The Loft Lounge at Brussels Airport (BRU) is an excellent lounge available even within the Schengen area. In particular, we enjoyed the kids room.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cheese and Chocolate in Western Europe
• United Club LAX: Better Than Your Average United Lounge
• A Great Stay Outside the City Center: The Thompson Chicago
• The Beautiful Air France Lounge ORD
• The Best Inflight Service: KLM 787-10 World Business Class ORD-AMS
• Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht: A Great Stay But Now Pricey
• Perfect Dutch Comfort Food at The Pantry Amsterdam
• Smelt It and Loved It: Restaurant Smelt Amsterdam
• Amsterdam with Kids: Plenty of History, Cheese, and Sweets
• Zaanse Schans: You Must See This Idyllic Spot Near Amsterdam
• NS Lounge Amsterdam Centraal: Sadly, Not Much Here
• Eurostar Premier: Better Than Economy But Still Pretty Basic
• Hilton Brussels Grand Place: A Great Location in Central Brussels
• Le Clan des Belges: One of Our Favorite Meals Ever
• Fin de Siècle: Great Food But Can Have Long Lines
• Mini‑Europe in Brussels: Top Highlights From Our Experience
• Belgian Beer World Experience: Surprisingly Fun for the Family
• Brussels with Kids: History, Chocolate, Fries, and Fun
• Winter Wonders: The Wonderful Brussels Christmas Market
• Brussels Airlines The Loft Lounge: Plenty of Drinks and Smurfs (this post)
• A Bit Too Simple: Brussels Airlines A319 Business Class (Intra-Europe)
• Great for Whisky Lovers: SWISS Senator Lounge E ZRH
• SWISS 777-300ER Business Class: A Comfy Seat and Good Service

This lounge is temporarily closed as of January 2026 and will open as a renovated experience in Summer 2026. Our experience below offers a view into the experience immediately before it closed.

Location of The Loft Lounge at Brussels Airport

The Loft Lounge is located in Terminal A across from Gate A42. Once you clear security, just follow the blue “Lounges” signs that will lead you to the right place.

The Loft Lounge is upstairs, just up this escalator.

And the entrance is immediately in front of you.

Just as a heads up, Brussels Airport is set up such that Gates 60 and below are intended for Schengen (generally, intra-Europe) flights. Beyond that, Gates 61 to 74 are used for Non-Schengen flights and have a passport control station near Gate A60. Since this lounge is located near A42, both Schengen and Non-Schengen customers can use this lounge. Just make sure you plan in enough time to clear passport control if you’re flying beyond Europe.

Access rules

Unfortunately, The Loft Lounge at Brussels Airport is closed for an extensive renovation between January 2026 until “Summer 2026”. When The Loft was in operation, it was available from 5AM to 9PM daily. In the meantime, there are alternative Brussels Airlines lounges you can visit instead:

• Sunrise Lounge (near gate A70), open 8AM – 1PM for Non-Schengen departures, and 3PM – 8:45PM
• The Pop-Up Loft (near gate A27), open 5AM – 9PM

The following guests have access to Brussels Airlines-operated lounges at BRU Terminal A:

• Business class on Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, ITA, or LOT Polish Airlines
• Business class on Star Alliance airlines (only for the Sunrise Lounge on a Non-Schengen departure)
• Lufthansa Miles & More elite members:
  • HON Circle members get access for the member + spouse + companion + children under 18
  • Senator members get access for the member + companion + children under 18
  • Frequent Traveller members get access for only the member
• Star Alliance Gold members on a Stair Alliance flight (access for member + 1 guest)
• ITA Volare card holders (access for member + companion + 2 children, only for The Pop-Up Loft and Sunrise Lounge in the evening)
• Flying Brussels Airlines in economy or premium economy and paying a fee (only for the Sunrise Lounge on a Non-Schengen departure):
  • Premium economy (€39 for 3 hours)
  • Economy (€49 for 3 hours)

As an aside, Priority Pass members do not have access to Brussels Airlines-operated lounges. Those members can go visit the Diamond Lounge instead, which is next to the normal (permanent) location of The Loft.

Seating at The Loft Lounge at Brussels Airport

The Loft Lounge has a directory right at the entrance. It’s nice to see that at a place that can fit as many as 500 guests all at once. Yeah, it’s a large lounge. After renovation, we’re expecting the size of the lounge to not significantly change. But let’s go through the seating options you’d find here.

They had plenty of longer tables that made it easy for both eating and being social.

There were also some comfortable chairs for relaxing, They offered at least some privacy, or perhaps as much as you could get in such a large lounge.

The lounge also had some work stations if you need to get down to business. It would be even better if they offered more privacy in case you needed to take a call, but it’s not bad if you need to be productive.

If you want some natural lighting, there had some plush leather chairs by the windows. This is where we would have been if there were enough seats for us.

The view of the outside is of the apron, and it was fun seeing all the different planes at the gates. The sunrise made for some nice lighting too.

If you’re a HON Circle member (not us), there is a special area reserved for top Miles & More members. This is just to the left of the entrance.

