Read more from this trip – 17-days in Europe and the Middle East:

• Introduction: 17-days in Europe and the Middle East
• Finnair Business Class New York to Helsinki (JFK-HEL)
• Finnair Business Class Lounge – Helsinki (HEL)
• Finnair Business Class Helsinki to Brussels (HEL-BRU)
• Hilton Antwerp Old Town
• Iberia Dalí Premium Lounge Madrid
• Nakar Hotel – Palma de Mallorca
• Sala VIP Formentor Palma de Mallorca
• W Barcelona
• Tickets Food Review
• Royal Jordanian Crown Business Class Barcelona to Amman (BCN-AMM)
• W Amman
• Hilton Dead Sea Resort and Spa
• Royal Jordanian Crown Lounge Amman
• Hilton Tel Aviv
• Dan Lounge Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv (“TLV”)
• Iberia Business Class Tel Aviv to Madrid (TLV-MAD)
• Iberia Velázquez Premium Lounge Madrid
• American Airlines Business Class Madrid to New York (MAD-JFK)

Introduction

Lounge Visit Details:

• Date visited: August 11, 2019
• Where: Queen Alia International Airport
• Class: Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv (“TLV”)

It was the end of a lovely 17-day trip throughout Europe and the Middle East. I arrived at Ben Gurion Airport 3-hours before my 5:40am Iberia flight to Madrid. I expected some enhanced questioning since I had recently been to Qatar, Jordan and the West Bank.

It went something like this: “Mr. Giraffe, what were you doing in Qatar?” asked the friendly security agent. “Having dinner with a giraffe friend during a layover in Doha” I responded. “Did you have any contact with antelopes?” the agent asked suspiciously. “No Mr. Officer ” I replied. After a few more rounds of questions I was waived through to check-in.

The Dan Lounge is located in Concourse B, Opposite Gate B2. It’s open 24-hours a day.

Access

Customers flying First or Business Class on any OneWorld airline can use the Dan Lounge. OneWorld Emerald and Sapphire members can also access the lounge irrespective of class of travel and may invite one guest to join them; however, the guest must also be traveling on a flight operated and marketed by a OneWorld carrier.

The Dan Lounge is also a Priority Pass Lounge, but accessing it with your Priority Pass membership comes with some additional restrictions. Access is restricted to 2-hours prior to scheduled flight departure and access may be restricted due to space constraints.

Seating

The lounge is small considering it serves numerous airlines premium customers and Priority Pass card holders. I visited the lounge at 3am and it was still very crowded.

While the lounge is one long narrow room, it’s split into a few sections. There’s some dining table seating near the buffet, seating along the window and then a giant corral with tightly spaced seating in the middle.

There’s some additional dining table seating at the far end of the lounge opposite the buffet.

Pro-tip: Avoid the middle section, find a seat along the window and pass the time doing some plane spotting.

They have a variety of English and Hebrew language newspapers and magazines to keep guests entertained. The lounge WiFi is so slow it’s almost unusable so you’ll have to rely on these printed periodicals.

Food and Beverage

The food and beverage selection at the Dan Lounge was abysmal. They had some hummus, tahini, beet salad, coleslaw, corn and some yogurt.

The only hot food item available was some watery oatmeal.

For those in need of some pre-flight carbs they had crackers, matzah and a tray of croissants. The matzah tasted stale and the croissants looked like they had been sitting out for awhile.

The beverage selection was fairly limited. They had Fanta, Coke Zero, Coke, orange juice, lemon juice, still water and Perrier sparkling water.

Those looking to imbibe in some adult beverages don’t have a lot of options. They had Carlsberg beer on tap, which was quite popular even at 3am. Red and white wine was also available, but only on request. Hard liquor was not available.

Overall Verdict

First Class Giraffe Not Impressed

The Dan Lounge is nothing to get excited about. It’s small, crowded, and has a terrible selection of food and beverages. Unfortunately it’s your only option when flying on Iberia. From my understanding the El Al lounges are significantly better. The Dan Lounge is owned and managed by the Dan Hotel Chain. They should really step up their game or risk tarnishing their luxury image.