May 25

May 25 Lounging About - YVR International Lounge Review

People love ranking things. Indeed, I just learned the other day that Vancouver International Airport (YVR) was named the top Airport in North America by Skytra x. I do admit, I have a fondness for this airport - its remarkably clean, well laid out and generally very efficient. That being said, I know many people will be travelling internationally this summer, and so are understandably curious about the lounge situation at YVR.

Entry

YVR is located not in Vancouver, but actually in an island in Richmond. Take the Canada line train to the airport for an extra $5 surcharge to avoid traffic. While security is usually quite quick, I found that in May 2022 this was significantly slower: there was a 15-20 minute wait for the priority security line, so I can only imagine what the regular security line looked like.

YVR actually has a helpful interactive map: note that you can easily move between international and domestic (Canada) terminals, the US terminal is isolated as you need to pre-clear US customs.

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge

There are 3 Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges at YVR, with the international one is located in the international departure area right after security.

The lounge is open from 0630 to 2330 every day except for Friday, when it is open at 0730. Entry into the lounge can be gained by having Air Canada Status (35K and above, with 50k granting Star Alliance Gold Status), flying on a Star Alliance business class flight like I was, through lounge vouchers or by paying a fee. Note that you must be flying Air Canada or a Star Alliance partner to gain entry.

The decor here is tastefully modern, unlike some older lounges (cough Ottawa). Upon entering the lounge, we can see the main reason why one would venture here: the bar.

The Air Canada drink menus is quite comprehensive, with both cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. There was a diligent bartender making drinks when I checked later on, as well as people typing away at their laptops. Directly opposite was an imposing tower of premium wines, with several other wine towers dotting the lounge.

Right beside that was the food. The one good thing update to lounges has been the incorporation of grab and go items. Personally I think it makes sense: it keeps people out of the lounge in exchange for a couple dollars worth of food, and gives hungry / thirsty passengers a reprieve should they want to get to the date early. Air Canada has further extended this concept to the Air Canada Cafe, which my co-author reviewed in 2019.

I highly recommend the chicken and turkey wraps, along with the salads on offer. As someone that permabulks (aka eats a lot), I admit to taking a few of the wraps on the plane to supplement the paltry amount of food given.

At the same time, there is also hot food - however, I have been continuedly disappointed by the offerings from Air Canada. Please refer to this blog post about the offerings , which unfortunately have not improved. Seriously they are such a waste a lot of plastic for very mediocre offerings.

In addition to the cold section, there was also a snacks section, which includes Air Canada’s famous chocolate chip cookies.

Beyond the food section, there is substantial seating - I was in the lounge on a Thursday afternoon, perhaps one of the more busy times for travel, and there was plenty of seating available.

In addition to the high top seating shown above, there was also some smaller tables overlooking the tarmac.

There were also some more comfortable sofa type chairs.

The lounge has thought of its businessman (or businesswomen) clientele well. Beyond providing drinks to assist with the creative process, there were computers, printers, isolated tables for people to do work.

For those even more well-heeled, there are several options: either the private salon in the lower floors, or the even more rarified Air Canada Signature Suite.

Wrapping up, I will say the Air Canada lounge, as with many others, is a great place to take a break and unwind for a bit. However, for those of us who are a bit hungry, the place to go is our next area: the Skyteam Lounge (or Priority Pass lounge).

Skyteam Lounge

Skyteam is an airline alliance comprised of 19 different members: some of the major airline partners include Delta Airlines, Air France, China Eastern and Korean Air. Members travelling on business class, or who have status with one of the airline partners, can access their lounges. However, sometimes the lounges are a bit empty - that’s why they accept Priority Pass passengers for ancillary revenue. After all, the marginal cost to provide an additional passenger free food and drink is extremely small relative to additional revenue gained.

The entrance to the lounge is located past the duty free section, closer to the rest of the gates. I was welcome by two lovely Korean ladies (remember one of Skyteam’s key members is Korean Air).

Interestingly enough, the entrance to the lounge is located on the 3rd floor, and you need to take an elevator up to the 4th floor. This means you can look down on the masses below (I’m joking, I am a peasant).

The motif of this lounge is very nice, with lots of light wood palette, natural sunlight and neutral colored furniture. Sadly, there were no more newspapers displayed in front, although this may have been better for the environment.

However, relative to the Air Canada lounge the seating was not arranged smartly - there were lots of single or double seating options, without larger tables for groups. At the same time, the more lax entry policy and closure of several areas of the lounge did result in a bit of crowding. One good design of the seats were that they did include plugs, although I did find a few were broken.

Fortunately, that did not seem to slow down the provision of provisions. The menu below as quite extensive, although the food did taste a bit bland.

Outside of the shao mai and noodle dishes, the food was served buffet style by an attendant.

There were also pre-prepared cold options including salads, fruits and sweet snacks.

Another attendant also acted as a server for the bar (not an actual trained bartender) - as for the bar itself, the drinks were lower quality than the comparable Air Canada offerings.

Now for the food pics!

Note the above food is actually from elsewhere (anyone who knows will know), and that the food on the top right hand corner is from the Skyteam lounge.

Conclusion

Now that airlines are strongly suggesting going to the airport early, more of you will be interested in lounges. While most are limited to the lounge based on their airline of choice, if given a choice I would go to the Skyteam Lounge for the food, and then pop over to the Maple Leaf Lounge for a drink and a few bites to go. However, it might be best to save your appetite for the plane!