Singapore Airlines has its very own lounge at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2.

While some people may find it odd that SQ operates its own lounge at an airport where there’s only two flights a day, frequent flyers will recall that SQ used to run its Singapore-US services via Taipei until the 2000s, and this lounge had a far better service proposition back then for Singapore Airlines’ very own premium customers.

Star Alliance gold members have no lack of lounges to choose from at Taoyuan International Airport. With home carrier EVA Air operating out of Terminal 2, Star Alliance gold members and business class passengers on the Star Alliance carriers can either hop into EVA Air’s several lounges or to the Singapore Airlines lounge.

So let’s focus a little on the Singapore Airlines lounge. Tucked away on the fourth floor, a level above the retail level, the lounge is well sign-posted even though the entrance is not very obvious.

The lounge is one of the smallest out of all the SQ SilverKris lounges around the world. Taking the shape of a rather long and narrow rectangle, there is a row of armchairs closer to the windows, with a theatre-style sofa arrangement facing a TV screen on the other side.

The refreshment area is at the far end of the lounge, with its usual service of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and warm food. My comfort food is always a small cup of ice cream and I recalled SilverKris Seoul lounge serving that, but this certainly wasn’t available in Taipei’s lounge.

Also, the lounge didn’t serve champagne, and the selection of wines were rather crappy as well.

However, what I like about Taiwan in general is the food – and this was reflected in the Asian fare served up by the lounge.

On the menu today included Teriyaki Chicken, fried rice, dumplings, miso soup and the ubiquitous Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice, or lu rou fan. I was full before I went into the lounge, but greedy me couldn’t resist having another serving of it before I head home.

The lounge also has shower facilities in the toilets located at the back of the lounge, although I didn’t really check it out.

Overall, the lounge is definitely by far one of the least impressive of the SilverKris network, given the size of the lounge and how dated it feels. One may also wonder if it makes any business sense for Singapore Airlines to continue maintaining its own lounge in Taipei given its flight frequency as well as its relative strength against its key competitor in the market, EVA Air. As Taipei no longer is a strategic market for Singapore Airlines given it is now a end destination rather than a transit hub, I don’t foresee any further investment for Singapore Airlines to refresh the lounge product or even sustain the lounge in the longer horizon.

Singapore Airlines SilverKris Taipei Lounge

Taipei Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2, Level 4
Opening hours: 0530-1745H daily