Top 10 Best Business Class Lounges Worldwide
Have you ever wondered what the best Business Class lounges in the world really are?
With over 2 million miles logged across 200+ airports on all six continents, I’ve spent a slightly alarming amount of time in lounges. That does come with a perk though: you quickly learn what separates a genuinely great lounge from a glorified waiting room with hummus.
Between Business Class travel, elite status across all three major alliances, plus contract lounge access via networks like Priority Pass and Dragon Pass, I’ve seen the full spectrum. From “I could live here” to “is this… a break room?”
This ranking follows my Top 10 Best Business Class Airlines ranking, because a truly top-tier lounge can absolutely tip the scales when I’m choosing who to fly. For premium airlines, the ground experience is also a rare chance to create real theatre. Showers, spas, calm spaces, and proper dining are far easier to deliver on the ground than at 35,000 feet. The best lounges feel like a haven of tranquillity inside the airport chaos.
And for many travellers, the lounge is the main event. Especially on overnight flights, where the goal is simple: arrive rested. Some people want a quiet corner and a drink. Others treat the lounge like an all you can use theme park and try everything once.
One quick caveat: lounges are harder to rate than airline cabins. The exact same lounge can feel completely different depending on time of day, crowding, and what you need from it. I’ll factor that in as much as possible in the rankings below.
Now, here’s what I look for when deciding whether a lounge is genuinely excellent.
The Ranking Process
Business Class lounges come in all shapes and sizes, but most offer a baseline set of amenities you’d expect. The difference between “fine” and “fantastic” usually comes down to the details: staff and service, architecture and layout, comfort, catering, and the little extras that make a place feel premium rather than sterile.
Instead of a purely subjective list, I score lounges across core categories. It keeps things consistent, reduces bias, and makes the ranking easier to understand.
Every lounge listed here has been visited by me on multiple occasions. I use eight categories, each scored out of 10, to evaluate roughly 30 lounges.
The 8 Ranking Categories
Ambience
Driven by lounge size, décor, crowding, and whether you can actually relax with some privacy. For frequent travellers, that calm, slightly exclusive feel matters.
Design
This is the architecture, layout, and overall aesthetic. Good design creates flow, separates spaces logically, and helps set the mood. Some zones should energise you, others should calm you down, and a great lounge does both well.
Food & Beverage
Self-explanatory, but the bar is higher than “there is food”. Variety matters. Quality matters. A la carte dining matters. And yes, a decent champagne helps.
Showers / Spa
On a long transit, a good shower is a lifesaver. But shower facilities vary wildly. Some lounges have long queues. Others have tiny, humid cubicles where you step out sweating, which defeats the entire point.
The best lounges go further with spa treatments (sometimes complimentary, sometimes paid), saunas, and steam rooms. Scandinavian lounges, in particular, often do this brilliantly.
Seating
Choice, availability, comfort, and whether it feels stylish or like an office breakout area.
Entertainment
Wi-Fi, power, and reliable connectivity are the essentials. Beyond that, some lounges add proper extras: games rooms, pool tables, art, sculptures, even self-playing pianos.
Additional Services & Facilities
This is where lounges can feel thoughtful rather than generic. Fresh flowers, garment pressing, waiter service, slick ordering systems, sleeping areas, massage, yoga rooms. Small touches often make a big difference.
Location
You only notice this when it’s bad. Is the lounge easy to reach? Is it practical for your gate? Some airports make certain lounges annoyingly inconvenient, and in a few cases, transiting can make a lounge effectively inaccessible (I’m looking at you Stockholm).
