For the longest time, Ahmedabad Airport has been devoid of a lounge for the premium passengers. There used to be a sorry excuse called the BICA Restaurant, which was pre-security. However, it shut down a few years ago. Now, we have the new Plaza Premium Lounge Ahmedabad open up in the domestic terminal.
Plaza Premium had launched lounges at the international terminal of the Ahmedabad Airport a couple of months ago. You can book access to the International Terminal lounge here. Earlier this week, I was flying back to Mumbai from Ahmedabad, and I was bouncing around the domestic terminal to kill time, only to notice that there was a new lounge open at the domestic terminal as well.
The Plaza Premium Lounge Ahmedabad Airport Domestic Terminal is located on the first floor of the terminal building, where gates 1-4 are situated. Since there is no signage to follow to the new lounge, you should follow the signs to the food court.
There, right next to the food court stands the Plaza Premium Lounge, which was opened to the public only on December 25, 2018. I was there at about 5 AM in the morning, so everything was quiet, and no one was there to bother. 
I walked into the lounge and asked the front desk about complimentary access. I was informed that at this moment, the only way to access the lounge is via Priority Pass, Lounge Key and Lounge Buddy. They did not have credit card tie-ups at the moment. So, I presented them a Priority Pass, and I was signed in quickly.
The Lounge is small but beautiful. It could hold about 50 passengers by my estimates and is organised in three different areas.
On one side of the lounge as you walk in, are solo couches. There are also three of the solo sofas with ottomans and side tables for those who like a view of the airfield operations.
There are a lot of couches also lining up the glass walls with a reasonable view of the airfield.
The centre of the lounge is filled up with community tables, both of the working and dining variety.
There are also small two-person booths, about 4 of them in the lounge.
One side of the lounge is taken over by the kitchen and the food counters. Plaza Premium Lounge has adopted a new approach here, putting on display all the options available, and then serving you warm portions of whatever you would like to have.
The options at the breakfast hour included all sorts of casual dining options, including puffs, biryanis, croissants, sandwiches and cupcakes.
Here are some close-up pictures of the food on display.
I went with a local variant of the poha this morning, but the biryani looked very interesting as well. Apart from food on display, there was bread and soup on offer.
Apart from the various food options, there is a self-service coffee and soft-drink counter.
There was also a shower in the lounge and washrooms next door. Wifi was also provided, but I did not test it out separately given I was there for a very short time.
All in all, it was a perfect lounge for the small space that it is situated in. As a recap, the ways to access the lounge right now via the Priority Pass, or you could buy one-time access with Lounge Buddy. You can also access this lounge via the Jet Airways ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card.
Have you been to the Plaza Premium Lounge Ahmedabad Domestic Terminal? What has been your experience with this lounge?
how is Lounge Key concept different from Priority Pass (other than the fact that its digital only card), given that they are operated by the same company?
@kalpesh, I think the assortment of lounges is smaller, and offered at a lower price. Also lounge key is only b2b, so you can’t buy it off the rack as a customer if I remember correctly.
Nice and hygienic lounge , first floor terminal 1 , I would like to mention two people Preet ( boy) and Roshni , they are so good in customer service , humble and we’ll taught n amazing attitude. Thanks a lot , you both made my day
Hello,
As I have physical Paytm debit card and as they says, 2 complimentary entries allowed per quarter year. Is this card valid at Ahmedabad New Plaza Premium lounge ? Pl guide .
Thanks.
SJ
Recently ( 4th August 19) was at the Plaza Lounge at T2 , international terminal. They accepted IDFc bank visa signature cards. But not the patt
I have a HDFC visa platinum Debit Card May I access Free lounge with free food at Ahmedabad
It’s sad that they still DON’T accept:
ICICI – Jet – AMEX card
ICICI – Jet – Visa card
Rupay
Plaza Premium at Ahmedabad International Terminal does accept all of the above, iirc.
