From Luxury To Letdown: Why Most Airport Lounges Fall Short – And What Makes The Rare Few Exceptional

The Club at San Francisco airport is one of the nicest lounges you can access with a Priority Pass card in the United States… if you can get in. But there’s nothing nice about an airport lounge you have to queue for.

As Jacques Lory might have said in Casablanca, “Sorry madam, but Priority Pass cards are a drug on the market. Everybody has Priority Pass. There are Priority Pass cards everywhere.”

That wasn’t true when it was an annual fee product most people paid for. American Express Platinum cards began offering them (and, with limited visits, so did Hilton Surpass cards) but that didn’t really change the calculus. Sapphire Reserve started churning these cards out, and every premium rewards cards began copying. And that was a game changer. It democratized lounge access, but it also cheapened the lounge experience by sheer volume of passengers.

SFO Terminal One – LONG Line
byu/Giraffes4everyone inPriorityPass

Don’t count on club SFO in Term 1
byu/Appropriate_Long6102 inPriorityPass

American Express has been minting Platinum cards. TSA screening time variability means people get to the airport earlier, and often find they have too much time to kill. And Centurion lounges upped the U.S. lounge food game (though there have been real cutback since the early years of these lounges). People show up earlier and spend more time in lounges, going out of their way to seek them out, when there’s food. Delta Sky Clubs have too many passengers, because they serve food. At least new Delta One lounges (which themselves can get crowded) help spread out the madness.

Chase and Capital One lounges can get overrun, too, though I like the capacity limits Capital One places on its lounges – so when you do get in, they don’t seem as bad inside as I find American Express lounges to be.

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.

  • There should be plenty of seating. The lounge should be large enough that it never feels crowded. The seating should almost all have readily available power so you can charge up before your flight or at least avoid draining down devices before you fly (the airline should have seat power too but why rely on it working?).


    American Airlines Flagship Lounge, Miami

  • The wifi should work, and it should be fast.

  • There should be helpful and experienced agents to assist with travel disruptions.


    AAngels in the Washington National American Airlines Club

  • There should be food and beverage offerings, and they should taste good and look appetizing. A buffet shouldn’t sit unattended for hours, and food shouldn’t be shrink wrapped sandwiches, just veggies and dip, or a snack tower of sadness.


    Noodle bar, Cathay Pacific business lounge Singapore

  • A lounge should have restrooms. Don’t send customers into the terminal. These restrooms should be kept super clean.

  • A lounge at an international hub needs showers. Ideally shoot for Cathay Pacific cabanas in their ‘The Wing’ first class lounge in Hong Kong, but I’m happy as long as the room is large, with a toilet, toiletries, and somewhere to place your luggage and clothes as you change.

United eliminated showers from its standard club concept. Their Polaris business class lounges have showers. Long haul economy passengers don’t have access to showers even with elite status and even with a club membership.

In order to really create a plus experience, go beyond the bare minimum, the elements of a really nice lounge are:

  • Great dining. food that doesn’t taste like you’re in the airport. Enjoy a sit down meal before your flight and you can go right to sleep on the plane.

    I give real kudos to Qantas lounge dining, but I think that American does a nice job in their Flagship First Dining rooms. AAdvantage Platinum Pro members and above can redeem miles for access if not flying Flagship First Class.

    Emirates does a nice job with buffet and menu-based sit down dining in Dubai. Air France does an exceptional job in Paris, Lufthansa in their home markets. Singapore Airlines The Private Room is great (the food is really the only thing there that is). Etihad’s new terminal first class lounge in Abu Dhabi does a great job with dining (really the only thing special there as well).


    Etihad First Class Lounge, even the plates are nice


    Thai Yellow Curry Beef, Centurion Lounge Hong Kong

  • Great service escort from check-in to the lounge, from lounge to aircraft, how do you make the whole ground experience seamless from airport arrival to departure?

    The greatest experiences are those where you don’t have to pay attention to where you are in the airport, when you need to leave, or how to get there. Airports can be unfamiliar environments, and taking away that stress lets you enjoy travel and also focus on enjoying the lounge, relaxing, or working without constantly looking at your watch and worrying about making your flight — that’s someone else’s job.


    JetQuay Planeside Gold Cart Pickup, Singapore

    Being driven to the plane as Lufthansa and Air France do in their home markets is the best, but I love even the escort to the lounge and from lounge to gate I’ve received from Thai Airways in Bangkok.