10 Best Business Class Lounges Worldwide
10. Aegean Lounge Extra Schengen ( Score 76 % )
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Location: 9 Design: 9.5 Ambience: 9 Seating: 9 Food & Beverage: 8 Showers & Spa: 6 Entertainment: 5 Additional facilities: 6 |
This brand new lounge in the Extra Schengen area at Athens only opened in 2021, and it’s a surprisingly strong contender. The expansive 1200 metre space boasts beautiful architecture, a smart layout, and strong Aegean branding. It flows effortlessly, which helps it feel calm even when it’s busy. Catering is genuinely impressive with local Greek highlights, plus strong coffee and a solid drinks selection. All in all, it’s a surprising entry into my top 10 considering it mostly serves regional routes. |
9. American Flagship ORD/DWF/MIA/JFK ( Score 76% )
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Location: 8 Design: 7 Ambience: 8.5 Seating: 8 Food & Beverage: 8.5 Showers & Spa: 8 Entertainment: 7.5 Additional facilities: 6 |
One of two American lounges on this list, which would have shocked me five years ago. American Flagship Lounges are AA’s premium hubs, offering a noticeably more elevated experience than the Admirals Clubs. The food and beverage selection is strong, and every lounge includes a champagne welcome. Even more impressive, these lounges admit oneworld Sapphire members and still (usually) keep crowding at a manageable level. Note: The JFK Flagship Lounge has now been rebranded as the “Greenwich Lounge”. I visited again this month and will publish an updated review. |
8. Iberia Premium Lounges 4/4S ( Score 77% )
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Location: 8 Design: 8 Ambience: 8.5 Seating: 8.5 Food & Beverage: 8 Showers & Spa: 8 Entertainment: 6 Additional facilities: 7 |
Iberia didn’t make my top 10 for Business Class, but its lounges in Madrid are a clear step above the onboard product. Expect well designed spaces, relaxing decor, good food and drink, and genuinely useful facilities like showers, nap rooms, a bar, and kids’ areas. Plus, the tarmac views run along the entire length of the lounge, including the far ends, which is always a win. |
7. Qatar Premium Lounges LHR/CDG/BKK/SIN ( Score 80% )
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Location: 8 Design: 9 Ambience: 9 Seating: 8.5 Food & Beverage: 9.5 Showers & Spa: 8.5 Entertainment: 6 Additional facilities: 6 |
Qatar is a consistently super-premium airline, and its lounges don’t disappoint. What’s especially impressive is that these are outstation lounges, yet they still deliver a remarkably consistent experience. Access is limited to Business or First Class passengers travelling that day, which helps maintain a proper sense of exclusivity. A la carte dining, calm bars, and spa-like vibes pull the whole experience together. |
6. Qantas Lounge LHR ( Score 81% )
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Location: 9 Design: 8.5 Ambience: 9 Seating: 9 Food & Beverage: 9.5 Showers & Spa: 8.5 Entertainment: 6 Additional facilities: 6 |
Another outstation lounge that really impresses is the Qantas London Heathrow Lounge. It currently serves both Business and First Class passengers, and Qantas clearly worked hard to make that work within one space. You get a proper a la carte restaurant, two bars, and a relaxed but stylish atmosphere that actually encourages you to enjoy the pre-flight time rather than simply endure it. I’ve also used Qantas’s Sydney Business Lounge (back in 2017) and the Hong Hong Lounge more recently. Shockingly, I found the home flagship in Sydney crowded and slightly shabby. Among those three, Heathrow ranks first, comfortably. |
5. United Polaris ORD/SFO/LAX ( Score 85% )
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Location: 9 Design: 8 Ambience: 8 Seating: 8.5 Food & Beverage: 9.5 Showers & Spa: 9 Entertainment: 7.5 Additional facilities: 8 |
When United launched its excellent Polaris product onboard, it also upgraded the ground experience with the Polaris Lounges. Some might even argue the lounges outshine the cabin. United has eliminated international First Class, but these lounges bring in several First-like touches. Think a la carte dining, impressively designed shower suites with plush amenities, strong buffets, and good bars. Just watch the timing. Around 6pm on weekdays, when Europe departures stack up, crowding can absolutely become a factor. |
4. Cathay Pacific The Pier Business ( Score 87% )
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Location: 9 Design: 8.5 Ambience: 9 Seating: 9.5 Food & Beverage: 9 Showers & Spa: 9 Entertainment: 7 Additional facilities: 8 |
