As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I wanted to spend a day on the Tata-owned airlines, one for the books, and for benchmarking the services offered on board all three carriers in one go. Airlines have their off days, and I don’t hold them to it, and flying all three on the same day just sounded an excellent plan to remove any biases in many cases. So, I flew Air India between Delhi and Bengaluru on Air India’s Dreamliner and between Bengaluru and Hyderabad on AirAsia India. From Hyderabad, I was going to fly Vistara to Delhi. Before that, I spent some time at the Plaza Premium Hyderabad Airport Lounge (Domestic).

Plaza Premium Hyderabad Airport Lounge (Domestic)

The Plaza Premium Lounge at Hyderabad Airport has been the only and the oldest airport lounge operator at Hyderabad airport for the longest time. However, the lounge had not kept up with the growth of traffic, and it had been under renovation for the longest time. However, somewhere before March 2021, the lounge had reopened and that is when I had a quick trip to the lounge for the first time. However, this was my first longish trip to the lounge after things had reopened.

The lounge at Hyderabad Airport Domestic is at Gate 28, but all you will see is an elevator that will take you one level down to where the lounge is located.

Once you arrive one level down, you will find a reception where you can check into the lounge. If your card offers you complimentary lounge access via Visa /MasterCard / Rupay/ American Express or Priority Pass, Lounge Key or on an airline’s invitation, you will need to check in here. You can also buy Lounge Access. Usually, the queues here are very long, but since I was flying on a Saturday evening, fortunately, I was spared the queues.

On this trip, I used the invitation provided by Vistara to me as a platinum tier member of Club Vistara to access the lounge.

The lounge is largely divided into 5 areas. As you enter, you see a seating area overlooking the airfield operations. There are also some solo couches with ottomans here, which I used on my last trip. However, I did not notice any empty recliners this time around.

 

There is a whole array of couches behind with interspersed charging plugs amongst the chairs, in a standard assortment as you would see at any Plaza Premium Lounge across the globe.

Across this seating area, there is a bar. While the bar is well stocked, all the drinks at this lounge are to be paid for. The Cheeselings and Peanuts are free though.

There is a large restaurant and dining area right behind the bar with live F&B counters apart from a buffet on display. There are many seating options here.     

Me and my bag chose to take up one of these two-seaters to keep away from the other people roaming around without a mask around me.

These workstation-cum-dining chairs also had good charging facilities available with USB and power ports both available.

There was also a community working/dining table with charging options.

Behind the community table, there is another room, named “The Retreat” with more couches.

This room had solo workstations also, which you could use to work, but some folk used it as a nap area as well.

Also, there were these couches with added tables.

Overall, the lounge had a lot of space and was done up in a way that everyone could pick a table as per their use case. And it was not overly crowded, which is something I liked about it.

In terms of Food and Beverage offerings, there are three permanent counters of note, coffee, sodas and fresh-brew Tea.

Apart from this, there are food offerings that change per time of day. The four major ones I know of are Breakfast, Lunch, Supper and Late Night Dining. Since I was there about 6 p.m., they were serving up meals from the evening dining menu. While the menu was all set up for a self-service buffet, with pandemic protocols still in place, meals are still being served up on single-use plates with single-use cutlery.

In one corner, there were soup and bread rolls

Next to it, there were cold salads and accompaniments. 

Adjacent to it was hot meal options such as rice, paneer curry, falafels, chicken curry, dal and dry vegetable preparations.

 

There was also a live counter serving up Dosas.

On my last visit here in March 2021, I remember the lounge had a nice breakfast setup as well, offering the usual assortment of dosas, idlis and eggs. The quality of the food was great, which is not something I can say about many airport lounges in India.

Also, the lounge was continuously being swept and the plates were being cleaned out. There were also showers, but I could not find them.

For internet connectivity, you can collect a voucher from the reception that would provide you free premium connectivity, although, for me, I just used my phone hotspot to connect because I am usually wary of public internet connections.

Overall, this is a great setting for spending a few hours between flights, and there was nothing to find a fault with at this lounge.

Bottomline

The Hyderabad Airport Lounge, which is operated by Plaza Premium, has a good assortment of F&B options to spend a few hours before your domestic flight out of HYD. The lounge is the only option for airlines (Vistara and Air India) offering Lounge Access to their elites and Business Class customers. You can also gain access via most credit cards. The Lounge easily seats about 100 passengers.

Have you been to the Hyderabad Airport Domestic Lounge? What has been your experience here?

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