Fantazja Executive Lounge Review Warsaw Choping Airport, Poland
As Warsaw airport is the hub for LOT Polish Airlines,a Star Alliance member; so all non-StarAlliance airlines' passengers are facilitated at contracted lounges, based on information from their website, the four contracted lounges at Warsaw Choping Airport: Fantazja, Preludium, Polonez and Bolero; are named after famous pieces composed by the airport’s namesake, Frédéric Chopin.
Another interesting feature on the lounges' website is a virtual 360 degree tour you can find out how exactly their lounges' layout look like, check it for yourself here.(Only Fantazja and Preludim available)
I first walked to check into the Preludium executive lounge which is located in the basement of the departure gate level, upon entry, the front desk agent kindly informed me to try the Fantazja executive lounge upstairs which she claimed is nicer and better. So I never get to visit this one, instead, I turned upstairs where it was the entrance to the Fantazja executive lounge.
The lounge is located near Gate36/37 in the Schengen area. Where it suggested on the website that it opens from 5:00 - 23:00 daily. Bear in mind the Fantazja lounge is only available for business class passengers and airline elite card holders.(No priority pass)
The lounge has decieded to go with a rather light colour scheme where things looked bright and clean, the check in ladies were nice and professionally behaved as there were many passengers waiting to be let in. Behind the check in desk the wall with different world clocks were neatly designed, where the large vegetation wall other adds colour and liveliness to the area.
The food serving area has a huge round table in the middle where fewer passengers has chosen to seat there. It looked grand and fancy, but the practical uses seemed to be limited. The chair wasn't that hard to sit on as opposed to how it looked.
The food:
There was a decent food and drink selection upon my visit where warm food option was indeed a nice touch. As seem in picture below, in the middle island, jars of candy,chocolates,cookies and other sugary products were nicely placed with some convenient-to-grab fruit in a basket.
The wine and liquor selection was also nicely displayed, although I felt there might be too few of a option to choose from here, as standard lounges would feature more liquors here. In addition, the brands they are featuring in the lounge are mixed with local products, which could be considered as local specialties, but also these can help them drive down costs and local brands tend to cost less.
There was a transparent cooling fridge where they served some authentic Polish food, like the sausages(spicy0 which tasted quiet good.
Food option was decent to choose between and instead of soup being the only warm food option, two other warm dishes were also featured where it can sufficiently pass as meal for many people. The bread slices was a great complement to the soup.
A cereal bar for fitness enthusiasts during dinner time.
Several fresh juice options were available placed next to liquor stand. As well as a multifunction coffee machine which was in frequent use.
There was a wall of cooler fridges which each of them filled with only one single beverage. It has come to my knowledge that there was only one soda option which seems to be rather plain to my taste.
Seating:
There wasn't exactly abundant seating capacity in the lounge, but each seat was comfortable and spacious which I believe is more important in a business lounge these days.
Four working stalls equipped with pc was a quiet place to get some work done.
In the front of the lounge, there were only chairs and benches as it was supposedly an eating area.
Behind,bigger sofa seats are spacious and more comfortable. For some reason, the lounge seems to only have young employees, was it a preference or just a coincidence?
Other Amenities:
Magazine stands are arranged on the side of the small hallways, although I've failed to find any English material other than the photocopied New York Times.
Resting area is featured at the end of the lounge hallway. You can find six long sofa chairs to comfortably relax or nap on.
Shower is also available where you have to ask for shower amenities at the front desk.
It probably came as standard for many lounges to have WiFi nowadays, although they also offered wifi access here, it seemed to me that their internet doesn't allow you visit quiet few foreign websites here.(Correct me if I'm wrong)
Bottom Line:
The Fantazja lounge has an amazingly outstanding hard product where the design and decoration for a Schengen area lounge is indeed topnotch. What I've seem to fail to be impressed is their food and drink varieties, as it seems they are doing some cost saving here. Overall, I am very much satisfied with the lounge, however I do felt like some improvements can be made here.
It would be an ideal lounge to visit before your flight at Warsaw airport, it has all the necessities you could think of needing when expecting an relaxing visit, an example here was that I would liked some tea with honey in it, and the friendly staff had it.(Even though it was for cereal.) The airport itself is quiet clean and newly looking, so overall it was a pleasant experience.
Stay tuned, until next time.
