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I recently came back from a few weeks in Europe, and in between caviar tastings in Stockholm, sampling international award-winning cheeses in Oslo, and taking fire Instagrams in Copenhagen, I fell in love. Not with a beautiful woman (of which there were plenty), not with a gorgeous landscape (though it was quite breathtaking), and not with the various cultures I brushed shoulders with, but with something completely different.
Airport lounges.
My transformation into complete champagne taste, board member of the finer things club, continues. As we traveled from city to city, hours we killed sampling the finest airport lounges in northern Europe, living the lounge life and making all of the peasants sitting at their terminals jealous. But to truly understand how I became an airport lounge guy, we have to back up a second. So let me take you to the beginning of my trip.
I’m at JFK with two amigos and our flight is delayed until like midnight. We’re through security and it’s about 8 p.m., and, obviously, we wanted to kick off the trip with a few celebratory drinks. Most people I know love the airport bar. I am chief among them. LOVE the airport bar, but that’s a story for another time. The problem with the airport bar is that all the drinks cost a ton of bingo dingos. Luckily, a have a big boy credit card, and besides giving me the obscene amounts of points I accrued in order to pay for the aforementioned European vacation, the card also comes with some pretty dope airport lounge access.
I’d had access to my lounge pass for a while, but had always forgotten it when I traveled. But this time, I didn’t forget it. Instead, my friends and I marched up to one of the lounges, that, by the way, have these like little hidden doors which are so bougie I love it. We march right in there with the first class flyers, the international business men, the big swinging mensches at the maztah shop. And then we proceeded to drink like it was the day after Super Bowl XLII. One of the lounges I had access to was closing 30 minutes after we got in, and the other one wasn’t opening for a few hours, so we decided we needed to get our money’s worth (oh the irony of free lounge access).
Welp, 30 minutes later, we come rumbling bumbling stumbling out of there and head to the airport bar to wait for the next lounge to open. A few hundred Chanukah gelts worth of booze later and we can barely stand. But hey! The other lounge is open for us now so let’s go! So, with our plane boarding in less than an hour, we plunk down into the next lounge and yada yada yada, I can’t remember getting into line for the flight, slept THE ENTIRE flight (thank you Dream Water), and the landing in Sweden is what wakes me up.
Our memory of the previous night’s antics in the airport lounges was hazy, but we knew we had an A1 time. An absolute 11/10 thunder factory inferno of a time, in fact. So when planning our intra-Euro travel days we always budgeted a few hours to show up to the airports early and live the lounge life. We were hooked. It wasn’t if we were going to head to the lounge, but how long we’d be there. Now, some may think that hanging out in an airport instead of spending a little more time exploring a museum or hanging out in a cute little cafe would be an absolute foolish waste of time, especially when on such a dope and lavish vacation. But I must say that if you’re thinking that, you’re wrong.
You ever been to an airport lounge? It’s some VIP shit. It’s like having bottle service at the club (I’m guessing). It’s like flying private (I’m guessing). It’s like having access to SoHo club (again, guessing). It’s like having a rooftop pool in the middle of midtown Manhattan (NOT guessing). You feel like royalty. Fucking Markle and her Carson Wentz looking fiance up in there.
The drinks are amazing. The food is choice. The bathrooms? Spotless. It’s quiet. There are never any shortages of outlets. They’ve even got showers! Plus, there’s nothing that gives me a raging Belichick more than feeling elite, and that’s exactly how I felt in Amsterdam when there were no seats and teenagers had resorted to sleeping on top of each other and their bags on the floor like it was a damn campsite and I simply stepped over there uncomfortable sleeping bodies as I made my way into a lounge where I got a couch all to myself. Boom roasted.
Once you get a taste of the airport lounge, you can’t go back to the regular terminal. I refuse, in fact. I may have to start picking which airlines I fly based on whether or not those terminals even have lounges that support the specific pass that I have. So, a word for the wise: if you can get into these lounges, do it. And if you’re new to airport lounges, think long and hard before going in because I’m not sure you’re ready for this major lifestyle adjustment. .
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Boston Max
Spending my retirement fund at Trader Joe's and trying to remember to check my mailbox semi-regularly
@BostonMaxG
@boston_maxg
Oh yeah? Well I spent $100 on 3 tall IPA’s and a toaster oven pizza at Laguardia and got to listen to my fiancé chastise me for it on our 3 hour ride home. So, tie.
Couldn’t agree more. I love my platinum Amex. The annual fee does suck, but I more than make up for it with airport lounge access. 7 AM freshly made omelet washed down with a couple bloody marys? Please and thank you.
Platinum Amex is the best and if your military they wave the fee!
Didn’t know that, that’s awesome, good for Amex. Now if only they weren’t 2 months late giving me my referral points, I’d like them even more.
So many questions… How do you know if you lounge access? Where even IS the lounge? Is my capital one venture card not good enough?
Don’t travel enough to make the fancy credit cards worth it, but the times I have had long layovers, I just get mine on eBay. American sells a one time pass for their lounge for $60 I have gotten it for as low as $25 on eBay and have had no issues. Complete trash move? Yes. Do I care as I drink more than $25 of free booze? No.
Genius
Not sure if it is. If it comes with priority pass, then yes. You can use the LoungeBuddy app to find lounges, or if you have PP, their app shows the lounges you can use.
That’s a bummer I feel so adult and fancy when I whip out my card. I’ll have to look into it further. Thanks!
You do not get lounge access with the venture card. Pretty much if the fee is $450+ you have access to some sort of lounge.
you got a sapphire reserve like everyone else did this year
Priority pass memberships with sapphire reserve and the like are pretty good (sapphire preferred I’ve never had to pay for a guest). Amex lounges good, but fees to get guests in most cases. Real talk though, international lounges shit on domestic ones. United Club in Denver doesn’t even have food beyond like crackers. Heathrow or Munich? Unlimited full meals all day. Live and die by lounges if you live that consultant life.
Pretty sure you get allowed two guests for Centurion
Former member of the Admiral’s Club (american airlines) but it was a bit steep price-wise. Looking for advice from other traveler’s about my options.Currently fly 75-100K miles per year, 90% on AA. Love the lounge life, specifically the pancake machine in the Alaska Airlines lounge.
Chase Sapphire Reserve – free Priority Pass membership
Double check to make sure that you the cities you travel to/from have lounges that accept Priority Pass for entrance. Also check out the Platinum Amex if your cities have Amex’s lounges or one of their partner lounges. The $550 annual fee is steep, but between the $200 annual Uber credit and $200 flight incidental credit, it basically pays for itself as long as you use a lounge a few times a year.
Gotta hit up the Applebees for dollar Long Islands, makes flying home semi-bearable
American Express Platinum Card is great for traveling and being made of metal and stuff
You’re a zero if you spend 1 second longer in an airport than you have to
Spot on. 2.5 hour layover in ATL from toronto last night. Hit the Sky Club for dinner, some red wine like a gentleman, then hit up the showers before walking right onto the plane and slept the entire flight back. I’ll never go back, you can pry my Access from my cold dead hands.
Amex Priority security lane in Toronto was shorter than Global Entry. Worth it
You wouldn’t happen to be a freight brokerage hack as a supply chain one would you?