Which Airlines Have Onboard Bars & Lounges?

Which Airlines Have Onboard Bars & Lounges?

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While airlines are doing everything they can to squeeze more seats onto planes in economy, in many cases airlines are increasingly allocating more space to first and business class.

For the most part, this comes in the form of more comfortable and spacious seats, though around a handful of airlines take it a step further by offering special onboard amenities, like inflight bars and lounges. After all, when you’re on an ultra long haul flight, there’s something really nice about being able to stretch your legs, and possibly even mingling with some of your fellow passengers.

In fairness, in many cases these bars and lounges are pretty efficient, in the sense that they don’t take up much usable space. That’s to say that they’re often installed in areas where there couldn’t otherwise be seats.

Below I’ll cover the bars and lounges you’ll currently find on commercial airplanes. Sadly the number of these available has decreased over the years, with some airlines having retired jets that feature these (never mind that this concept probably peaked decades ago).

With that out of the way, let’s get right into it.

Emirates A380 onboard bar

Emirates is the airline most well known for its bars, as the airline has 100+ Airbus A380s that feature a bar at the back of the upper deck, for first and business class passengers. This is something that Emirates has marketed widely, and for good reason.

The bar is staffed throughout the flight, and you can either enjoy a drink at the bar, or take one back to your seat. There’s a huge list of cocktails to choose from, and there are also a variety of self-serve snacks available.

There is quite a bit of foot traffic at the bar, as business class flight attendants are constantly walking through the bar to get between the galley and cabin. That being said, it’s also one of the liveliest onboard bars, and if you have a fun flight attendant, you’re sure to have a good time.

Emirates Airbus A380 bar
Emirates Airbus A380 bar
Emirates Airbus A380 bar

Note that some of Emirates’ newest A380s have a new style bar. So while the idea is the same, the design is a bit different, with a “booth” of seats facing one another, rather than just one bench along each side of the fuselage.

Emirates Airbus A380 bar

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class bar & lounge

Virgin Atlantic is well known for its aircraft social spaces, though it’s something the airline has evolved on quite a bit. Historically Virgin Atlantic has had an onboard bar, and this is something you’ll still find on the Boeing 787 and Airbus A330. This is a fairly small place with just a few seats, and you’ll only find a “bartender” there at some points during the flight.

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 bar

However, Virgin Atlantic has an updated social lounge on its Airbus A350s (which you’ll also find on A330-900neos), known as “The Loft.” Standard A350s have a lounge area immediately behind business class, featuring a few couches, as well as an entertainment screen. Crews will generally check on you to see if you want to order any drinks or snacks here, though the area isn’t otherwise formally staffed.

Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350 lounge

Virgin Atlantic’s newest leisure A350s have a much smaller Upper Class cabin, and have a new lounge concept, known as “The Booth.” As the name suggests, this is essentially just a booth. While here, you can enjoy a private dinner for two, a cognac tasting, a wine tasting, or game time.

Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350 lounge

Qatar Airways A380 onboard bar

While Qatar Airways has a much smaller A380 fleet than Emirates, I’d argue the carrier’s onboard bar is even nicer. The bar is available to first and business class passengers, and is located behind the business class cabin (in front of the small upper deck economy cabin). The bar is gorgeous, spacious, and has plenty of seating.

Furthermore, there’s virtually no foot traffic, given that the flight attendants don’t have to walk past the bar to provide their service. At the bar you can order a huge selection of drinks, from wine to cocktails to mocktails. There are also some light snacks available there throughout the flight.

Qatar Airways Airbus A380 bar
Qatar Airways Airbus A380 bar

Korean Air A380 onboard lounge

Korean Air has a lounge at the back of the A380 upper deck behind business class, named the Celestial Bar. It’s an inviting space with a good amount of seating. It’s operated in conjunction with Absolut vodka, and there’s a specialty list of aviation-themed cocktails.

What’s a bit odd is that Korean Air just serves the signature cocktails at the bar, and not other drinks. So if you want something else to drink you explicitly have to ask the crew to fetch it from the galley. Still, the space itself is pretty, and who doesn’t love a vodka-based aviation-themed libation?

Korean Air Airbus A380 lounge

Qantas A380 onboard lounge

At the front of the Airbus A380 upper deck, Qantas has a lounge area that features two sets of booths, intended for business class passengers. This is in the same area where Emirates has its A380 showers, so this is truly just using up space that couldn’t otherwise really be utilized. There’s not much in the way of formal service here, but crews will gladly bring you snacks and drinks.

Qantas Airbus A380 onboard lounge
Qantas Airbus A380 onboard lounge

Etihad A380 onboard lounge

While Etihad had planned on retiring its Airbus A380s, the airline made the decision to bring a few of these back as of the summer of 2023, with plans to fly exclusively to London and New York. The Etihad A380 has a social lounge located between first and business class, known as “The Lobby.”