    Lufthansa First Class Terminal

  • Nap rooms. Long layovers between long haul sometimes mean needing to close your eyes. And it’s much nicer for the passenger to have a private space to do that, and it’s much nicer for everyone else too not to have people falling asleep in a large open room with everyone else watching.


    United Polaris Lounge Nap Room, Chicago

    A nice solution is what Cathay Pacific offers at ‘The Pier’ in Hong Kong. They have semi-private rooms in an area known as “The Retreat.” These are small cabanas of sort (without their own bathroom), just a little room with day bed and power where you can close a curtain for privacy. They overlook the tarmac offering direct view of aircraft, though you can also lower blinds to keep out the light.


    Cathay Pacific’s “The Retreat” Inside the Pier Lounge, Hong Kong

  • Indulgent services. The 20 minute massages from Qantas are surprisingly excellent. A private spa treatment room, and a table, is key to the relaxation. I miss Etihad’s “Style & Shave” as was nothing like getting a hair cut before your flight!

  • Design, beautiful spaces. Ideally a lounge will have large windows and tarmac views, I don’t want a darkened windowless space. That’s my biggest complaint about the Qantas first class lounge in Los Angeles. But beyond airport views there are design elements that simply make a space pleasing.

    I think the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow is beautiful. I love the feel of Cathay Pacific’s The Pier first class lounge in Hong Kong.


    Cathay Pacific ‘The Pier’ Hong Kong

    But perhaps the most beautiful lounge, to me, is the Qatar Airways first class al Safwa lounge in Doha. It’s not a top five lounge otherwise, though I think it’s top ten, but the space is just gorgeous.


    Qatar Airways al Safwa Lounge

For the purpose of this post I’m not really interested in what one lounge is best overall in the world, or ranking lounges, just thinking about what elements make for a great lounge.

In some sense my favorite lounges aren’t actually the very best lounges but they are very good and also accessible. The Qantas first class lounges and the Cathay Pacific first class lounges are all very good and also open to top tier elite frequent flyers in their own programs as well as those of their alliance partners.

Just as with award availability where the best product is the one you’re able to book, the very best lounge is the one you have access to – provided they’re hitting the marks on seating, power, and food and they provide a peaceful quiet space rather than resembling something of a refugee camp.

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

  1. I’ll settle for a nice view of the tarmac and a comfortable seat. I don’t count on good food anymore.

    Oh, and don’t make me go to a tip begging bartender for a beer. I’d prefer self service, faster, cheaper to operate, and requires less space. But oh no… kids would have access to alcohol, you say? Easy, don’t allow your damn kids to run around the lounge like wild animals.

  2. It pays to be contrarian. When everyone would go to an airport bar 10+ years ago, it made sense to go to a lounge. Now that everyone goes to a lounge, it makes sense to go to the airport bar.

  3. Waiting in line to get in or out of a lounge ruins the whole experience, not to mention hunting for seats. There has to be some solution for the overcrowding. Credit Cards need to limit vists per year to something reasonable for everyone.

  4. I agree that lounges should be the things you say with the benefits you mention. Similarly a visit to a car dealership should be pleasant, lacking in stress, avoiding cheap psychological ploys, and respectful of you. I think we need to differentiate between the way we want things and the way they are.

  5. I was impressed by the new Delta One lounges at JFK and LAX; great food, drinks, seats, sleeping areas, spacious, good views, just difficult to get access (so maybe that’s why it’s so nice). Rare may be good.

    Also in the US, American Airlines Flagship lounges like MIA, JFK (Soho, Chelsea) are excellent as well.

    United Polaris at EWR is decent, too. The nap room is nice. Food is much better than a typical UnitedClub.

    The new Chase Sapphire at LGA has really good food and drinks. Much better than the Chase lounge at JFK.

    Those are my top picks in the US at the moment.

  6. The last words about “resembling something of a refugee camp,” reflects many locations. You’d think AA could do better at DFW (anyone remember the “based here, best here” ads?), but no. I will say the same for the BA lounges at Heathrow. Centurion Lounges are falling to that level as well. Earning Frequent Flyer status is more expensive than ever, whether through flights or whatever hoops you jump through, and Business/First fares are even worse. So yeah, a space that’s quiet, clean, and comfortable should be a baseline.

  7. For international:

    Generally, my favorite is Qatar’s new business class lounge in Doha (Al Mourjan The Garden) has its own gym (it’s small, but that’s unique) and a spa (massages, facials). Good food, showers, rest space, nice views.

    At London Heathrow Terminal 3 there are so many options, but if you are OneWorld Emerald, definitely go with the Cathay Pacific lounge over the American Airlines Flagship there.

