Etihad Airways has opened a new premium lounge inside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Preclearance facility on Pier C in Terminal A at Zayed International Airport.
Direct boarding for some flights
From the few photos available, the design of the new Preclearance Lounge is appealing, but the space appears to be relatively compact. Etihad Airways is specifically encouraging passengers to start their trips in the larger First & Business Class lounges in the main terminal.
Due to its size, the lounge will only offer a smaller selection of drinks and light bites.
The lounge’s most interesting feature is that passengers on certain flights will be invited to board directly from the lounge. I assume the A380 service to JFK will be one of the flights that will benefit from direct boarding.
Who can use the Preclearance Lounge?
Passengers travelling in The Residence, First or Business Class, can use the new Preclearance Lounge.
Etihad Guest Platinum Tier members (plus one guest) can also use the lounge when flying in Economy Class.
It appears Etihad Guest Gold and Silver members do not have access to the lounge. However, they will continue to have access to the main Business Class Lounge in Terminal A.
If there is capacity on the day of travel, paid access can be purchased. Unfortunately, access can not be booked in advance.
Why is U.S. Preclearance such an advantage for Etihad?
The U.S. Preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi is the only one of its kind in the Middle East and Asia.
The main advantage of preclearance is that it allows Etihad passengers travelling to the US to complete immigration and customs checks before boarding. As a result, they are treated as domestic passengers on arrival in America, so no time is wasted waiting in long immigration lines.
A second advantage is that passengers connecting to domestics on the same ticket can check their luggage to their final destination.
Etihad Airways adding more US destinations
The opening of the new lounge is good news for passengers flying to the U.S. Etihad Airways currently serves four U.S. destinations with nonstop flights. The current destinations are:
- Boston BOS (7x per week)
- Chicago ORD (7x per week)
- New York JFK (14x per week)
- Washington D.C. IAD (7x per week)
Etihad Airways will add 13 new destinations to its route network in 2025, including flights to Atlanta ATL. The flight to Atlanta (4x per week) will launch in July 2025. As a side note – an announcement about a partnership with Delta must be imminent, as the route only makes sense if there is a tie-up between the two airlines.
Full review coming soon
Over the next two months, we will make two trips through the U.S. Preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi. Once those trips are completed, I will share a full review of the new U.S. Preclearance Lounge.
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My family and I were traveling back to USA from our trip to the motherland (aka India). We were met with a horrible experience regarding the Pre-Clearance requirement. We missed our flight as our little kiddo had a catastrophic bowel movement after landing in Abu Dhabi. It was a poopy poo situation. It caused us to to be delayed in reaching the gate where the Pre-Clearance was for our flight to Boston; we arrived 15 mins past the 1hr requirement. We were told (kindly) that we were not allowed to enter the Pre-Clearance screening even though we had everything ready. We explained our situation, US Passports in hand… Nil impact. So we missed our flight.
What’s odd is that this article notes that our baggage would have gone to our final destination. During our baggage check-in in India, Etihad did not give us the boarding passes to our final destination (Dallas); only from India to Boston. Etihad told us we would need to collect our checked-in bags in Boston, clear customs, then repeat baggage check-in for the domestic flight. So we thought Boston was our port of entry for US immigration/customs.
Wonderful.
That sounds like a frustrating situation. The CPB Pre-clearance facility does close one hour before departure, and the rule is strictly enforced. If your Boston to Dallas flight was part of a single ticket, then you should have been able to pick up your boarding passes and have your luggage checked through to the final destination. However, I have had experience in the past where the check-in agent needed to be prompted to do this when it involved a connection from Etihad to an airline partner. If you’re in the situation again, I would query it and ask for the Etihad station manager on duty.