This week Etihad Airways‘ premium lounges in Sydney and Melbourne will be rebranded as ‘The House’ and management transfer to No1 Lounges. This follows the rebrand and handover over of the London Heathrow lounge in early October.
‘The House’ brand was developed jointly by Etihad and No1 Lounges. The plan is for all of Etihad’s lounges outside of Abu Dhabi to be gradually brought under ‘The House’ concept.
Etihad is pitching the change as a good thing for flyers. There is a promise of immediate improvement to the food and drink selection on offer. Over the next year, all three lounges are also expected to be refurbished to add more space and new amenities such as quiet reading rooms.
The fear is that these lounges will now become overcrowded. The announcement from Etihad suggested that a deal for premium passengers from other airlines to use the lounges is in the works. No1 Lounges will also be selling access to the lounge to other flyers.
Whether the fear is justified will ultimately come down to how well capacity is controlled. The lounges have plenty of spare capacity to play with as Etihad only operates two flights a day from Sydney and Melbourne.
I assume there will be some capacity restrictions on paid access around Etihad departures times. If that is the case, then Etihad passengers may not notice much difference at all.
Who can access ‘The House’?
For passengers flying Etihad Airways, there are no changes to the access rules. Passengers in First and Business class can continue to use ‘The House’ as well as Platinum and Gold Tier members of the Etihad Guest programme. Etihad passengers flying economy will be able to buy access.
Everyone else can buy access from No1 Lounges. Three hours in ‘The House’ at London Heathrow is available for £40 GBP. Additional hours are available for £15 GBP.
Here are my first impressions of ‘The House’ lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 4.