Anne Marie Mitchell, a communications professor in Chicago, will treat herself to a few hours in the airport lounge if she can get to the airport early.
She said that there is a bar, a nice clean bathroom, snacks and it is not crowded. Traveling is more enjoyable.
Airline lounges, bastions of civilization in airport terminals that are now often overstuffed with irritated passengers, have been the retreat of the frequent-flying elite and those with expensive credit cards.
With leisure travelers leading the recovery of the airline industry as business traffic lags, some clubs have made it easier for them to claim a few predeparture perks, while others have adopted a new rule that no user may enter the club more than three hours.
Legacy airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in the US, have operated lounges for passengers in first and business class. Standard clubs and more exclusive ones are available for forward-class fliers on long-haul international flights.
Members can fly any carrier. Priority Pass gives access to more than 1,300 lounges in more than 600 cities, andmembership plans include 10 visits for $299 a year.
Priority Pass members can use the Plumeria Lounge from Hawaiian Airlines in Honolulu, as well as public airport restaurants that give a food credit, and other club brands.
Airline devotees are not the only ones who use the lounge.
Gary Leff is the author of the airline blog View From The Wing. It is a way to sell cards and retain members.
American Express Platinum card holders have access to many airline lounges, as well as the company's own Centurion Lounges, which are found in 13 American cities. The card can be used for hotel and airline expenses, as well as other benefits.
Capital One opened a lounge in Dallas-Fort Worth in November with plans to open lounges in Denver and Washington Dulles. Entry is limited to owners of the bank's Venture X card and their guests, and the card's perks include credits up to $300 for travel purchases.
Chase will open its own brand, Chase Sapphire Lounge by the Club, with six global locations, including Boston, Phoenix and New York's LaGuardia Airport, and will be available to holders of its Chase Reserve card.
Many travelers are willing to buy themselves out of the airport purgatory of sitting on the floor in order to get to the only electrical outlet in the concourse, a rescue offered by pay-per-use clubs.
The Plaza Premium Group, which has restaurants, lounges and hotels in more than 70 global airports, recently introduced its PPL Pass Americas, which costs $59 for two visits to most of its lounges in North, Central and South America. The Plaza Premium Lounges and the airline lounges it operates for the likes of Virgin Atlantic and Air France are included in the pass. A new lounge in Florida is expected to open later this year.
Jonathan Song is the director of global business development for the company. The rise of affordable luxury can be seen in the fact that 85 percent of the population are economy class. People want to enjoy the V.I.P. services but don't want to spend a lot on a ticket.
Escape Lounges has 14 locations, including Minneapolis and Sacramento, Calif., that offer pay-per-use plans at $40 a visit, if booked online 24 hours in advance. New locations at airports in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Columbus, Ohio are expected later this year.
The Club has 16 locations in the US and two in London. It sells no memberships and runs on a pay per use basis.
The website and app Lounge Buddy sell airport lounge passes. The site offers passes to both the Plaza Premium Lounge and the Lufthansa Business Lounge, which include free food and drink. There is a pass in Barbados.
On its app, United gives day passes to its clubs for $59. Most frequent fliers pay 85,000 miles for an annual membership. A one-day pass to the Admirals Clubs is sold by American Airlines. Delta does not give access for free.
The high prices of airport concessions may make admission worthwhile for hungry travelers.
It's possible to make the math work for you on a one-off basis, depending on how much you spend. It is possible that it is less crowded and you have a power port to plug into.
fliers in a booking jam may find it useful to pay a fee at an airline lounge to get assistance quickly.
If your flight is canceled and you have to wait two hours to speak to an agent, you can pay a $50 club fee and get access to the most experienced agents.
Pass holders have been turned away from the airport due to capacity crowds, so buying your way in is out of the question.
It is similar to going to TGI Friday's in a centurion lounge. They buzz you when there is open space. People are splurging when they are traveling because they missed out on premium experiences the last few years.
Staffing shortages at airports have made the crowding problem worse.
Mr. Leff said that there were many better lounges before the Pandemic. People arrive earlier because of the uncertainty of security lines, and then they have more time to kill.
The owner of a public relations agency in London wrote in an email that he had never seen queue outside the lounge before. Lounges are supposed to be your safe haven.
Delta Sky Clubs has a new three hour rule. American Express will begin charging for guests if a user spends at least $75,000 a year on the card, even though it is doubling the size of its San Francisco Centurion Lounge and tripling it's club footprint in Seattle this year.
Accessing clubs may be the cheapest upgrade you can get when flying today.
Patrick Rollo of Providence, R.I., is a real estate agent who travels frequently for his work. Everyone is heading to the lounge.
The column is called the Frugal Traveler. You can follow her on the social media platform, IG.
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