Are Airport Lounges Worth the Hype?

I spent my teen years watching New Girl and having re-watched it recently, there’s one episode that sticks out writing this… LAXmas. Specifically, when CeeCee and Schmidt try to access the airport lounge by pretending to be fancy, and then realise you can just pay a small fee to enter this world of privilege and soft, soft pillows.

My preconception of an airport lounge, much like Schmidts, was that it was reserved for the rich and famous. Or at least reserved for those travelling business class.

I thought that people who used airport lounges were generally too important to go around spraying perfume and sitting in Spoons, (we all know that it's five o’clock somewhere). Besides, in Europe at least, lounge access can often cost more than the flight itself…

However, this preconception could not be further from the truth. Now, you can get access to an airport lounge if you have a certain credit card (American Express, I'm looking at you!) or as a part of half a dozen reward schemes. So, with all of these reward schemes promising a slice of luxury at the airport, is it worth it?

The easy answer. Yes. If you can enter an airport lounge for free, why wouldn't you? But it does have some caveats!

1: Not all airport lounges are made equal.

Some of the UK lounges (London specifically) seem to look more like a school cafeteria than what you would imagine a lounge to be. Of course, if you're just looking for somewhere to sit and wait for your flight without the hustle and bustle of the main airport, it definitely helps, and often they'll still have free high-speed Wi-Fi, food and other perks you can take advantage of.

Another difference I've seen is amongst the refreshments. In Athens for example, they had fridges with bottled water and other soft drinks that you could take with you like cans of Sprite, Fanta and Coke, which is definitely a plus when you're about to board a plane, and a money saver too!

UK lounges on the other hand seem to be keen to keep the refreshments inside the lounge, with no bottled drinks etc. on offer. You can of course bring your own bottle, which is better for the environment.

2: You may need to book ahead to avoid disappointment, especially when flights are delayed.

This is a big one! Especially if you're flying from a major city airport. If you can book ahead and you know you're going to want the lounge (because you have an early flight for example) then getting in early is definitely recommended. When flights start getting delayed, the lounges fill up and people enjoying said lounges are understandably not keen to move.

I believe this often depends on the size of the lounge, but recently we were turned away from all of the lounges in Gatwick as they were at capacity and we saw people getting turned away from the lounge in Athens too.

It wasn’t too bad for us when we were at Gatwick as our flight only had an hour's delay, but we could have avoided this by planning ahead! If I ever have a long layover, I’ll definitely be booking, as some of the lounges have shower/ sleep facilities you can use to make yourself more comfortable.

3: It depends on how long you expect to spend at the airport.

If you know you're going to be at the airport for a long layover, and you want some sleep or some food, a lounge is definitely worth it. However, if you plan to be at the airport an hour or so before your flight you probably won’t be in their long enough to enjoy it, so might be worth saving your pass for another time! As with all things, it’s about working out if it’s right for you for that specific trip.

Overall, it depends on how you intend to use the lounge if it's really worth it, but if you have a free pass, why not try it and see what you think!