I was there earlier this week and they are now accepting HDFC Diners card . Apart from Diners they also accept ICICI coral i believe and one variant of Amex ( i forgot which one ) . he also mentioned a couple more but still no affiliations with Visa or Mastercard so all the popular lounge cards still don’t work there .
Ahmedabad is growing with a fast pace and debut of plaza premium lounge in Gujarat by launching it on Ahmedabad Airport is just a step forward. I really appreciate your way of explaining the entry and directions to the lounge with photographs. Also all the aspects from a traveller’s point of view are covered here and it helped me a lot this time I visited the airport.
Can I access to this lounge thru diners club membership credit car???
Guys.. Btw, there is a new Lounge opened at Udaipur Airport (first Lounge opened post Security) around Christmas time.
Cards allowed – VISA, DINERS and RuPay.
Cash – Rs. 1,000 per person (if I recollect)
Business Class passengers not permitted
Buffet Counter & Hot Beverages served
Only solace in this crowded airport
Forgot to take pics
Name – Golden Chariot Lounge
Along with above mentioned now they have started accepting ICICI Bank Cards which are eligible for lounge access!
Actually just debit cards. They denied my credit card.
As of now, just priority pass and ICICI debit card
Plaza Premium opened up at Ahmedabad International Terminal too, sometime in Nov 2018 I guess. However, when I visited on Dec 9, they were allowing only Priority Pass & AMEX Platinum card holders to access the lounge. Not sure about Lounge Buddy.
There was a Port Lounge at the International Terminal earlier which is now shut (sadly!). I agree that the food wasn’t really great, nor did they have enough options, it did allow Visa and Mastercard holders to access the lounge at least. The new Plaza Premium Lounge does not have any bank tie-ups and I really hate them because they made Port Lounge vanish.
Huh.. lucky to read this, as have a flight tomorrow morning itself..could be handy..
Any idea about timings of lounge? As have 5 am flight.
Also, I have a priority pass via yes preferred first, but I think limited number of complimentary lounges (5 I think? Not sure).
So will this be counted towards same? Or just showing a priority card works?
“Or just showing a priority card works?”
Seriously?!!
Hahaha… Well, TBH, yet to take advantage of priority pass :p
So no clue.
And actually I “think” I have seen someone just show a priority pass and enter the lounge few years back in Mumbai. Though was young and didn’t know much, so could be mistaken but it felt like that to me.
Anyway, if assuming I have few complimentary lounges in my priority pass, can they be used in India?
Again, never used pp till date.
Priyansh,
Yes First Preferred comes with 4 free lounge access in a calendar year.
On HDFC & Axis bank issued Priority Pass the free access is limited to International lounges (i.e. located abroad) . You are charged (on credit card) if you swipe HDFC and Axis bank issued Priority Pass at a lounge in India (both domestic and international airport). This is because the credit card (that comes with Priority Pass) has free access to Indian lounges through Visa or Master Card Lounge Program (generally limited to 2-4 visit a quarter). Since the bank pay a higher per visit fee to Priority Pass company than to Visa/Master Card they restrict the free Priority Pass access to only international lounges and charge you for Indian lounge visit.
I am not sure if the same holds true for Priority Pass issued by other banks (including Yes Bank). Maybe Ajay can throw some light on this.
Thanks a lot
@Priyansh Modi you pay for the lounge, and this will be counted as a trip on your Priority Pass. The lounge is open 24×7, so accessible at 5 am too.
Ajay, how is Lounge Key concept different from Priority Pass (other than the fact that its digital only card), given that they are operated by the same company?
@Arjun, you got that right. I think with LoungeKey you don’t need a separate plastic or account, you can just deal with the card from your bank and tell them it is linked to LoungeKey. Both of them use the same terminal as well at the lounges.
Hmm… After spending 2.5 years in Gujarat with the majority of my trips through Ahmedabad airport (wasting many hours inside Ahmedabad airport waiting for aircraft, spending money on food and drinks) and when it is the time say bye to Gujarat, here comes a lounge at Ahmedabad domestic.