As part of my Taiwanese airline trifecta trip, I had a 4-hour layover in Taoyuan International Airport after arriving in Taipei on Starlux’s superb A350-900 business class. Taoyuan airport surprisingly has a lot of airport lounges so I made plans to review as many as I could in the 4 hours I had. The first stop on this lounge-hopping adventure was the Plaza Premium Zone A lounge.
Lounge Info
- Location: Terminal 2 Level 4
- Hours: 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM
- Eligibility: Passengers with Priority Pass membership and a same-day departing ticket. Full eligibility rules here.
Entrance
Taoyuan International Airport is pretty well organized and has nearly all of the Terminal 2 lounges grouped together near the main departure security area close to the C gates. The Plaza Premium Zone A lounge and the other lounges are all on level 4 which is 1 floor up from the departure level and can be accessed via a nearby escalator. At the bottom of the escalator is a convenient sign that lists all of the lounges and shops in the vicinity.
After getting off at the top of the escalator, you’ll find a large map of all the lounges and shops found on the 4th floor. The green boxes on the map are all lounges. This floor is easy to navigate as it’s just a large hollowed-out rectangle.
The quickest way to get to the Plaza Premium Zone A lounge is to turn left and walk past all of the EVA lounges. You can also turn right and cut through the food court but it’ll be a much busier path.
It’s very hard to miss this lounge since the entrance is marked by the lounge’s name displayed in large letters as well as a smaller sign to the left of the lounge entrance. The desk workers will scan your Priority Pass membership and check your boarding pass before granting you access to the lounge.
There is also a second Plaza Premium lounge named Zone A1 that is nearby to this lounge. I forgot to go when it was open but managed to snap some pictures on my return trip through Taoyuan. Unfortunately, it was closed during the time I went but this lounge is an exposed outdoor area with similar decor and amenities to this Zone A lounge. I feel that the Zone A1 lounge would be very noisy and lack any privacy since it has no ceilings and is near the food court. Because of these things, I think Zone A lounge is the better of the two lounges.
Layout and Atmosphere
The layout of the Plaza Premium lounge is just a rectangle with 3 main sections. The first section of the lounge is the dining area with the middle section featuring the majority of the seating and also the exclusive amenities like the VIP rooms and nap rooms. The last section at the end of the lounge is where the bathroom and showers are located.
This lounge is not very big and you can walk around the whole interior in about 5 minutes. You can move between each section of the lounge via 2 main hallways that run along the long ends of the lounge and span the entire length of the lounge.
The lounge has a modern aesthetic with a mixture of wood and granite, neutral colors, and contemporary-style seating options. It looked decent but felt bland and didn’t leave much of an impression due to a lack of unique designs or features.
One of the biggest standouts to me was how weird the layout of the lounge was. Right when you enter the lounge, you’re immediately met with the dining room which is atypical of most lounges. This gave me quite a shock since the first thing I encountered entering the lounge was how busy and chaotic the dining area was from all of the guests getting food and workers moving about. I was surprised how crowded it already was at 6:30 AM and can only imagine how hectic it gets during the busier hours of the day.
Seating
Despite how crowded the lounge was, I was still able to find a seat in the dining area pretty easily. The dining area does offer a good amount of seating and I liked how there was a variety of seating that included booths, 2-seater dining tables, larger communal tables, and sofas with coffee tables.
The booths also have TVs near them playing local entertainment that are easy to see from the other seats in the dining area.
After going past the dining area into the main seating area, you’ll find rows of leather chairs that make the room look like a movie theater or a gate waiting area. The designers of this lounge definitely went for maximizing space here over aesthetics haha.
There are various table lamps throughout the room that sit on some granite slabs situated in between some of the chairs. I felt that using granite here was an interesting choice because it just added more gray to the already drab room and didn’t help provide relief from how monotonous the room was. The whole room just felt very mundane and basic. However, I do think that the wooden segmented walls that allow you to walk into the room at different parts were a nice touch and added some much-needed flavor to the room.
