Category Archives for Lounges.
I had the opportunity to test the Capital One Landing at Washington’s Reagan National airport again, and this time under ‘real world’ conditions over the past week.
I am always skeptical that execution of food will be as good when the executives aren’t there, and under pressure to turn out dishes at the type of volume necessary for a full house of travelers.
While lounge thefts do happen on occasion, just as thefts from overhead bins happen on an aircraft – it’s quite rare.
Theft in an airport is even harder than on a plane. There’s more video cameras there than most places, and at large airports there’s more law enforcement agencies on-site than you can possibly imagine.
There’s nothing relaxing about a lounge where you can barely find a seat, and you’re dodging other passengers, how is this better than the terminal or more to the point better than spending $25 for a burger, camping out at a sit down restaurant that has power outlets?
The single most basic amenity of a lounge is peace and quiet. Beyond that, airline lounges range from opulent and decadent to basic. Here are the bare minimums for a decent airport lounge
A little over fifty years ago U.S. airline lounges began opening up to the masses for a fee, following government rules requiring clear standards of access replacing invitations in order to avoid the appearance of discrimination. Airlines could let anyone in, or create a path to paid membership. You know which one they chose.
Capital One Landing DCA is the first fine dining airport restaurant that’s free with the right credit card. The food is spectacular, and you can even make reservations.
Crowded lounges make airport lounges no longer enjoyable. If they aren’t an escape from the busy terminal, what’s the point? You can use the airline lounge for dedicated reservations agents when your flight delays, but otherwise give it a miss. And when there’s a long line to get in too, that’s even worse.
But the Delta Air Lines Sky Club in Atlanta on the T concourse took things to a new level with waits of up to 20 minutes to leave.
It seems worth noting that the plan that American Airlines announced for a new 15,000 square foot lounge near gate 14 three years ago is not happening.
They’re still getting a new lounge, despite pulling back significantly in Austin and eliminating around two-thirds of destinations served. But it won’t be as large, and it will be in a different space.
I covered all of the airport lounge moving pieces at the Austin airport like plans for all airlines to move to different spaces, and to add credit card and common use lounges, as new construction finishes.
However the most immediate change deserves to be pulled out separately.
The Austin airport has an upcoming presentation slated for this week on its lounge plans. They’re building four new lounge spaces, will relocate all of the airlines, and make room for credit card issuers and common use operators that join programs like Priority Pass.
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 »
