After spending a few hours walking around New York and then briefly visiting the TWA Hotel at JFK airport that I stayed at a couple of years ago, I made my way to terminal 1 where my Austrian Airlines flight to Vienna was departing from. The check-in was smooth, and while it took some time to clear security, I soon found myself in the Lufthansa Senator Lounge.
While the lounge wasn’t memorable, it still provided a nice place to relax in before the flight compared to the fairly crowded terminal. Continue reading this review to learn more about the lounge.
Location, Opening Hours & Access
The Lufthansa Senator Lounge at New York JFK airport shares its reception with the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge and Lufthansa First Class Lounge. While the Business Class Lounge is on the main departures level, the Senator Lounge is one floor above. The “First Class Wining & Dining” section is on the lounge’s third floor.
The entrance to the lounges is located immediately after security. It’s so close to the security checkpoint (on its left side), in fact, that I actually overlooked it at first and had to return back.
According to Lufthansa’s website, the lounge is open from 9:30AM until 9:30PM. That said, during my visit, the opening hours posted on the door were 9:30AM to 10:45PM (the same as the hours on the website listed for the Business Class Lounge). While I didn’t notice any sign mentioning the 9:30PM closing time, it might be that the Senator and First Class floors close earlier than the first floor.
As for accessing the lounge, Star Alliance Gold members traveling on a Star Alliance airline’s flight in any class are welcome and so are Star Alliance first class passengers. The Lufthansa Business Class Lounge can, in contrast, be accessed by all Star Alliance business class passengers regardless of their status and, during selected hours of the day, by Priority Pass members.
Lounge Tour
Leading to the reception desk which, as mentioned earlier, was shared for all of the Lufthansa lounges, was a hallway lined with some artificial plants. There was also a FIDS and a printer/copier.
After being checked into the lounge by a friendly agent (the rude Frankfurt lounge staff I interacted with a while back could learn a thing or two from his New York peer), I took an elevator one floor up to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge.
Just outside the elevator, there was a counter with eight chairs and power outlets. There was also an L-shaped buffet counter which extended into the main part of the lounge.
One of the walls was decorated with five clocks, each showing the time in a different major city.
The main part of the lounge was essentially one long room.
On the entrance side was a staffed bar. Along the inner longer wall in this area was the buffet. The seating there consisted of ten or so round tables, each with four chairs. There was also another counter like the one at the entrance. Additionally, there were some coat racks.
Going further down, there were rows of comfortable black sofa chairs separated by coffee tables and each having an access to a power outlet.
There was also a cutout behind the buffet counter which had some more sofa chairs arranged in the same way and facing a pair of TVs.
Lastly, along the slightly curved wall at the very back of the lounge was a bench lined with five small round tables.
There was also a large Lufthansa logo on the wall which looked quite nice.
The lounge offered excellent views of some of the airport’s parking spots, taxiways, and runways.
Having spent the day walking around the city, I used the lounge’s shower too. One of the friendly lounge attendants directed me to a vacant shower room with a sink and toilet which was simple but quite large.
Towels and amenities including body soap and lotion, shampoo, a shaving kit, etc. were ready on a bench along the shower room’s wall.
Food and Drinks
Alcoholic drinks were served at the staffed bar. A variety of beers, wines, and spirits was available.
Soft drinks could be found in the buffet area. There was a soda fountain with Coke, ginger ale, Fanta, etc. There were also a coffee machine and a selection of Bigelow tea bags. Additionally, there were large glass bottles of water.
As for food, there were snacks including Lay’s potato chips, Doritos, pretzels, nuts, and candies.
There were also whole apples and oranges, salad, brownies, cakes, cheese, and bread.
Hot items available during dinner time included chicken noodle soup, lentil dal, mixed vegetables, rice, kofta sauce, and meatballs.
I tried the soup and dal. While I enjoyed the soup, the dal was quite bland.
Lufthansa Senator Lounge New York JFK Summary
Prior to catching my flight, I wanted to check out some of JFK terminal 1’s other lounges – namely those accessible with Priority Pass – too. In the end, however, I decided to relax in the Senator Lounge the entire time instead.
During my visit, the lounge was fairly empty and so I had no trouble finding a seat. That said, your mileage might vary on this depending on the time of the day you visit. The food and drinks selection was nothing to write home about but at the same time it was enough if all you want to do is get a quick bite to eat before flying.
The one thing I found odd was that while there were showers in the Senator Lounge, there were no showers in the business class lounge downstairs and the showers in the Senator Lounge couldn’t be accessed by those in the business class lounge.
All in all, while it’s not really something to arrive at the airport early for, the Lufthansa Senator Lounge at New York JFK is a perfectly fine place to spend some time in before catching a flight.
