Review Aspire lounge Sofia airport: even ITA passengers use this VIP lounge

If you start from the capital of Bulgaria it is the only lounge at this airport is located in terminal 2, basically the one used by all companies for international flights.

The airport Looks like a suburban shopping mall in a state of semi-abandonment, I have no idea if it was the covid or a slow agony of passengers, but in what is undoubtedly the busiest part of the airport, it does not seem to be all peaches and cream.

Location

This lounge Is located on the floor below the departure gates, as soon as you go through security there are escalators leading to the exit and baggage claim.

You have to go down and turn left immediately; the lounge is just ahead.

The Aspires are a very popular network of lounges in Europe; they are owned by Swissport a multinational all-around airport services company.

Access

Being the only lounge Is open to all carriers flying from this airport, ITA Airways included, and to Priority Pass and Dragon Pass holders.

The nice thing is that in addition to the ticket At the reception, they also asked me for an invitation, which is a ticket that was handed to me along with the paper tickets , " the attendant asked me where is the guest? And I replied, I travel alone and she, but they wrote +1?" and I replied that I had no idea why, but she could also count me for two.

The lounge

The hall is a large living room, open space, with lots of seating and zero runway view. The nice thing that the would also have a view of the runway, but the windows are obscured by a film that does not stop the light, but prevents you from looking out.

The lounge mirrors the rest of the airport, the most correct term that comes to mind is unkempt, as if it had seen its best days and was now headed for a sad decline.

The only area separate from the rest of the room is the smoking area, which is almost as large as half of the lounge, they say smoke like a Turk, but evidently they also smoke a lot in Bulgaria.

We are in the airport of a capital city, it would be logical to expect something better, but one must also remember that with less than 5M inhabitants and a very, very, small flag carrier Bulgaria is not the busiest place in the world.

Even in terms of amenities, it offers nothing except bathrooms and wi-fi.

Food and beverage

There is a small buffet area, but I also have to say. the presentation of the little supply is sad and uninviting.

The most elegant thing seems to be the bar counter, which like some of the decorative elements of the lounge seem to have been inserted later, to modernize the location.

In conclusion

When I was in school, it was called political 6, and I think this lounge deserves this grade at 100%

• aspire