This space has a couple of couches that can accommodate half a dozen people, and flight attendants are also happy to service food and drinks here, though beyond that this space isn’t “staffed.”

Etihad Airbus A380 onboard lounge
Etihad Airbus A380 onboard lounge bar area

Bottom line

It’s incredible to see how far airlines have come with onboard bars and lounges. Emirates and Virgin Atlantic are most famous for this concept, but you’ll also find it on Qatar Airways, Korean Air, Qantas, and Etihad. Sadly the number of airlines offering these products has decreased over time, and that will likely only continue further, as the number of A380s flying decreases.

Which airline has your favorite onboard bar or lounge?

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  1. iamhere Guest

    A nice feature but this is probably the least of the reasons why most people choose an airline. Besides the plane could be swapped out at the last moment....lol

    1. Lisa Guest

      We were next to the bar (Emirates) on the day leg of the flight, it was really good to stretch your legs and the flight attendant made me a coffee which was great. It was quiet though, no hordes of boozing customers. There was one passenger boring the female flight attendant to death leaning on the bar.

      On the night leg on the 2nd plane we were quite a few seats away, never heard...

      We were next to the bar (Emirates) on the day leg of the flight, it was really good to stretch your legs and the flight attendant made me a coffee which was great. It was quiet though, no hordes of boozing customers. There was one passenger boring the female flight attendant to death leaning on the bar.

      On the night leg on the 2nd plane we were quite a few seats away, never heard any noise and in fact the flight attendant was trying to drum up business by offering me a cocktail as I staggered bleary eyed to the loo in the middle of the night!

  2. Jay Guest

    No discussion, IMHO best bar, hands down is Qatar A380 bar. Emirates is a close second. Those two are the only ones that are regularly staffed.

  3. Robbie Guest

    Flew Emirates round trip Hong Kong to Bangkok. The bar was packed and fun. I even got to bartend! For sure, this was a highlight of the flight.

  4. Craig Guest

    I flew on the Korean 380 about six years ago. At that time Vodka Bar was in the back of the upper deck. However, the was a serve-yourself bar at the front end of the upper deck. There I enjoyed my share of Hognny Walker Blue.

  5. Robert Member

    I flew QANTAS LAX-SYD a few weeks ago and the lounge was basically unused the whole flight. No one thinks to go there, it's not well-advertised by the crew, and it was curtained off most of the flight.

  6. Chris Guest

    I'm no teetotaler by any means, but the chance of a bar somewhere near my seat would be a major factor against choosing a given airline. That just sounds like a recipe for noise all night long.

    1. AD Diamond

      And that has historically been a problem with the VS bars... if you wanted to sleep you didn't want to be seated in the back of the business class cabin. I haven't flown on a VS flight with a bar in quite a few years though. I do love the bar and social space concepts, but tend not to use them if I'm traveling on my own.

  7. Patti Guest

    Love the Emirates bar and the food is pretty good there.

  8. Airfarer Diamond

    The Virgin bar on the 330 neo is a pretty small gloomy area. Just two benches facing each other. You are sitting there with nowhere to put your drink and loo traffic going by.

  9. Khatl Diamond

    Been on multiple Virgin flights out of LHR and every time the Loft's floor space is used by the cabin crew to store their carts.

    1. Anthony Diamond

      Passengers are given no reason to use the Loft, so no one ever uses it. In that case, I could see why cabin crew just store carts there. Again, wasted space which should be returned to an actual bar

  10. Anthony Diamond

    Virgin has downgraded its bars from what they were 15-20 years ago. Now some may welcome that, but I think the airline has lost a unique feature. The loft, which is basically a wasted space now in my experience, is not a suitable replacement. I would encourage them to bring back traditional bars that are fully staffed.

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Chris Guest

I'm no teetotaler by any means, but the chance of a bar somewhere near my seat would be a major factor against choosing a given airline. That just sounds like a recipe for noise all night long.

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Anthony Diamond

Passengers are given no reason to use the Loft, so no one ever uses it. In that case, I could see why cabin crew just store carts there. Again, wasted space which should be returned to an actual bar

1
Lisa Guest

We were next to the bar (Emirates) on the day leg of the flight, it was really good to stretch your legs and the flight attendant made me a coffee which was great. It was quiet though, no hordes of boozing customers. There was one passenger boring the female flight attendant to death leaning on the bar. On the night leg on the 2nd plane we were quite a few seats away, never heard any noise and in fact the flight attendant was trying to drum up business by offering me a cocktail as I staggered bleary eyed to the loo in the middle of the night!

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