Dublin Airport Lounge- Which would you recommend?

The Lounges in Dublin are not the best, I would avoid the Aer Lingus Lounge especially if you are paying for it. If you are going to the US 51st & Green is not bad but they are an expensive treat with poor offerings. That's just my opinion anyway.

The lounges aren't great but they're not that expensive. I usually find that by the time you have food and a drink in the airport you've spent the same as what you would have in the lounge, but you have quieter surroundings, better wifi etc.

Also, you don't really have much choice of lounge in Dublin, it's either the general one or your airlines one.

We flew business class to the US at xmas 2021, a xmas treat. After the long US clearance Q's we had 30 mins in the T2 lounge (after US preclearance). It was 12pm, hardly any food, didnt mind as we'd get fed on the plane. But the place was packed, lucky to even get a seat. Kids running around, teenagers shouting, ... it was a mess. I have used lounges before mainly for work in other countries and they felt like luxury ... but not Dublin. I would not pay for it, I would only use it when flying business.

I find the lounges in dublin are grand if you are at the airport regularly and need a space to sit, work or read. They’re very functional and not really destinations to visit for a treat. If you were connecting in dublin and had a multi-hour layover, I’d recommend any of them, but I wouldn’t recommend going to the airport early just to use them. Would suggest you save your money and spend the 30 euro or so a head on a treat at your destination.

I was in this lougnue last week. It used to be the Etihad lounge, and back then it was very good. Hot meals, food menu, free flowing champagne. Then it became Emirates, rebrand but the same services. Then covid closed it and it is now open again but shared by a few airline.

The hot food is now a soup. The Champagne is no prosecco and the meals are sandwiches. I had a shower last week there and it was handy. I wouldn't pay for it unless I was getting a good few drinks before the flight, which I don't do.

Are lounges anywhere worth it?

I'm mostly limited to Northern European travel, and through various cards, statuses etc have access to lots of lounges over the past 5 or 7 years. Glasgow, LHR, DUB, EDI, AMS, Eindhoven, Marseille, Gothenburg etc.

...and all have the same poor selection of soggy mini pastries, biscuits etc. I don't drink, so can't take advantage of the alcohol. The only thing they are useful as is a quiet place to work.

Lounges in major international hubs are generally a lot better in my experience. +1 to DXB's EK lounge being great. Getting to board the plane straight from the lounge, and not queue at all with the economy passengers, is also something very cool to add to Noxegon's list.

Asian hubs are generally good too, but even American airports tend to have decent ones too.

I think its just that so much European traffic is point to point shorthaul, and/or low cost airlines. A major focus for airports here is keeping costs down to keep airport surcharges down, and we have far fewer business class passengers with long connection times.

Proper business as in not 3+3 seating? Any EI operated A321NEO to/from LHR has the best seat on all short haul business narrow body anywhere, let down by the catering.

Most business travel polices have a total ban on business or a +6 hour flight clause, I've never been entitled to fly business

Any company I've ever worked for has a +4 hour rule for business class flights, I believe thats a fairly common cutoff point too. But even that rules out almost every European flight route from DUB, unless I can somehow convince a boss to send me to Cyprus or Tenerife for work...

51&G has the added perk of being a terrific place to plane spot.

But agreed overall, the lounge products in DUB are very much so-so, just spent a decent chunk of time in AF's T2F lounge and that is very, very nice. The comp facial massage is a great amenity.

I used to go Prioritypass, and I may end up with status from KLM this year, but I gave up on Lounges pre-pandemic when I flew out of Stansted and the hot food option was four different types of pasta.

Cheap and nasty, I figured I would rather spend the €15-odd that I worked out it cost me per Lounge visit, on a meal somewhere in the terminal.

I got into the Aer Lingus lounge free recently and was really disappointed

The East Lounge has gone downhill post-COVID. It's still the best of the bunch, but it's not a patch on some of the business lounges in places like DXB or DOH.

You can sign up to something like Priority Pass but realistically, unless you're talking about 10 visits to lounges, you're probably better off just paying as you go.