Lounge Review: Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport Dufry Business Club

One-sentence summary

The Belgrade Airport Dufry Business Club Lounge is one sad affair.

Rating

OVERALL: ⭐⭐★★★

AMBIENCE: ⭐★★★★

FOOD: ⭐⭐★★★

DESSERTS: ⭐★★★★

BEVERAGES: ⭐⭐⭐★★

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: ⭐⭐⭐★★

SERVICES: ⭐★★★★

CROWDEDNESS: ⭐⭐★★★

Entry price & is it worth it?

The Dufry Lounge does not sell entry passes (at least, not in November 2023), you could access it only with a frequent flyer status or a lounge access pass.

Considering that lounge access usually costs between 25-40 euros, you are probably better off spending this money in one of the airport’s cafe’s. Some of them are quite nice.

Location, working hours, access duration

The lounge is located next to gates A4 and A5, and right before the Air Serbia Business Lounge. Airport website mentions that the lounge has 55 seats.

The Dufry Business Lounge is open every day from 6 AM to 10 PM, including weekends.

Passes are valid for three hours by default. However, nobody was checking the length of stay at the lounge, so you can stay longer if necessary.

Experience

I last visited this lounge in November 2023. I gained access with a Dragon Pass, part of the Revolut Ultra payment card benefits package.

Entering the lounge

The Belgrade airport is undergoing renovation in 2023 and 2024. This affected the lounge entry, which was not through the regular entrance, but through the passage to toilets. I must admit, the first view of the lounge door and reception desk was quite unappealing.

Interestingly, I only had to show my lounge access code. The boarding pass was not scanned.

Ambience

At the first look, the lounge seemed to be quite ok, however, it’s quite small. I visited between 11AM-1PM and the lounge was moderately crowded, however, it was easy to find a space to relax or work.

Food

Food is definitively not this lounge’s forte. The only main course served was one type of soup, as well as risotto and pasta.

I didn’t try the soup. Disappointingly, the risotto and the pasta were totally cold. The taste was ok, but the experience would have been significantly better were the food warm.

Another weird surprise were utensils and glasses. There were only plastic utensils on offer. And there were no glass glasses or ceramic cups. You either had to use carton cups for tea and coffee, or plastic cups for other drinks. At least, the plates were of regular ceramic.

Desserts

This was one of the low points of the lounge. If you see any sweets, grab them while you can as you might not have another chance.

When I arrived, there were 5 doughnuts on the central desert station. I assumed these would be regularly replenished, so didn’t take any at first.

However, in my 2 hours at the lounge, no new dessert-type food was served. I inquired with two different staff members if I can have a doughnut at half-hour intervals. And both said that it’s not possible, without any further explanation. I assume there is some kind of an internal quota, which is no more frequent than 5 doughnuts every 2 hours or less frequently for dozens of people.

Beverages

The lounge has two coffee/tea machines. The equipment was sufficiently powerful and there were no queues around it.

Alcoholic beverages

Against the general state of the lounge, I was surprised to find a decent selection of liquor, as well as some beer and wine.

There were two types of white wine, and one brand of red wine.

Crowdedness

At the time when I visited this lounge, it fluctuated between medium and heavy occupancy. The human traffic flow was lightest at 11AM when I entered and got quite busy around 1PM when I left.

Considering that the lounge has one large area without any visual breaks between people, it felt quite full.

If you plan to do any work in this lounge, take headphones or earplugs with you.

Services

There is a small work area in the lounge, however, it’s nothing fancy. It has two public access computers.

If you want to work on your own laptop, before you settle down, check if the nearby power socket works. I laid out all my things only to discover that there’s no power in this place, and I have to relocate to the other end of the table.

The lounge has no showers, nor any other kind of service.

There is no quiet area & no space that would be comfortable for sleeping.

Internet availability and speed

While at least two WiFi networks should have been available at the airport, including the lounge. None of them worked. I was able to connect to one, but there was no data exchange.

The lounge does not have its own dedicated WiFi network.

Toilets and showers

There are no toilets in the lounge. You have to go to the nearby WB, which is located next, but outside the lounge. I had no issues re-entering the lounge.

The lounge has no showers. 

Other lounges in Belgrade airport

Belgrade airport has the following lounges:

• Air Serbia Premium Lounge, next to gate A5, open every day from 5AM to 8PM
• Dufry Business Club

How to get unlimited access to airport lounges?

The typical way how most people access airport lounges is through getting a Frequent Flyer status. In Europe, you usually need to fly at least 30 flight legs with a particular airline alliance to obtain the lower status and access to the alliance’s lounge network.

If you’re loaded or only need lounge access irregularly, you could also pay the 25-40 euro entry fee.

My favorite way to get unlimited airport lounge access is the Revolut Ultra Card. While I have to pay 50 EUR monthly for it, as I fly at least twice a month, which usually involves a departing and returning flight with at least two flight legs, this means I get to use airport lounges between 4-12 times every month. This is the main reason why I decided to pay for this service. If you are also a frequent traveller, you can sign up for Revolut Ultra here.

If you don’t want to pay that much, and have a lounge access if your flight is delayed at least an hour, you can also simply get the Revolut Premium or Revolut Metal cards. Monthly fees for these around 8 and 16 euros each.