Cathay has several excellent business lounges in Hong Kong, including The Wing, The Deck, and the flagship The Pier Business, which is the sister lounge to The Pier First Class. The Pier’s long, linear layout gives you a series of different “rooms”, each offering a different kind of sanctuary, plus apron views that keep things feeling open. There’s upscale furniture throughout, so you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to where to sit and how to switch off. Amenities include a bar, spa-style showers, a tea house, the famous noodle bar, work zones, and a quiet sleep area. The only thing missing is a formal a la carte restaurant, but the noodle bar is fresh to order and more than holds its own. Cathay also has a great lounge in London Heathrow. |
3. Turkish Lounge ( Score 87% )
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Location: 9 Design: 9 Ambience: 8 Seating: 8.5 Food & Beverage: 9 Showers & Spa: 9 Entertainment: 8.5 Additional facilities: 9 |
The Turkish Business Lounge is outstanding, and at times it feels like two or three lounges stitched together. It’s huge, but it needs to be, Turkish has one of the largest international networks in the world. The architecture is simply stunning, and you’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to where to relax or what fresh local dishes to try. The facilities list is almost comical. Private bedrooms for long layovers? Yes. Games and VR experiences? Yes. Kids’ areas? Yes. Free massages? Yes. Art gallery? Why not. Despite the size, the main areas can still get crowded, and they missed a few practical details like providing enough convenient power points. |
2. Al Mourjan / Al Mourjan Garden ( Score 88 % )
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Location: 9 Design: 9 Ambience: 8.5 Seating: 9 Food & Beverage: 9.5 Showers & Spa: 9 Entertainment: 8.5 Additional facilities: 8 |
If I made this list in 2019 or 2020, Qatar’s Al Mourjan lounge might have ranked lower. At peak times, overcrowding was a real issue. Fast forward to 2023 and Qatar now operates two Al Mourjan lounges in Doha, plus two additional frequent flyer lounges. That expansion has clearly helped, and on my most recent visit the experience felt premium again. The newer Al Mourjan Garden in the northern part of the airport is beautiful and offers the same top-notch facilities you’ll find in the original Al Mourjan Business . I’d consider both to be right at the top of the game. |
1. Virgin Clubhouse LHR / JFK ( Score 89% )
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Location: 9 Design Ambience: 8.5 Seating: 9.5 Food & Beverage: 9.5 Showers & Spa: 8.5 Entertainment: 9.5 Additional facilities: 8 |
Beating Al Mourjan by the tiniest of margins is Virgin Atlantic’s Clubhouse. Virgin Clubhouses have long been among the most fun and stylish Business Class lounges in the world, and they still hold the crown, just. You get a la carte dining wherever you sit, stylish bars, and entertainment everywhere you look. It also has some of the loveliest staff around, which makes a huge difference when you’re about to spend hours in a metal tube. Post-pandemic, there have been changes that could affect its position going forward. The spa in Heathrow has been replaced with a workout room featuring Peloton bikes. It’s a fun novelty, but the lounge would feel even more complete if the spa still existed alongside it. Another thing to watch: since joining SkyTeam, the pool of eligible guests has grown. We’ll see how that impacts crowding over time, especially during peak departure banks. |
Overall Thoughts
I’ve rated over 30 Business Class lounges worldwide, and as you can see, the gaps in the top 10 are surprisingly small. Lounge ranking can be tricky, and tiny differences in crowding, service, or food can shuffle the order quickly.
Some travellers feel lounges aren’t what they used to be, and there’s truth in that. Lounges are no longer the exclusive domain of premium cabin flyers. Even major airlines can deliver a chaotic, zoo-like space with sad catering and nowhere to sit.
Notable lounges that just missed the cut: Air France in CDG 2E and the stunning lounge at CDG 2F at number 11, and Singapore Airlines SilverKris T3 Lounge in position 12. Emirates, Japan Airlines, Finnair, and Oman Air also have very strong lounges that didn’t make the top 10, but still sit comfortably in my top 20.
First Class Lounge round up coming soon! What are your thoughts on these 10 lounges? Let me know in the comments below 🙂
Faze, founder of Wander Up Front and Elevate Your Stay, is a London-based travel specialist with a deep passion for aviation. With over 2 million miles flown, he has spent the last 7 years focusing on First and Business class experiences.
Faze provides straightforward, no-frills insights into premium airline products and services, sharing what matters to help travellers make informed choices.
Follow him on his adventures and behind the scene stories on Instagram !
Lounges that wowed us in 2023 were Cathay’s The Wing First lounge at HKG (The Pier First lounge was still closed) and Qatar Airways’ new Al Mourjan The Garden lounge at DOH.
They are both excellent and feature on my First Class listings- https://wanderupfront.com/top-8-best-first-class-lounges-worldwide/ 🙂