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Airport Lounges – What to Expect and What to Look for
Let’s begin with the Airport Lounges. So I have always been looking at airport lounges like, oh, my gosh, it’s too posh, it’s too expensive, it’s too much of a luxury. I cannot allow myself to do this. And then I got all these credit cards. There are so many credit cards that you can use with different Airlines, and one of my airline credit cards offers two free day passes to the United Club and Airport Lounge.
Airport Lounges
I have to say, first of all, United Lounge, I don’t think it’s that great. But the exclusivity of it, the fact that you have your space, that you could sit down really makes a difference. And they all have different prices. So if you don’t have a pass, you could buy a day pass. A lot of these lounges permit you to go in for the day.
Some do not. For instance, Delta Sky lounge, you do need to have a certain credit card. You do need to be on Delta. That’s another thing that changed a lot since Covid. You used to be able to go to pretty much any lounge even though you’re not flying with that airline, not anymore.
It’s really strict, I guess because they really want to limit the people that go there. So United and American, which is the Admirals Club. They are $60 per day. And then there’s also a Avianca, which is actually only $35 per day.
Are Airport Lounges Worth It?
And today, now I am an airport VIP lounge junkie because honestly, it costs what like $20, $30 to get a meal at the airport while you have a long layover. I cannot even tell you how much of a difference it makes to have a comfortable place to be. So here’s a good example. My family and I were coming home from New Jersey or New York to Guatemala.
And we had a layover in Miami. We knew that the layover was going to be like 6 hours. So we were all just going to fly with American Airlines. We went to the Admirals Lounge.
Admirals Lounge
And the cool thing about Admirals Lounge is up to 18 years old, up to 17 years old. The kids are free. So both of my sons were free. So basically it was just for me and my husband, which cost $120. However, our flight was delayed another 6 hours.
So technically, we would have been stuck in the Miami airport, which is not one of the most comfortable airports out there, for 12 hours. But because we were in Admiral’s Lounge, we had nonstop buffet-style food. And sometimes they bring in like a Guacamole station, or they have like a salad station. So they do bring in different things at different times. You get one or two free drinks, you can buy other drinks.
But the coolest thing about the Admiral’s Lounge was that they also have beds. Obviously, at the most inopportune moment when your kids could get sick, they do. So my youngest had some kind of weird stomach thing going on, and he was feeling crappy the whole time. So we were in an area where they had these beds, literally. So he slept for half of the time. He was super comfortable.
Benefits of Airport Lounges
So if you guys have a longer layover I really recommend splurging because it’s first, free internet all the time, nonstop food, and comfort.
- Free Wi-Fi
- Buffet Food
- Cocktails (Pre-Flight Cocktails)
- Cereal, Guacamole, Salad Station
- Comfy chairs
- Beds
- Priceless Comfort
Airport Lounges in Small Airports
Also, when you’re traveling in smaller airports, especially internationally, like I know in Guatemala there’s this one called Casa Del Ron. It’s owned by Zacapa rum, which is considered one of the best rums in the world. Interestingly enough, they opened up a VIP lounge in that airport, and it’s $30 per person which gives you free internet. Guatemala airport doesn’t have internet.
They have free internet and meals. You can also get a cup of drinks and the cup of drinks alone, even in Guatemala, are like $10. So in the end, it’s actually almost the same price if you were to just go to one of their food courts. But the comfort is there. It’s just a different feeling.
Conclusion
So it might sound like this massive luxury, but at the end of the day it’s really not, and it could really make a huge difference. And those types of little differences are what really make every day an adventure. So if you guys don’t have enough ideas for getting out of the ordinary that is easy and accessible, I have over 365 ideas for you to make every day an adventure without going too crazy all out.
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