This review is part of a series:
Review: The Club SEA Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class
Review: The Pier Business Lounge HKG
Review: Cathay Dragon A321 Business Class
Review: JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa
Review: Coral Executive Lounge at HKT
Review: Malaysia Airlines 737-800 Economy Class
Review: Plaza Premium Satellite Lounge at KUL
Review: Hyatt Regency Bali
Review: Courtyard Bali Seminyak Resort
Review: Garuda Indonesia Domestic Lounge at DPS
Review: Concordia Lounge Bali at DPS
Review: Garuda Indonesia Business Class
Review: Saphire – Plaza Premium Lounge at CGK
Review: Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class
Review: Qantas Hong Kong Lounge at HKG
Review: Cathay Pacific 777-300ER Business Class
Jakarta International Airport is home to several Saphire lounges, all of which manage to spell “Sapphire” wrong, and many of which are accessible using Priority Pass.
However, the Saphire – Plaza Premium Lounge is not a Priority Pass lounge. Rather, it contracts out to multiple airlines, alliances, and even specific credit cards and travel agencies. Since we were flying home in Cathay Pacific Business Class, we were given lounge passes at check-in. We’d already flown Cathay Pacific Business Class longhaul aboard the A350, but were returning on the A330 from CGK-HKG and 777-300ER from HKG-LAX.
The Saphire – Plaza Premium Lounge was admittedly a bit tough to find. We’d just arrived after flying Garuda Indonesia Business Class from Denpasar and had to exit the airport, and check in with Cathay Pacific to re-enter the terminal. While admiring the beautiful, still relatively new terminal 3, we walked clear past it on the first floor before realizing it was on the second level, next to an interesting art gallery between gates 4 and 5.
Which, by the way, would be remiss of me to not share how creatively they incorporate fire extinguishers into their wall art in terminal 3.
The Saphire – Plaza Premium Lounge looks like a large, L-shaped hut that runs along the edge of the terminal wall, with excellent views of the tarmac through floor-to-ceiling windows. As a word of caution — the lounge is “open air”, only separated from the rest of the terminal by outer walls. I imagine it gets very hot during the daytime since it isn’t fully enclosed with separate ventilation, and sits right on those large windows.
To the right of the check-in counter, there are a few small seating areas.
However to the left of the entrance, there is a bar, serving coffee, tea, beer and a few hot food items.
Beyond the bar are tons of seating and dining areas, all of which are situated along the glass to face outside. The lounge is deceptively large, and it took us several minutes to walk from one end to the other.
Eventually, the lounge curves (hence the “L” shape), leading to a buffet area. The buffet featured several hot dishes, as well as fresh cut fruit, a small salad bar, and pastries.
Interestingly, drinks from the mini bar could be taken “to go” for 30,000 IDR ($2 USD).
If you eventually reach the far side of the lounge, you’ll see the last seating area and signage for shower and prayer rooms.
I loved the festive decorative ginger bread house that was on display.
The shower rooms were extremely clean, and not a bad size.
There was also a small prayer room that I snapped a quick picture of when it was unoccupied.
Final Thoughts
We were actually really impressed by the Saphire – Plaza Premium Lounge. We went in with fairly low expectations but were impressed by the cleanliness and food options for a contract lounge. The shower rooms were a huge plus, as well. Because the lounge is so big, it never got very busy during our four hour layover, which made it feel like we had the place to ourselves. I’m not sure whether how well they regulate the climate during the day time, but it’s definitely a comfortable place to camp out during an evening layover.
