic coffee. I did notice that the lounge staff don’t go around to passengers and hand them coffee, I did like that in the Washington lounge.

How could you forget the Arabic Coffee?

Here are the self-serve wines and champagnes available:

There’s also a number of fresh juices available at the bar which is pretty nice.

The majority of the seating in the lounge is past the bar and buffet area. There’s a seats both facing the window and seats at the wall.

As is the norm with a majority Etihad lounges, there’s a ton of natural light, It makes it feel fresh and open which I love.

All of the seats have a stand next to them with a powerpoint and two USB ports.

The back of the lounge is probably the best area for groups travelling together, there are quite a few seats together and it’s a little cornered off.

 

The view from the lounge is pretty fantastic, writing posts, eating food and watching planes is extremely relaxing!

The lounge does have a menu for food but found it very limited. 5 options is very limited to choose from, the cost cutting must be in full effect.

I decided to try the Grilled Chicken Satay sticks and they were great so I decided to have another serving.

They were a little small but the sauce was delicious and I could have had more but you need to leave room for the flight 😉

By about 8:30 the lounge was pretty busy but you could easily find a seat, but It got a whole lot louder. There was a couple a few seats down from me on a Skype call and decided to use the speaker, I think they wanted everyone to hear their conversation… Why do people do this?

Overall

The JFK lounge is quite stunning and is a great place to relax but, it’s not perfect. The wifi was shocking while I was in there. The speeds would peak at 2mb’s per second which is very poor. The menu could also be improved with more options being added to it. Other than that, I enjoyed my time in the lounge.