080 Lounge Bangalore: Exceeds all expectations

Bangalore, or Bengaluru, as it is now known, has been pivoting to an airport-owned lounge strategy, which found success with Mumbai Airport first. Delhi is working on similar lines, but Bengaluru went first off the mark to shut down earlier lounges operated by Plaza Premium and Above Ground Level and replace them with the airport-owned but TFS-operated lounges.

We already reviewed the BLR Domestic Lounge, but while I was there last in January 2022, I was told that the second lounge, 080 Lounge, was coming up in February 2022 at the space that Above Ground Level earlier occupied. So, on one of my trips to South India, I especially planned a detour via Bengaluru to be able to check out the new lounge that everyone is talking about. In all senses, it is Above Ground Level, or for that matter, above the crowded BLR Domestic Lounge, as well.

080 is the second, but a premium brand that TFS, which is the operator of the Adani Lounge at Mumbai as well as the BLR Lounge, has created, and they have a 080 Lounge International as well on the international side, as well as a transit hotel at the Bangalore Airport which operates under the brand. 080 is the trunk-dialling code for Bengaluru.

080 Lounge Bangalore Lounge Access

The 080 Lounge Bangalore sits on the mezzanine floor, right across from the BLR Domestic Lounge, and can be accessed via elevator or stairs. The signage on the ground floor is unmissable.

a man standing on stairs in a building

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

I arrived at the lounge on the way from Hyderabad to Mumbai, and I had specifically booked a one-hop at Bangalore as I’d intended to check out this lounge during the layover. However, due to some almost last-minute flight cancellations, my layover was truncated, and instead of spending about three hours at this lounge, I was only able to spend one.

You will notice the beautiful design that this lounge has right in the reception area as you enter. As much as I understand, the logo states 080 in the local language.

a gold logo on a marble surface

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

I arrived at about 9 pm, and the lounge was practically empty at the hour. At the reception, which they have two of, I was asked about what card I had. The Lounge Reception Agent proactively informed me that the lounge was only accessible to select cardmembers, and they had no tie-ups with any airline to host their customers.

people standing at a counter in a lobby

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

I’d like to believe the limited number of cards which allow access to this lounge for the moment are more by chance than by design. But the per-trip cost of this lounge is pegged higher than the BLR Domestic Lounge, so it would have few but more premium card tie-ups. For the moment, you can access the lounge using the following cards:

  • American Express Black and Platinum Tier Cards (As per the signage below)
  • Priority Pass
  • Axis Bank Debit Cards for Priority Customers.
a sign with credit cards

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

You can also use the lounge via a buy-up of INR 750 after swiping your other credit/debit cards that provide you lounge access, as per a board installed at the stairs, but I’ve not heard of this being successful for anyone so far. Somebody who did not have access to this lounge walked in, and he was sent over to the BLR Lounge and not offered a buy-up.

a wall with a black screen

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

080 Lounge Bangalore Lounge

The 080 Lounge Bangalore could have been an American Express designed lounge. That was my first impression. The Lounge draws inspiration from the positioning and demographic of Bengaluru as a tech city, so it has all sorts of seating arrangements for collaboration and being left alone.

The lounge has various sections, and especially on a quiet night, I had the whole lounge to myself to explore. As you enter, you will see a wide circular couch. Don’t worry; it is to share, and there are plug points under most seats.

a room with a round table and chairs

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a lobby with a round gold object

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

As you’d enter, you will notice a work area on the left. There is an actual reading room here and many workstations where you can work by yourself.

a blue chairs in a lobby

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

Here is the mini library established inside this reading room. Two people could sit inside.

a room with shelves and plants

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a circular display with many books on it

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a group of books on a shelf

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

And here are all the workstations. Just bring your laptop along. I hope you notice the WeWork vibes.

a blue couch with pillows on the wall

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

two chairs in a room

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

As you move forward, you will notice an entertainment area. There is a wide-screen television installed inside, with amphitheatre styled seating. On the night that I visited, someone had taken control of the remote and watched cricket on the big screen, but I think this television was good for watching F1 Races as well.

a wooden archway with pictures on the wall

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a group of people sitting in a room with a large screen

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

There were some telephone booths for those who wanted a private station to seal a deal or have some private conversation at the airport.

a blue and yellow glass boxes

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

There is also another community seating area with a faux fireplace installed.

a metal structure with a spiral shaped structure

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a large metal object with a light inside

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

Besides these, there were a lot of open seats, similar to the lounge across the atrium, as solo seats. Plug points for charging phones or laptops were all over the place.

a room with chairs and tables

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a room with chairs and tables

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a room with yellow chairs and tables

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

The 080 Lounge Bangalore had enough food to feed a village, and I arrived here on a pretty empty night. I foresee this lounge to be relatively empty, just like its predecessor, till the airport operator decides to drop prices to go for volume over premium footfalls. Just as a point of comparison, here is the view from the 080 Lounge of the BLR Lounge, and you can notice how crowded that one is.

a large building with people walking around

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

080 Lounge Bangalore Lounge Dining

There was enough food to feed a village here, as I mentioned ahead. And the food was top-notch quality as well. But the lounge also had two bars.

a bar with chairs in a building

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

Even though they are not serving liquor due to the licenses not being in place, the lounge had a solid mocktail menu. Although they were payable. And there was no one at the bar that night, and I was in a rush, so I did not try them out.

a bar with drinks on it

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a menu on a table

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

There is a pretty large restaurant area at this lounge, which was impressive. This is only a partial picture and shows you about 50% of the seating.

a group of people sitting at tables in a restaurant

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a restaurant with yellow tables and chairs

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

Dinner was served when I went over, and there was a tonne of food to choose from. You could be from anywhere around the globe, with any food preference, and still not go hungry. Here are some pictures I managed to take of the offering that night.

