- Introduction: The Long Way To Abu Dhabi
- The Unglamorous Reality Of My Review Trips
- Review: EVA Air Business Class Boeing 777 (IAH-TPE)
- Review: EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport (TPE)
- Review: EVA Air Business Class Boeing 787 (TPE-HKG)
- Review: Regal Airport Hotel Hong Kong
- Review: Chase Sapphire Lounge Hong Kong Airport (HKG)
- Review: Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge Hong Kong Airport (HKG)
- Review: Cathay Pacific The Wing First Class Lounge Hong Kong Airport (HKG)
- Review: Cathay Pacific The Pier Business Class Lounge Hong Kong Airport (HKG)
- Review: Qantas Lounge Hong Kong Airport (HKG)
- Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class Airbus A350 (HKG-SIN)
- Review: Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore Airport (SIN)
- Review: Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge Singapore Airport (SIN)
- Review: Singapore Airlines First Class Boeing 777 (SIN-CGK)
- Review: Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta Airport (CGK)
- Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta Airport (CGK)
- Review: Garuda Indonesia Business Class Boeing 777 (CGK-JED)
- Review: Aerotel Jeddah Airport, Saudi Arabia
- Review: Etihad Business Class Airbus A321 (JED-AUH)
- Review: Etihad Business Class Lounge Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH)
- Review: Etihad First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH)
- Review: Pearl Lounge Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH)
- Review: Etihad First Class Airbus A380 (AUH-LHR)
- Review: British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow (LHR)
- Review: British Airways Galleries First Lounge London Heathrow (LHR)
- Review: British Airways First Class Airbus A380 (LHR-ORD)
During my long journey to Abu Dhabi, I flew Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777 business class from Jakarta to Jeddah. In addition to visiting the underwhelming Garuda Indonesia Lounge, I also checked out the Plaza Premium Lounge, which I’ll be reviewing in this installment.
The Plaza Premium Lounge is great — it has lots of natural light, a modern design, very high ceilings, barista coffee, and even some menu items you can order. Let’s get into the review…
In this post:
Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta location
The Plaza Premium Lounge is located in Terminal 3 at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK). It’s located near gate six, so if your travels are originating in Jakarta, just turn left and walk down the main part of the terminal.
Then eventually on the left side of the terminal, you’ll see the entrance to the Plaza Premium Lounge. This also has “Saphire” branding. Anyone know what exactly the story is with the “Saphire” branding? I’m trying to search online, but instead get results about things related to sapphires.
This lounge is in a separate building from the main terminal, as you can see in the below picture. The Anara Airport Hotel is located above the lounge, and it’s the most convenient hotel for those in transit at the airport.
Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta hours
The Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta is open daily from 3AM until 12AM, so that covers a vast majority of departures from the terminal, as the lounge just closes for a few hours each night.
Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta entry requirements
When it comes to accessing the Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta:
- The lounge can be accessed with a Priority Pass membership, and select American Express and Capital One premium cards also offer direct access to the lounge
- You can purchase access to the lounge on the Plaza Premium website
- This is a contract lounge, so many airlines send their premium passengers here; Singapore Airlines even has a private section of the lounge for its passengers
Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta layout & seating
The Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta has a long entryway, with the main part of the lounge straight ahead.
Compared to the Garuda Indonesia Lounge, the Plaza Premium Lounge has a gorgeous design, as it feels modern and has very high ceilings. As you can see, the lounge primarily consists of one large, rectangular room. Most of the seating in the lounge is arranged in rows, with seats facing one another.
There’s also a row of seats by the windows. Unfortunately don’t expect any airport views here, as this faces in the opposite direction. I believe this area overlooks a parking garage (though at least there’s some greenery).
In the very back of the lounge, there are some dining tables, as well as some high-top seating.
Back near the entrance is the bar area, which also has some cafe-style tables, in addition to some chairs at the bar.
The lounge also has a play area for kids.
Lastly, in the very back right corner of the lounge is the entrance to the Singapore Airlines portion of the lounge, which is open ahead of Singapore Airlines departures. Since I wasn’t departing on Singapore Airlines, I wasn’t able to visit this.
Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta food & drinks
The Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta has quite a solid selection of food and drinks, especially in comparison to the Garuda Indonesia Lounge. The lounge has an open kitchen area, where you can order a variety of dishes. Over my visit during breakfast hours, options included chicken congee, bakso daging sapi, custom eggs, and oatmeal.
In addition to that, there was a selection of fruit, salad, yogurt, desserts, pastries, bread, cereal, chips, nuts, and more.
The lounge also has a fridge with water and soda, as well as a soda fountain, a coffee machine, a tea selection, and more.
At the bar area by the entrance, there’s a selection of barista coffee, as well as a variety of alcoholic drinks.
I was delighted to see some proper coffee, and had a delicious latte. Yum.
Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta bathrooms & showers
The Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta has bathrooms back near the entrance, which are clean and modern.
The lounge also has a massage area and shower rooms. I believe massages cost extra, while shower rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to check them out.
Bottom line
The Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta is great. It’s modern and has lots of natural light, it has a good selection of food (including freshly prepared items), it has barista coffee, and it even has alcohol. This is better than the Garuda Indonesia Lounge in just about every way, which is really sad for Garuda Indonesia.
What’s your take on the Plaza Premium Lounge Jakarta?
Nice as it may be, it still puzzles me how they can define foldable umbrellas as weapons that are forbidden as a carry on item. And because of that I'm never ever going to CGK again...
From prioritypass.com website:
Note: Effective 06 Jan 2024, the Saphire Plaza Premium Lounge will not be available for access until further notice.
Saphire was a product of Angkasa Pura (airport operator in Indonesia) and Schiphol airport back in 2005ish. They used to do joint venture company called Angkasa Pura Schiphol, and Saphire was one of their products, offering exclusive membership program (used to offer fast track access, dedicated lounge, iris scanning immigration). They now still keep the name for the lounge
Added to this, they afforded lounge access and they used to have a landslide lounge at the old international terminal (terminal 2).
The annual fee started out fairly reasonable but it went up to Rp2 million (USD130) so I declined to renew my membership. Anyway, with the Jakarta traffic the way it was (and is), it’s not common to get much time at the airport anyway ;)
Are there really only two business lounges in Jakarta?
Unless things have changed since May 2023, the showers are free. Shower rooms are spacious and kept. Despite the lounge being quite crowded in the evening, there was no wait for a shower room.
Enjoyed a shower in the lounge on December 22nd at no extra cost, and no wait.
@ GuiTaR @ Josef -- Thanks for the data points. I updated the post to reflect that. My apologies for the misinformation.
I believe the hotel in the pic is the anara. I stayed overnight and it’s good.
As far as entry I tried with priority pass but was turned down recently.
@ Julian -- Cool, thanks for the info! I just updated the post to reflect that.