First look: Oneworld opens new Amsterdam Lounge

Swiftly following in the footsteps of the first Oneworld lounge at Seoul Incheon, the alliance’s second branded lounge is now open at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

Like its South Korean sibling, the Oneworld Amsterdam Lounge sports a light, playful design with a relaxed vibe that’s definitely more smart casual than corporate.

The entrance is very similar, too – it’s an element Oneworld lounge designer Jochem Straatman, from Amsterdam-based creative studio D/Dock, tells Executive Traveller he intends to make this ‘portal’ a familiar and immediately recognisable feature across the nascent Oneworld lounge network.

“While this and the Incheon lounge have their own distinct identity, both share the same unique oneworld look and feel, creating a sense of familiarity across our lounges.”

A small cocktail and wine bar, which Straatman describes as another key aspect of his Oneworld lounge ‘template’, immediately takes centre stage.

“The bar is a very welcoming feature and it will change design language due to local influence, cultural influence, but the bar is the moment when you get welcomed.”

The Oneworld Amsterdam Lounge also has the semi-circular seating area topped by soft cone-shaped orange lights first seen in the Oneworld Seoul Lounge.

“In a lot of traditional lounges you have these rows of chunky lounge chairs, and you are always kind of facing each other, and that doesn't give you the kind of intimacy and privacy that you would like,” Straatman explains.

“And with these rounded crescent sofas you immediately have a very private and sound absorbing comfortable situation, plus you are oriented not directly in the face of the person in front of you.”

An open plan approach maximises capacity at the lounge, which occupies the same space as the former British Airways lounge on the top floor of the terminal, with an amazing variety of seating.

This includes raised communal  workbenches and semi-private booths, while curved nooks dotted along the walls contain private ‘Zoom rooms’.

The lounge includes a subtle nod to Amsterdam with tailor-made lighting pieces inspired by the spherical lights on many of the city’s iconic arched canal bridges, while the city’s birds are represented by silhouettes perching over the bar.

“The Amsterdam lounge is a futuristic, vibrant setting that blends open spaces to encourage relaxation, especially as the Dutch skies are omnipresent through the immense windows, which are a fantastic feature of this lounge,” relates Straatman.

And yes, that is a living moss wall down the end...

Straatman also tells Executive Traveller he is keen to use mood lighting across the Oneworld lounges, not only “because it radiates the brand colours of Oneworld” but to provide an anchor of ambience regardless of the time of day or night.

“If people come in for a flight in the morning you can have fresh spring colours, a ‘breakfast’ kind of mood, and then gradually during the day it fades to a warm colours to create a ‘cocktail mood’ and prepare you for the night.”

Over half of Oneworld’s 13 member airlines currently fly to the Amsterdam, although two of these – Finnair and Iberia – operate in what’s called the ‘Schengen zone’ of European countries.

The Oneworld Amsterdam Lounge is located in Schiphol’s non-Schengen departure area, which means it will serve travellers on flights out of Amsterdam by the the following Oneworld airlines:

• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• Qatar Airways

Oneworld Amsterdam Lounge: Access

Open daily between 5:30am and 10:00pm, the Oneworld Amsterdam Lounge welcomes the following travellers departing on any flight by a Oneworld member airline:

• first class passengers (and one guest, who must also be also travelling on a Oneworld flight)
• business class passengers
• frequent flyers with Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire status (and one guest, who must also be also travelling on a Oneworld flight)

For quick reference, Oneworld Emerald equates to the Platinum tier of most Oneworld airlines – including Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines – along with the likes of BA Gold and Cathay Diamond.

Meanwhile, Oneworld Sapphire status includes the Gold tier of Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines, plus BA Silver and others.

In addition, Cathay Pacific’s Cathay Silver members (whose status is equivalent to Oneworld Ruby) will also be able to visit the lounge, as will Cathay members using their “mid-tier benefits” of lounge passes.