Sakura Lounge review in Honolulu airport.

If you are on this side of the planet, there are not many options in terms of lounges. In the part of the flights to the U.S. and the rest of the world, there is a Priority Pass, at the time of my passage, however, it was opening hiccuously and when I passed through it was closed.

Fortunately, having Gold status in the British Airways Executive Club, I was able to take advantage of this lounge because I was flying American Airlines.

In fact, the lounge is shared between American Airlines, which offers it as its own Admirals Club, and Japan Airlines, which offers it as Sakura Lounge.

Access

To gain access one must travel in business or higher with a OneWorld carrier or have at least Sapphire status in one of the various alliance companies. There is no paid entry in any form.

Location

It is located just above the airport food court, you take a hallway and go up one floor of stairs. Impossible to miss since it is in fact the only open door on the entire floor.

The hall

Let's just say it doesn't feel like Hawaii, there's really nothing reminiscent of where we are.

The lounge is very Japanese. Muted colors and everything very basic.

The only original element, but we might as well be in Portugal, are the surfboard and and paddles hanging in the only unglazed wall of the room.

The white walls and furniture, combined with the presence of a lot of glass area, makes the lounge very bright.

Virtually every seat has an outlet available, American and Japanese. Seating is mainly chairs and armchairs of various types.

Services

It is an essential lounge throughout. Available to guests: a printer and a PC.

Immediately in front of the reception desk are lockers to leave your luggage and not have to lug it around the lounge.

And a small corner to print documents. That's it, that's all it offers.

Food & Beverage

No buffet, but a place where you can order drinks, beers, and dishes of the day are offered. I honestly wasn't very hungry, so I didn't taste anything but a glass of Coke.

In conclusion

Since you don't spend every day in Hawaii, my advice is: stay as long as you can at the beach and move as late as possible to the airport, rather than waiting in the lounge.

This is just one of many reviews you can read on our site. Every Wednesday we publish a review of a lounge airport, while every Friday you can read the review of one of our flights or a hotel where we stayed.