Fukuoka airport’s international terminal is home to three lounges – Lounge TIME International, KAL Lounge, and Lounge Fukuoka. Prior to catching an Asiana Airlines flight to Seoul earlier this month, I had a chance to check out the last one of those.
If you are wondering what Lounge Fukuoka was like, continue reading this review.
Entry Requirements
Lounge Fukuoka is a contract lounge available to business class passengers and status holders on selected airlines. In my case, I entered the lounge as a Star Alliance Gold member about to fly on an Asiana Airlines flight in economy class.
In addition to Asiana, essentially all other Star Alliance and Oneworld airlines serving Fukuoka, like Singapore Airlines, Finnair, and Cathay Pacific, were listed on the sign in front of the lounge. Full-service airlines that do not belong to any of the major alliances (e.g. Starlux and Hawaiian Airlines) were listed too. Some Skyteam airlines including China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, and China Eastern were on the list in spite of Korean Air’s KAL Lounge being available at the airport. That’s likely due to the KAL Lounge’s limited size, quality, and opening hours.
Lastly, low-cost airlines like AirAsia and VietJet were present among the logos at the lounge’s entrance too. While I am not 100% sure, with those, it might be possible to buy access to the lounge when booking a ticket. Paying to enter the lounge is not possible otherwise and the lounge does not accept Priority Pass.
Opening Hours & Location
Until recently, Lounge Fukuoka was closed due to the pandemic and Asiana Airlines provided passengers otherwise eligible for access with vouchers that could be used at the terminal’s stores.
Now, however, the lounge is back to being open every day. There were no opening hours posted at the lounge’s entrance nor are they available on the lounge’s website. Other sources say the lounge is open from 7AM until the departure of the last flight. I think it’s safe to say that if you are flying internationally out of Fukuoka and are otherwise eligible to use the lounge, it will be open.
The lounge was very easy to find too. It was on the terminal’s third floor, just a short walk to the left after clearing immigration. It was located across from gate 55.
Lounge Tour
On the right side past the lounge’s entrance was the reception desk where I was welcomed by the friendly attendant.
Across from the reception desk were a couple of stools and a luggage storage rack. There were no lockers.
According to its website, Lounge Fukuoka can seat up to 161 people. Those seats were divided into three areas – a seating/dining area right past the reception, another lounging area to the right of the dining area, and a separate business area.
For quite some time after getting to the lounge at 6PM, I was the only guest. Later on, as the time of my Asiana flight got nearer, the lounge got more and more busy. Ultimately, by 8PM, the dining section was almost full. The rest of the lounge remained empty, though.
Zooming in on each of the areas, the area right past the reception was equipped with not-too-comfortably looking chairs arranged around tables. Some of the tables seated two people but most of them were for four. While clean, the furniture looked fairly outdated.
While the seats in this area provided zero privacy, the area was split into a couple of separate areas by wooden partitions. The largest of the areas had a TV on one of its walls. It was also where the lounge’s buffet was located. Next to the buffet counter was a flight information display screen.
Most if not all of the seats in this area lacked access to power outlets or USB charging ports.
The lounging area was furnished with rows of sofa chairs. There were some along the walls as well as running across the width of the lounge. Interestingly, rather than facing each other, adjacent rows had their seats perpendicular to each other. In a way, I liked the idea as it resulted in some extra privacy for everyone using the seats.
Each of the chairs came with a small side table, a reading light, and a power outlet.
Lastly, the business center – the area where I spent my time in the lounge – was located across from the main seating areas, next to the buffet. It was a small room with two counters running along the walls on either side.
There were a dozen workstations where one could use a laptop or get some other work done. Additionally, there was a workstation with a PC. Each of them was equipped with a fairly comfortable office chair and had access to a power outlet, a USB charging port, and a LAN port (if anyone actually still uses those on the road).
Additionally, there was also a copier/printer.
Separately from the seating areas, down a hallway on the very left side of the lounge were three phone booths as well as restrooms. There were no showers in the lounge.
The phone booths were all relatively large and equipped with a small counter, a power outlet, and a USB charging port. The restrooms were clean and the men’s one had two stalls and two urinals.
Food and Drinks
All of the food and drinks available in the lounge could be found on and around the buffet counter. As I appeared to be the first one to use the lounge in the evening, the buffet was well stocked. It appeared to remain so throughout my stay. Used cups, plates, etc. were cleared from the return area quickly too.
Starting with drinks, there was a Coca-Cola dispenser with a variety of carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks. There were also pitchers of orange and tomato juices, milk, oolong tea, and mineral water in a fridge.
Hot drinks included a selection of coffee from a Costa Coffee machine and two types of tea – black and green.
Alcoholic drinks included beer from automatic dispensers that Japan’s lounges are well-known for and a selection of liquor.
Kirin Ichibanshibori and Stout black beer were available. The selection of liquor included, among others, Bombay gin, Smirnoff vodka, and Jack Daniel’s whisky. Sake, shochu, and wines were available too.
Hot food included beef curry rice, yakisoba (Japanese noodles), meatballs, boiled broccoli, and steamed cabbage and anchovies.
I had the curry which I enjoyed. That said, some might have found the relative lack of beef, vegetables, etc. (it was mostly just sauce) not ideal.
In addition to the hot items, there were also a couple of types of bread, strawberry roll cake, and some chocolates and cookies.
There was no jam or butter to put on the bread as far as I could see.
The one thing that could have been improved was the utensils which were plastic.
Lounge Fukuoka Summary
Overall, Lounge Fukuoka was about on par with what one can expect from an average contract lounge. There were enough seating, an OK selection of drinks, and some hot food. The one thing that I liked was the business area where I spent my time in the lounge.
While I wouldn’t arrive at the lounge early if I didn’t have to, if you have access and some spare time before you catch your international flight out of Fukuoka than you will most likely enjoy the lounge more than waiting in the fairly small and often crowded public area of the terminal.