The cold bar had ample choices of salads, including deviled eggs with wasabi mayo and fruits and desserts. Some chaat, such as Dahi Bhalla, was placed on the cold counters and some juices as well.

a display case with food on it

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a display case with food on it

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

For Asian food lovers, there were noodles and Thai curry and some oriental fish curry which you could also pair up with steamed rice.

a food in a container

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

For those who like Indian curries, there were vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, including proteins such as Paneer, Fish and Chicken.

a group of pots with food in them

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

TFS also placed a local flavour with the Kori Gassi (Mangalorean Chicken Curry!)

a group of food in a container

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

To go along with the Indian curries, there were Indian breads.

a food trays with food in it

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a food in a container

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

Love some Italian; get some Pasta.

If you just cared to get some canapes, there were kebabs on offer for both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian categories.

a metal bowls with food in it

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

The lounge also had some live stations. You could get some Risotto prepared fresh or Kothu Parantha on the night I went. For breakfast, it is an omelette and dosa, I believe.

a sign on a counter

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a sign on a counter

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

I did try the Kothu Parantha, and it was passable. The rest of the food was very palatable and indeed very delicious as well.

a couple of bowls of food

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

I tried some naan with Paneer Makhani.

a plate of food on a marble surface

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

My quick meal was closed with trying out their desserts. There was some middle-eastern Kunafa and pastry around, which were both pretty nice.

two plates of food on a table

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

The waitstaff came around pretty often and collected the dirty plates. You wouldn’t find a plate left behind for more than five minutes, but it was an easy night.

In terms of beverages, there was a counter for self-serve soft drinks and a coffee machine as well. Pro-tip, the diet drinks are at the bar if you need one.

a display case with several cans of soda

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

two coffee machines with a mirror on the side

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

One of the other features I found nice about the lounge was the sustainable design of the lavatories, which are also made with the current principles of no-touch. You have to wave your hand, and the water will flow for a while. Also, the lavs were pretty clean.

a bathroom with sinks and mirrors

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

a sign on a marble surface

Photo: Ajay Awtaney

Bottomline

Overall, the 080 Lounge is the lounge that the premium passengers flying out of Bengaluru deserved for a very long time, and they now have it. The lounge has various areas, inspired by the work ethic and demographics of the city, and some great food as well. Although, for the moment, the lounge is only accessible with the Priority Pass, Amex Credit Cards and Charge Cards, and select Axis Bank Debit Cards

Have you been over to the 080 Lounge Bangalore? What has been your experience at this lounge?


Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.

Pros

+ Select Entry
+ Various areas for various needs
+ Excellent Food options
+ Empty for most times

Cons

None really

Rating

.

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

More articles by Ajay »

Comments

  1. It’s a decent lounge, nicely decked up, but the staff behaviour at the access is not at all cordial. Makes you feel unwelcome.

  2. In BLR T2 – 080 lounge – Master Card issued by Citibank was denied access on 6 Sept 2024. Receptionist was asking for Credit Cards having eligibility issued by Indian banks only. If you are an international passenger at an international airport and you do not have an Indian Credit Card do you not get an entry? I had the Amex card as well as the International credit cards which allows me access to lounges everywhere else but 080 lounge refused access which was ridiculous. Could you let me know the reason so that I can take it up with my bank as they promised me that this card would give me access to any lounges around the world and i am enjoying the access for the last 2 years as I pay extra for this facility every year.

  3. In BLR T2 – 080 lounge – Master Card World issued by a Dubai bank was denied access on 25 Jun 2024. Receptionist was asking for Credit Cards having eligibility issued by Indian banks only.

  4. Ha ha, in the international terminal Bengaluru , this 080 lounge does not accept international credit cards. Strange but true.

  5. This was my first experience at Bangalore lounge 081, a pleasant one and the service was excellent especially by Ms.dikshitha.

  6. can we access this via PP issue by SCB Premium Super value titanium credit card ?
    Premium SVT offers 1 complimentary lounge access /Month

    • @Vivek, any PPs are allowed there. It is just your responsibility to know if the access is going to be charged or not. As long as your priority pass authenticates, the lounge will let you in.

  7. Hi Ajay, Made interesting reading.
    Sometime in Feb22, I had been to Blr airport, There at the entry of lounge, which had a long cue. One of the lounge executive told me Sir, if you have PP, you can proceed towards the other lounge but, having in mind crowded Blr Airport lounge which is accessible by most of the card and i was traveling to Pune there also not expecting a good lounge in that trip I did not took my Priority pass as it makes my purse heavy and was cursing myself.
    But, I thought of having a look at the new lounge and had a round of the new lounge. your writeup made a interesting reading.
    Couple of things, I would lie to add There are two lounges at Pune airport.
    One is before the security check called Bird lounge which only accepts Priority pass and Amex & Axis debit card but my Axis Vistara Infinia passed there. So there is a possibility of getting it accepted at 080 lounge and other is earth lounge (horrible) after security on the first floor near to gate number 7. Secondly at Delhi also there is a separate lounge for PP & Amex, etc. but, the service quality is detrotited there it should not happen at Bangalore also.

  8. Hi Ajay. Great write up and I visited the 080 lounge a couple of times in March 22. While the food was exceptionally tasty the menu sadly was the same both times and also matches with the menu you had written here. I would hope that it’s just a coincidence that you and I happened to visit this lounge on same menu days. It’s relatively less crowded and has better menu compared to the other domestic lounge right across. So enjoy while we can.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *