10 Airport Restaurants Where You Can Eat Free

by Gary Leff

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Priority Pass is a card that gets you into lounges around the world. You don’t have to belong to an individual lounge program, this program works to have lounges in most of the places you go.

There are over 1000 airport lounges that a Priority Pass will gain you access to, most of those are spread throughout airports around the world.

They’ve added restaurants in some airports instead of lounges in order to expand their footprint. Your Priority Pass card gets you a $28 food and beverage credit (plus $28 per guest, where applicable).

In Denver I’ll make the hop over to concourse C on the train, all the gates are connected airside, and have a meal at Timberline Steaks. Most recently it was breakfast.


Salmon breakfast pizza

Then in Miami directly in front of Precheck security in American Airlines concourse D is Corona Beach House.

If they’d add restaurants at the Austin airport and Washington National I feel like I’d never have to pay for food again.

Here’s the current list of airport restaurants where you can eat with your Priority Pass:

  • Cleveland – Bar Symon, between gates C4 and C6
  • Denver – Timberline Steaks (restaurant) – Concourse C center
  • Lexington, Kentucky – Kentucky Ale Taproom (restaurant) – after security next to Concourse B entrance
  • Miami – Corona Beach House (restaurant) – Concourse D between Gates D23 and D24
  • New York JFK – Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, Terminal 8 on the right after security
  • Portland – Capers Cafe Le Bar (restaurant) – Concourse C after security
  • Portland – Capers Market (restaurant) Concourse D after security
  • Portland – House Spirits Distillery (restaurant) – Gate C6
  • St. Louis – The Pasta House (restaurant) – Terminal 1 Landside by Baggage Claim
  • St. Louis – The Pasta House (restaurant) – Terminal 2 Opposite Gate E6

The terms at each venue vary, you may not be able to do takeaway, you may be on the hook for costs beyond the base meal price, you may be limited in guests regardless of your Priority Pass terms — so if it matters how much on top of your $28 per person credit you get then look up the restaurant before you go since terms can change as well.

I have Priority Pass Select cards from several different credit cards, for instance I have both the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Platinum Card by American Express. I actually write on the back of the card which credit card it came with because each offers different privileges.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  2. Have you eaten at Bobby Van’s? I found the bridge at the Flagship Lounge to be crummy, so I was excited. Takes away any reason to upgrade from J to F on JFK-LAX I think.

    Corona Beach house is pretty poor quality ingredients. I’d stick to nachos and beer, the chicken was fast food quality, seemed liked reformed chicken.

  3. Misleading Title!!!! Priority Pass comes with a fee so your meals aren’t FREE!

    Click Bait!

  4. Could you discuss the process? Do you order food, and then when asked to pay for it, show them the Priority Pass card?

  5. @Robert F

    +1

    Can we have more on the PDX option – Also, does SEA has such PPS restaurants access?

    Thank you 🙂

  6. There is an eleventh restaurant at London Gatwick,The Grain Store Cafe and Bar South Terminal, which is useful as the lounge is often full (although a £5 reservation fee booked in advance can guarantee you access). For the cafe, at only a £15 per person credit it’s more stingy than those in the US.

  9. Hi Gary; you forgot one of the best Priority Club lounges/airports MSP-Minneapolis. The PGA Priority Club lounge at Lindberg Terminal (1) near the A gates. Mezz. level above French Meadow Restaurant. You can can get a fantastic breakfast while you are practicing your putting. Also the view of all the good looking Delta planes are great while you are enjoying your time up at this lounge. Thanks Steve Go Vikings!

  10. @Jim
    No click bait.
    My PP comes free as a benefit of my Ritz Carlton rewards credit card. No fee of any kind. I don’t pay thing to use the lounges that come with PP.
    Gary mentions two of them that he has. There are others.
    Gary is not talking about paid priority pass card but those that come free with certain high end credit cards.
    Norita

  11. @Gary
    PGA lounge (priority pass network) in minneapolis gets you 15 usd credit voucher to several restaurants downstairs
    You can order in the lunge from one of the restaurants, or go down to several others and pay there with the voucher

  12. Timberline is not closed. They are remodeling one area but the restaurant is unaffected. Reports of them closing that were on another blog were incorrect.

  13. I made the mistake of eating at Timberline in Denver recently. I ordered steak and eggs for breakfast.

    It was probably the first time in my life that I didn’t finish a steak.

  14. I just got an email yesterday telling me that I was/ am a Priority Pass member via my Amex Cardmembership, complete with my membership # ! But the only Amex cards I hold are the DL Gold personal Skymiles card & the Hilton Aspire card. And I have never received a plastic PP membership card!

  16. @norita. It’s hardly “free” if you’re paying $400-$550 annual fee for a credit card, one of whose major perks is the Priority Pass. For most people, one of the major reasons they pony up the money for such a huge fee is because of Priority pass.

  17. Breakfast at Corona Beach House at MIA was actually quite good. They also gave us free large water bottles to go since we hadn’t used up our Priority Pass cash allotment.

  18. My husband and I ate breakfast at Capers Cafe Le Bar (restaurant) in PDX just a few days ago. It wasn’t bad for airport food. We had bacon, eggs, has browns, toast, and OJ. The total for both of us would have been $38, but it cost us nothing. (I have a Priority Pass through Citibank that allows guests.) We ordered our food and then showed the card at the pay station. Very quick and easy. We did have to show our boarding passes, too. It was very helpful since this was shortly after 4 a.m., when the Alaska lounge was not yet open. (and we got denied at that lounge last time we flew early in the a.m.)

  19. Just ate in St. Louis on Priority Pass. I used new Hilton Amex Business card. $95 annual fee 10 PP visits. Guests are an additional fee though.

  20. @A
    I don’t pay and keep my $450 credit card for priority pass benefit, it’s just incidental, only used it twice so far this year. I pay for the card for other benefits that are of value to me.
    Norita

  21. “For most people, one of the major reasons they pony up the money for such a huge fee is because of Priority pass”
    According to Amex corporate analysis of Platinum and Centurion card holders, for most people the number one perk isn’t Priority Pass. It’s the Centurion lounge access. All one has to do is visit both lounges in the same airport to compare and contrast; this you could do in Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston, for starters. The high quality food in Centurion lounges is the major draw.

  22. Do you know the process by which a restaurant joins the program? Does Priority Pass seek them or vice versa?

  23. I liked my steak and eggs at Timberline. And the PDX ones are GREAT. I used my left over credit on some holiday decorated cookies to take to friends.

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