My family and I fly a lot because we go back and forth between our houses in two different states. In fact, we take at least six round-trip flights every year, and sometimes more. We always fly on American Airlines and, because of that, we got a credit card that provides us with airline lounge access.
This means I visit American Airlines lounges at least a dozen times annually. Since I’m something of a regular there, I’ve developed a lot of opinions on what’s great about them — and what’s not so good. Here are my favorite — and least favorite — things about visiting them.
These are the things I love about the lounge experience
My favorite features of the lounge experience include:
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- Comfortable seating: The seats in the Admirals Club lounges I’ve visited are a lot more comfortable than the hard plastic chairs at the airline gates. They’re like standard armchairs where you can stretch out and relax a bit. In some lounges, there’s also a business area where you can sit in an office-style chair to work.
- Free food and drink: Some food and drink are included at the lounge — enough to make a meal out of. This includes certain alcoholic beverages, although not all alcoholic beverages. We don’t drink, but we’ve asked the bartenders to make mocktails for us and they’re always tasty. The food also tastes pretty decent as well, and there’s usually a soup offering as well as two small entree-type dishes, and some snacks and fruit. We’re able to avoid buying food at the airport for our family of four by eating in the lounge.
- Decent free wifi: The wifi at the lounge is always free and reliable, unlike some free airport wifi networks I’ve encountered.
In all, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, and we would never give up our credit card that gives us this access.
These are the things I don’t like
Although the perks are great, there are also a few downsides. Here are the things I dislike the most about visiting airport lounges:
- The food offerings are limited and get repetitive: While you can always find stuff to eat, the selection is limited — and the free items don’t tend to be as filling or fancy as the ones on the menu you can pay for. The lounges also seem to serve the same few foods on repeat, which can get boring if you fly often.
- Sometimes it’s hard to find a place to sit: In some cases, especially if we fly at crowded times, all of the seats are taken and it’s hard to find a place to sit. This can be annoying when you have limited time and plan to eat there.
- The quality of the lounges varies a lot: Finally, the quality of the lounges can be pretty inconsistent. In some cases, there’s ample seating and more food offerings, while other airports offer small lounges and limited snacks.
If you’re considering becoming a member of an airline lounge, it’s a good idea to think about whether doing so works for you and your finances. You’ll either have to pay a credit card annual fee (which can be a few hundred dollars), or pay for a daily or annual membership — which also comes at a big cost. For example, daily Admirals Club access is $79 for you and a guest.
Before you sign up for a credit card solely to get access, you may want to try a day pass to the lounge at the airport you’ll be flying out of the most. This can help you determine if the quality of the lounge is good enough to justify the price you’d pay for the card.
You can also check out our list of the best credit cards for airline lounge access to see if any of the cards offer a combination of perks you feel are worth paying for.
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