Table of Contents
Introduction
Air India recently opened a brand new lounge at SFO in the A gates. This has been well needed because with the growth of United’s long haul network out of SFO, the G gates have been getting crowded and so many Star Alliance carriers such as TAP, EVA, Air India, and Singapore Airlines have been pushed to the A gates.
Entrance
This lounge can be found on level 4 in the same area where the other lounges in the A gates are.
Just follow the signs to the lounges past security and you’ll run into the area where you can see all the lounges at SFO.
The entrance matches the theme of Air India’s rebranding and is fresh and clean.
Access Requirements
While we wait let’s talk about the access requirements for this lounge:
- Star Alliance Carrier Business Class Passengers
- Star Alliance Carrier First Class Passengers (+1 guest in any cabin as long as they are on the same flight)
- Star Alliance Gold Passengers traveling on a Star Alliance flight in economy or premium economy (+1 guest in any cabin as long as they are on the same flight)
Seating
The lounge was split up to 2 different rooms. Below was the first room. My first thoughts was that the lounge looked sharp, it looked clean, and I liked the seating. The first room was where you had a lot of casual seating, and the bar was also here.
Every seat in this middle section had a spacious table for use.
Each of these seats also had 2 power ports, a USB-A port, and a USB-C port. Well, well done!
There was also more table style seating if you wanted to eat more conveniently.
The natural lighting that this lounge was great and you had nice views of some of the widebodies at the A gates.
The second room is where the food and non-alcoholic drinks are.
The lounge also does have its own wifi network and the staff hand you a slip when you walk into the lounge with the details.
Food and Drinks
The bar was a nice setup in the first room where there was seating here as well.
The bar had alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Below is the mocktails menu. The lounge agent did tell me that alcohol wasn’t being served at the moment. I’m not sure if its because this lounge is so new that they haven’t gotten their liquor license yet, or its because this was off hours.
The second room had non-alcoholic beverages and the food.
For food, the lounge had your standard North Indian food items, which I generally avoid because of how creamy and unhealthy is it, and I say this as an Indian. But make no mistake, it’s still undeniably tasty.
Bathrooms
The lounge had 4 individual, unisex bathrooms, rather than segregated men’s and women’s bathrooms.
Air India’s new lounge at SFO is a great option for Star Alliance carriers that are departing from the A gates. It’s a nice space with food, drinks, and wifi. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get here early by any means but it certainly checks all the boxes for things I’d expect out of an outstation lounge. The only thing I wish this lounge had which would’ve been a nice addon is showers.