Category Archives for Lounges.
Airport lounges are the distinctive domain of the upper middle classes, and with the rise of the new wealthy in China outstripping their capacity, one lounge has a fascinating restriction to keep away the crowds.
One rumor about tipping just isn’t true, that when you pay for premium drinks with SkyMiles at a Delta Sky Club that the airline pockets the tip and doesn’t pass it onto the server.
The highlight of the lounge – and some people love it, others hate it, my view was a bit more in the middle – is the food. They have actual beef, not something I’ve seen much of in Centurion lounges the past several years as the food budget appears to have been cut back.
Order up a cocktail, sit at the bar, in a quiet spot, or by the fireplace. Head to the gameroom with friends. Book a facial using a QR code that’s ubiquitous throughout the lounge. And see whether you agree with the majority opinion that the food is spectacular, or with me that it’s a bit of a disappointment.
It’s good that American Airlines is joining this trend. I’d rather see them investing in more lounges and lounge renovations. But additional options are certainly better than not. Hopefully those refrigerators will be stocked with a couple bottles of water I can grab when I pass through in a few days.
American Express is launching a new lounge concept, in airports where they already have Centurion lounges. It will be branded “Sidecar by Centurion Lounge.”
I had been to the old Seattle American Express Centurion lounge several times, but hadn’t been to the new expanded one since it opened two years ago. Located in the airport’s Central Terminal mezzanine above the food court, they went from having just 4,500 square feet to about 14,000 square feet – a legitimately large lounge.
Capital One’s Denver airport lounge could be great, but it’s too small. As a result, the place gets packed and waits to get in can be long. Once inside, the food is good, but too many seats don’t have power outlets. There is a trick to find some privacy amidst the chaos, though.
A social media influencer is getting a lot of attention for her advice to steal food from airline lounges to save money and eat well when you travel, declaring “If you’re not taking takeout or to go containers with you to the airport lounges, you’re getting ripped off.”
Despite draconian rules that limit passenger access to its Sky Clubs, Delta still has problems with overcrowding in lounges and long lines to get in at some locations.
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 »