    For Singapore, it’s wild how different the business class lounges are depending on the terminal; like Terminal 3 is far superior, while Terminal 2 is tiny, overcrowded, old.

    For Johannesburg, SLOW Lounge is most comfortable at JNB, has decent food and very friendly staff. Hard to tell which lounge your airline will contract with at that airport but when I find out it is SLOW, I am excited.

    In Chile, LATAM’s business class lounge in Santiago is excellent; like really good fresh squeezed orange juice. It’s little things like that which stand out to me.

    Air France always seems to have good food at their lounges wherever it is run by the airline, even overseas. They’ve remodeled a lot of them recently, like SFO, YUL are pretty nice.

    For AMS, the KLM lounge is cool with all the little blue houses on the walls; the only frustrating thing is their reservations system for showers is a pain; occasionally they have fresh stroopwaffle so that makes it better.

    For DEL, the Plaza Premium lounge at the international terminal is massive, and has delicious Indian food (they make fresh masala dosas in the mornings), so whenever going through there it’s a nice experience before usually a very long flight.

    I don’t know if anyone actually reads these comments, or cares, but please do enjoy these if you get the chance.

  8. Maybe the lounges need to admit people the same way seats are sold and upgraded on airlines. People get assigned seats in the lounges and cannot exchange them but the door person can reassign them to other seats if someone is late in leaving. Sold seats have priority over status for free seats. Seat sales are by the hour and multiple hours can be bought at one time (just like longer flights). Staying over gets an extra charge that is more. Status seats can be free but after the hour is up, either pay again or get in line. I’m sure that the lounges can make the experience like flying. Maybe they could have a section that has seats crowded together and a bit cheaper. (sarcasm)

  9. Lounges used to be for the airline’s key business traveler and International lounges for premium flyers paying big bucks. I remember when the AA ACs were rarely crowded but have very limited complimentary food and booze wasn’t free. And like all good things that came to an end as marketing airline credit cards to the masses had to come with some somewhat nice freebies, including lounge entry. Most lounges have been a cluster you know what since.

    The International lounges still retain their original “ambience” since entry is limited but most at least US domestic lounges are nothing more than glorified Applebee’s with staff that might or might not be able to help you with irregular operations.

    Some of American’s newer lounges (DCA E, LGA, BOS) are quite nice and have enough space so that crowding isn’t an issue. Some are just pure dumps (CLT C, PHX, DFW C, ATL). Not even basics like adequate seating and bathroom stalls.

  10. Can someone please remind Delta to stop neglecting its lounges at ATL? Dumps. All of them. Always packed to the brim. Dated. For their literal headquarters, Delta must do better. There are nicer lounges in eastern Europe than ATL at this point. Yikes.

  11. @Pat – bingo! I would never wait in a line to get into a club but I’d pay $13 for a beer at the bar just to have a seat.

  12. Here are the absolute minimum for my perfect airport lounge:

    No children.
    No women.
    Free booze.
    Steak bar.
    Smoke anywhere.

    Essentially, I want my United Club to be a United Businessman’s Special.

  13. I don’t understand why people would line up to get into an obviously overcrowded lounge. Literally happening to me right now at IAH UA at the gate C3x UA lounge.

    I fly first or business and would rather find a quiet part of the terminal or have a meal at a restaurant.

    Last month my UA flight was delayed at DFW and they put me on a AA flight. Was amazing to find out that AA lounges are just for CC holders or passes. I knew there was a reason I never fly AA.

  14. My “virgin” lounge experience was in 2001. Yes…it was different than today. But 23 years later…I’m still grateful for he access. These are, after all, first world problems. Yet, despite the crowding and the sometimes crazy…I’m still amazed when I leave and head to the gate how many other people don’t have the lounge.

  15. Gary what you’re yearning for is a strip club in a terminal. What a concept that would be. Members only cover charges that are expensive. Non revving would be easier for some with the amount of no shows at the gate. Might even get a guest dancer like a past their prime FA on a 3.5 hour sit who can get in a few lap dances between flights to cover for the next few rounds of Botox.

  16. Just visited the Adani First Class Lounge in Mumbai, courtesy of BA. Surprisingly good, not crowded. Very good plated breakfast, buffet and Moet champagne.

  17. @o’hare is my second home – right on, brother! And a cigar bar. Ashtrays at every seat in the house. And plenty of scotch.

  18. After chasing lounge access for years, I’ve stopped caring. I’d rather pay for food in terminal and find a seat with space around me – rather than the discount store/all you can eat vibe of most US lounges nowadays.

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