The food

There are two large buffet stations that showcase the food at The Loft. The first is the large circular buffet station that you’ll see immediately upon entering the lounge.

The second is another buffet station over by the Lexus branding (more on that later).

Both buffet stations had the same food options, so it’s not like you’re missing out if you just go to one. However, the station over by Lexus made for better photos, so we’ll use those. Compared to other lounges, you won’t have too much variety but what it lacked in variety, it made up for with good flavor. For a buffet, it’s certainly not bad. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Drinks

While the food options were lacking, they made up for it with drinks. You can always go with soda or juice.

One particular juice that might interest you is the mango passionfruit smoothie. Everyone needs a little smoothie in their life.

Then add in any hard liquor, if that’s how you roll. There is no bartender here so you can make it as strong as you want.

Or, if beer is more of your thing, there were four different beers on tap. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, right?

Psst, if those beers don’t work for you, they had some other bottled beers available in the fridges below.

And if wine is more of your preference, they have that too. Plenty to go around for everyone here!

For completeness, you could also just drink coffee. That’s probably the wiser choice if you’re here in the morning like we were.

Showers

While there are times where I will take a shower in the lounge simply because I have the chance, I didn’t get one here. We weren’t here long enough for me to truly take advantage. Oh well.

To book a shower, just have a chat with lounge staff and they will get you squared away.

I did at least see an open door leading to one of their showers. It looked nicely decorated–far superior to the much-maligned British Airways lounge showers.

Other facilities to help relax

They had more than just showers at The Loft Lounge. There were a variety of ways to personalize your experience and make it more enjoyable.

One option were two massage chairs that overlooked the terminal. While you won’t get much natural lighting, at least you would get a chance to people watch.

There were also several napping rooms. These were all occupied when we were there, so I didn’t get a chance to see what they looked like.

And we’ll just throw this in here: they had some lockers in the lounge. If you’re planning to be here for a while and don’t want to worry about your bags, drop them off here.

Children’s Area

The amenity that we personally used the most was the Kids Corner in the back of the lounge. Our children prefer to hang out where they can be themselves, and so it’s always great to see lounges that offer them the space.

There was a basic set of rules for the kids room. I don’t think there were any surprising rules to using the space. It’s really just a reminder to all guests to help tidy up after using the toys and books in the room.

Tired of seeing Smurfs all throughout Brussels? Well, sorry to say that you’ll see them all over the place in here. They even have bookshelves full of Smurfs books. You’ll see Jenn reading some of those books to Char.

The kids spent plenty of time reading while they were here. They also had some toys that were intended for toddlers, so there’s something for kids of all ages.

Along the theme of something for all ages, if you need some privacy to nurse, it’s nice to have two private feeding rooms here. More lounges need space for this.

In Memoriam: The over-the-top Lexus branding

When The Loft Lounge reopens, it seems certain that the extensive Lexus branding will no longer be prominently displayed. Lexus themselves seem to confirm that. The partnership ran for 7 years between 2018 and January 2026. Lexus proudly boasted The Loft won the World Travel Award for Europe’s leading airline lounge all 7 years.

Anyways, the Lexus branding was all over the place and completely unavoidable. You’ll see the Lexus logo more often than you’ll see the Brussels Airlines logo.

They had a small “movie” theater where they constantly ran Lexus ads.

Feeling hungry? Well, you could look at a Lexus car made entirely from chocolate because why not?

You could actually see all the same contours etched into the block of chocolate. I wonder who took this home after the lounge closed for renovations?

They had all sorts of Lexus memorabilia on the wall, including racing helmets, skateboards, model cars…

…women’s fashion, fragrances, and literature.

They even had model engines in the lounge so you can learn more about electric vehicles. That’s something I’ve always thought about when in a lounge…

Or how about you have a business meeting next to a wall of Lexus parts?

We’ll miss the Lexus elements of the lounge when it reopens. It definitely made for a memorable experience that was unique from every other lounge we went to.

Recommendation: Yes, it was one of the better European business class lounges

When The Loft Lounge was in operation, it met all our basic needs for lounges: plenty of seating, good food, great drinks, and a comfortable spot for the kids. It also had some extras that would have made it nicer if we had a longer stay (no, we’re not talking about the Lexus engine model). In terms of how it stacked up with other European business class lounges, it was one of the better options. That’s especially true if you’re looking specifically at Schengen lounges. We’re not going to call it the best, but we’re comfortable saying it’s one of the better options.

When The Loft reopens, we believe it will continue to be an above-average lounge. It seems silly to replace something good with something worse, but there is a possibility if all they do is rip out the Lexus branding and cut the lounge in half. Perhaps we’ll have to visit the refurbished lounge someday and offer an update?

Did you ever go to The Loft Lounge at Brussels Airport?

Suggested reading:

• Review: Air France Business Class Lounge CDG Terminal 2E Hall K
• Star Alliance: Rules, Elite Status, and Lounge Access
• Why You Need to Collect Lufthansa Miles & More Miles