Lounge Life

Discovering pay to play lounge access changed me

Michal Parzuchowshi on Unsplash

I had my first (at 50!) lounge pass experience at the Istanbul airport. I was there for an 11 hour layover on my way from Valencia, Spain where I had just spent a month to Cape Town, South Africa (where I was to spend 5 weeks). Some folks have asked me why I didn’t go explore Istanbul during this layover….and well, to be honest, 11 hours isn’t long enough. At least for me. It’s quite a distance from the airport to the center of Istanbul and the traffic was definitely unpredictable in the fall of 2019 (it could take a couple of hours just to get there one way…). Anyway, Istanbul airport in itself is quite nice but for 11 hours? I wasn’t swooning at the thought of setting up on some bench seats and browsing the food kiosks. A new friend I was traveling with on that trip is the one that enlightened me about day passes at airport lounges. I did not know there was such a thing, to be honest.

However, once enlightened and experienced, there is no going back after a great lounge experience during a long airport layover. 

The iGA Lounge at Istanbul Airport is huge and quite lovely. Lots of space to stretch out and find a quiet spot to read, work, or even take a nap. Excellent buffet with many hot an cold items and a full bar. Showers and big bathrooms with changing rooms. My first paid lounge experience certainly set a high bar.

Lounges are becoming more and more popular and are expanding. I was acquainted with airline-specific lounges that are for airline card members or airline elite status members but didn’t really know about pay-per-use lounges. A newer discovery is The very swanky Centurion Lounge by AMEX has caps on who can access when (departures only unless you are an AMEX black card member, then you can do whatever you want) and for how long. I just spotted one of these on my recent trip to Phoenix and longed for entry but my wait was only 90-minutes and I don’t have one of the approved cards for access (see here for more info on Centurian Lounge and cards that give you access). 

A lot of bigger airports have pay-per-use lounges such as the Priority Lounge in Frankfurt, Germany. I purchased a pass for 6-hours for $50 and that included assorted seating (banquettes; round tables; comfy big chairs with ottomans and high-top tables with stools); showers; buffet; espresso drinks; alcoholic drinks; non-alcoholic drinks; newspapers and multiple tv’s. No sleeping pods or private workspaces at the time I was there. 

After entering the lounge in Frankfurt, I found a very cozy corner to set up shop and spent the long layover in comfort. I enjoyed espresso and wine and snacks. The food was okay at this lounge. Completely edible and fresh and nicely presented just not as swoon-worthy as my Istanbul iGA lounge experience.

I haven’t had the need to seek out a lounge since I was in Frankfurt in January 2022. As it so happens, I had very short layovers or none at all (I had one layover of 90 minutes in Keflavik, Iceland on my way from Portland to Copenhagen) during my 5 months of travel in late ’22 and early ’23.  But whenever I do have a long layover, I can guarantee you I will be hitting up a lounge. 

Here’s some info on how to get lounge access: 

Airline cards/elite status

Your credit card (review your bennies) - American Express and Chase Sapphire Reserve have excellent benefits

Priority Pass: 1300 lounges in 650 airports in 148 countries

Third-party lounge: pay to play - research your layover airports for more information to make a decision before you arrive.

With summer travel heating up, and considering what happened last summer with flights, delays, and lost luggage…. see my post from earlier this year about travel and technology and how one little thing helped ease my anxiety about checked luggage.

bon voyage……