Review: Escape Lounge Hartford-BDL

As someone who fits into one of the occupations you mentioned, I have been to this lounge quite a few times and was pleasantly surprised, most notably by the cookie bar. Great review! If anyone is looking for something more substantial, the Sheraton attached to the airport has a restaurant 90 seconds past security.

Very well written. Great stuff!

As a fellow Hartford based traveler, it is great to have this lounge now that the Admirals Club is gone.

But, I must take issue with two things:

1. When running through the list of industries in the Hartford area, you forgot our aerospace companies (Pratt & Whitney, UTC Aerospace and Sikorsky), which, I can assure, account for a large portion of the travelers coming into and out of BDL (especially those connecting to an international flight in IAD, ORD or DFW); and

2. In terms of passenger aircraft, BDL is not terribly exciting (except when JFK shuts down), but we routinely get large freighter aircraft on the ramp, including B747-8Fs and Antonovs (good for moving large jet engines and BLACK HAWK helicopters).

One thing that annoys me about U.S. lounges is that beer/wine/spirits are generally kept behind a bar, rather than made freely available. In Canadian and European and Asian lounges, you can get a beer -- even draft beer -- and mix a drink yourself. Given that the U.S. also has its absurd tipping culture, this is annoying because it means you really have to keep paying $1/drink despite being in a "free-at-consumption" lounge. (Also, it's nice not to be judged if I want a couple of beers!)

I spend a similar amount of time in the Escape lounge at London Stansted. Food as not as good as yours but staff are similarly outstanding and its a decent experience for a PP lounge at a low cost airport.

Maybe its time for a review!

I’m glad I’m not the only one who has noticed that the Starburst jar is always yellow-heavy. You can tell how recently they’ve filled the jar because the red always go first, then the pink, then the orange. I had no idea that Central Connecticut was so lemon Starburst averse.

I live in West Springfield, MA, so I fly out of Bradley most of the time. I was thrilled when this lounge opened! The food is great-the bread pudding with berries in the morning is awesome, and the staff is so friendly! It's the best lounge use I get from my AMEX platinum card!

It's a great little lounge and the foods is frankly is excellent for the airport. The lounge was very busy when we visited on the weekend post-fourth of July, but the extremely helpful (and very hardworking staff) found us a seat within a couple of minutes. We could only see two (possibly three) staff working the entire lounge, but they were hyper-efficient and friendly. We left a tip with each of them on the way out because they were so good.

While it’s never been Centurion Lounge-crowded in the afternoon before the EI flight, it does get busy then, but I’ve been always able to find a seat at this lounge.

Chocolate chip takes the #1 spot.

I'll fight you.

@Bill - So funny, my senior prom was at that Sheraton many moons ago (and I haven't been back since)! Good reminder.

@Ryan - Touche (and I have more than one engineer friend at Pratt/Sikorsky who would probably agree with you). I promise that the oversight is a reflection on how little time I spend here, rather than how I (obviously) feel about the aerospace industry.

@James - I wonder if the food quality in the U.K. has to do with the fact that those lounges take Priority Pass, and therefore cater to a larger crowd?

In any event, do it!

@Howard - No way. More peanut butter for me, I guess.

Loved this review

I am excited that an Escape Lounge is coming to Providence (PVD) in early 2019.

Great review! I love your writing style, Steph. I have friends who fly in and out of BDL quite a bit and I will make sure they know about this.

Thank you for the wonderful review, Steph. We'll make sure to always have plenty of freshly baked peanut butter cookies waiting for you at Escape Lounge BDL! Our ONT location opens on January 7. We hope to welcome you there as well soon. Thank you for your loyal patronage.

I was there last Thursday (6 Dec 2018) around 4 PM, and it was quite crowded. The staff were overloaded, but cheerful and enthusiastic.

The food was little cast-iron pots with 50 grams or so of baked macaroni & cheese in each. There were also salads in little glass cups, though the "Caesar salad" I chose seemed to have kale instead of romaine.

There was one espresso machine, which made only the euro-sized serving (130 ml or so) for a latte, though the provided cups were US 12-ounce ups able to easily hold double that. And the slow delivery and small size meant there was a line to use the machine even at 4 PM, with sunset approaching. I imagine it would be much worse in the morning.

I look forward to visiting it again when I am next in BDL. I hope they add a second espresso machine by then.

I live in Reno and use the RNO lounge every time I fly out, usually for 10-30 mins. It’s very nice to go in and grab some juice or a cappuccino from the machine.

That tapas method of serving food is something some airlines should look at. I'm looking at you BA! Though I suspect if you scaled it up too much cleaning all those dishes would become to time consuming.

I went to gain access yesterday at London Stansted on a STD to AGP flight. They wanted THIRTY pounds for on the door access and the lounge had NO restrooms so I declined. Charging that amount for a lounge with no washrooms whatsoever is obscene.

@ RH - Was that during the Romaine "epidemic". I live near BDL and all stores stripped romaine from the shelves... but I agree, IMO Kale is not even close to Romaine.

@MW - You're right, I had forgotten about the romaine salmonella scare; that's probably why they didn't have romaine.

Only lounge available at Bradley airport so thankful for the one option. Generally good experience but significant cleanliness issues. Every chair base in the lounge looks like this picture. Covered in filth and clearly not cleaned for an extended period.