Despite its lackluster appearance, I found this area to be the most relaxing since it was very empty and peaceful. This was a huge contrast to the busyness and how loud it was in the dining area. I would recommend lounging in here if it’s not too crowded.
Dining
The best thing about this lounge was for sure the food options. I was impressed with all the different kinds of food options guests could choose from. There were hot trays of food, various pastries, and different kinds of cold dishes too.
As a nitpick, some of the food trays were chipped and certain parts of the food counter were dirty from crumbs or spilled food. I feel that the lounge could have done a better job using more presentable trays and cleaning up messes.
Besides that, I loved how there were local Taiwanese options like steamed buns and congee. It was great seeing the buns served in traditional steam containers too.
In addition to all of these foods, there were also some western options available as well. You could grab crackers, various breads, and jams. There was even a convenient toaster oven available for you to toast your breads in.
However, my favorite part of the entire lounge was the live cooking counter. This was so cool because it features an exposed kitchen window where you can place orders with a worker and have them freshly prepare made-to-order dishes for you.
There is a menu in front of the live cooking counter showcasing the 4 items that guests can order from. You only need to tell the worker which item you want and they’ll prepare it for you on the spot and call you when it’s ready.
I ordered the sesame oil chicken and didn’t think it was good. The broth was bland and the noodles were thin with no chewiness. I prefer thicker, bouncier noodles so this dish wasn’t a good fit for my taste. I would recommend the Taiwanese braised pork rice instead since it’s a popular Taiwanese dish and generally tastes really good.
Drinks
The drink selection in this lounge was also pretty decent. The dining area has a stocked refrigerator with sodas, teas, and juices. Taiwan has some great local drinks so it was nice seeing these offered in the lounge too. The picture below doesn’t show it but there were also pitchers of milk in the top section of the fridge.
Nearby this fridge are some drink towers with flavored water and orange juice.
There is also an automatic coffee machine next to the live cooking counter.
Amenities
This lounge does offer VIP sections that are found along the hallway on the left side of the lounge.
I honestly don’t get the point of these VIP rooms since they’re exposed areas with slightly nicer seating compared to the rest of the lounge. They offer little to no privacy since anyone walking by can easily peer into the section. It reminded me of a table section in a club haha.
At the very end of the hallway is the meeting room, which wasn’t open when I was there.
The most interesting amenity this lounge offers is reservable nap rooms. There are 2 nap rooms in this lounge complete with 2 double beds and a private bathroom. This nap room is not free and must be purchased either by talking to the front counter worker or reserved in advance online. I was shocked at how expensive it was to reserve these rooms. You have to pay 4980 NTD (~$154) or 6000 NTD (~$204) for 6-hour and 12-hour reservations respectively.
While these rooms look nice, it’s hard to justify that high of a price point. I’m curious how many guests actually pay to use these rooms.
Near the lounge entrance are also some magazines and a TV displaying upcoming departures.
This lounge offers free wifi that is easy to connect to and I didn’t have any issues with the speed.
Bathroom and Showers
The bathrooms were very standard and didn’t have anything unique about them. I appreciated that they were clean and well-kept.
This lounge does have showers but they are not free. You have to talk to the front desk worker to reserve the shower and find out about pricing. The factsheet on the Plaza Premium website does state that the shower rooms have complimentary amenity items like shower gel, shampoo, bath
towel, dental kit, hair dryer, comb, and shower cap. However, if the nap room pricing is any indication of the shower pricing, I’d expect the shower to be quite expensive to reserve.
Conclusion
The Plaza Premium Zone A Lounge in Taoyuan International Airport is a decent lounge for being on Priority Pass. Its best feature is the wide array of dining options and the live cooking counter. Besides that, the lounge being small, not very aesthetically pleasing, and lacking free showers prevent it from standing out as a great lounge. I’d recommend going to the nearby Oriental Lounge which is also on Priority Pass and is a much better lounge overall.
What are your thoughts on the Plaza Premium Zone A Lounge at Taoyuan International Airport?
