There’s no denying that airport lounges have become a lot more crowded over the years, particularly after the pandemic. Admittedly the crowding issues are a bit uneven, and depend on the type of lounge, how you can access it, and the location. In this post I thought it would be interesting to take a bigger…
Continue reading: Why Have Airport Lounges Become So Crowded?
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On a trip across South America and most lounges have been less than half full. In the US, the only way to curb lounge crowding is inputting annual spend requirements on your card. That's what's coming next. Wouldn't be shocked to see Centurion lounges implement a 50k annual spend in the previous year to qualify for entry. Otherwise, they have no other tools at their disposal.
But then they'd lose most of their cardholders because they have almost no categories with bonused spend. And they make a lot of money on the annual fees. They'll just keep cranking them out because what do they care if the lounge is crowded? Probably just have an AI answering complaints.
If the Centurion card was as exclusive as Amex likes to think it is, then it would be less of a problem. Take it from me, every douchebag investment banker on Wall Street has one, and they’re not exclusive at all.
If the best thing to do is to just sit at an empty gate, why would most people want to pay those super exorbitant annual fee fees for the supposedly "premium" travel cards.
Most of the bank lounges and airline lounges are super crowded because they have gone on a binge of issuing this high annual fee credit cards and they made a pretty penny out of that. But they haven't invested proportionally in the infrastructure resulting in lines out of the door.
Now till the consumer keeps on showing that they're addicted to the lounges and wont mind standing in line for these "free" food and drinks, these banks and Airlines will keep on screwing these addicts.
Why do people crowd airline lounges ? Because they foolishly think they are fake "elite" with their stupid mobile phones and laptops . In fact , one of the fools is looking at a mobile phone in the main photo of the article .
nah, less of a status thing, more of a 'I sorta already paid for this, so...' (sunk cost fallacy).
That's not how sunk cost fallacy works.
It works more like this.
I already sold my conscience to become a member. I might as well try to win a gift card.
(Sowie, Eskimo. Less about gift cards, more about engaging in the Community posts/questions, less ads, etc.)
The lounge situation has become laughable. Cardholders, their guests, the tier system allow way too many people access thus deleting the original idea of offering people a quiet oasis. The lounges should only allow in those passengers who have paid for First or Business Class only, either by cash or points. Or just get rid of them.
Uh... because the banks oversold access, and the airlines/operators didn't expand accordingly?
“Lounge access” has become the new “Elite upgrade”…
Some of this overcrowding issue has also been a direct result of airlines pushing customers over to their credit cards just to receive quasi-respectable treatment when flying. Yes the credit cards are about monetization, but they are also about trapping customers into the brand and extracting more data about said customer… which does lead to more monetization down the road.
Many airlines had to set up lounges to be viewed as a reputable major international carrier, so they were in essence a cost of doing business… well now, as Ben points out, monetizing anything possible that was once given away for free and maximize that by selling it to everyone possible (even if it’s now worthless, like elite upgrades, priority boarding group 19, or lounge access) has become a race to the bottom when it comes to quality and value received…. much like the airline industry overall. It’s all the same formula, just switch out lounge access, for elite upgrades, for first class meal, for blah blah blah… you get the point.
Or cap it to 8-10 free visits per year, after that a small fee per visit.
That’s what the SkyMiles Reserve card did… not sure exactly how much that is helping
“Or cap it to 8-10 free visits per year…”
How many AMEX platinum card holders are going to continue paying $895 per year for that kind of limitation on the lounge access? And those 8-to-10 “free” visits per year? Those are hardly free. Nor are the “unlimited” visits that platinum card holders currently get.
I only have access when I travel international J, and then it Flagship, Polaris, or D1 (if DL has a D1 at that hub). My home airport hasn't had an airline club since TWA (and I was a member there). And, you know, while I enjoy the clubs when I have access, I'm really not bothered when I don't have access. And, quite frankly, the airline non-J clubs lack class.
Unless you moved, John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) does have an Escape Lounge next to Gate B32 (Amex Platinum partner lounge, like a Centurion lite) since 2022. While it's not an 'airline-affiliated' club, it's better than nothing. I haven't been to that one; how is it? (Oh, wait, I forgot, you pretend to not read anything I write... whatta shame, oh well.)
The CMH lounge is pretty dumpy and crowded, truly. It’s great if you wanna go in grab a drink and leave. That’s pretty much all I ever do there. And after I exit, I just turn right up the ramp and go to the left or to the right to those two gate areas that are almost always empty, and just relax there.
@TravelinWilly I've only looked in from outside. Until the new building opens, the lounge is in the AA/UA/AC concourse, but you must leave the lounge, exit security, and go through security again to get to the DL/AS concourse or the WN concourse. No ability to do in within the secures area (and absolutely no reason to spend anything to create it).
Oh, yeah yeah yeah, I forgot about that. I only fly AA into and out of CMH, and I forgot that DL & co. are in the other concourses. It's definitely not worth going through security for the lounge, as you note. I didn't realize that they are doing construction there, my next trip to CMH will be in a few months or so.
I found the regular DL club at BOS terminal E to be very nice last spring. I didn't qualify for the internal D1 section, as I was flying out on AF metal. Why was it nice? I had one of the earliest international AF/DL/KL departures and the club is very quiet at that time. I had a nice multi-hour layover in the AF 2F lounge. And, I was quite impressed with the 51st & Green in DUB. The common factor? Low numbers of folks relative to size.
Have you noticed that all the issues, good or bad, related to air travel are caused by US credit card businesses?
I think this is just a US thing. It's still high holiday season in Europe and the two lounges I visited today- a brand new one which offers Priority Pass access and a 'flagship' lounge at a hub that doesn't even have a separate non-Schengen facility- were barely half full, definitely no sign of premium leisure pax queuing at the door.
Great example of someone who doesn’t understand confirmation bias. Amongst others, I could point to:
- AGP, which has a permanent queue out the door almost all day every day in summer (it has also adopted the separate queue for priority pass and business)
- IBZ
- IST
- MAN
Etc, etc.
THAT'S confirmation bias!
- IST serves the biggest city in Europe and offers flights to more countries than any other airport in the world, connections can be very long and the food outlets are notoriously overpriced. It's a single terminal, and the terminal with the biggest lounge demand in Europe if not the entire world.
- The airport infrastructure in places like IBZ and AGP is inadequate for the enormous level of traffic they're handling- or rather it's only adequate outside of peak season. That's not just a lounge issue.
- MAN are still in the process of finalising the T2 renovation and the newest lounge only opened 6-7 weeks ago.
These are all edge cases which don't reflect the experience of the majority of pax in the vast majority of airports in Europe (I don't have detailed experience of other markets as I only do 2-3 intercontinental trips a year and don't have as many friends there). I did personally have to deal with a queue at MAD T1 a couple of months ago but it was about four people deep and dealt with in less than 5 minutes.
This is a pointless discussion as you have clearly already reached your conclusion and no matter how many airports I point to on top of this list you’ll keep arrogantly claiming they are edge cases. I’m not claiming the problem is a bad as the US but it’s clearly exists in parts of Europe too. UK is particularly bad (to MAN I could add STN, LGW, LHR, EDI etc etc) - see Sean’s post above.
I think you're missing out on some of the nuance. I'm not saying that lounge overcrowding is completely unheard of in Europe (or elsewhere).
What I am saying is that it's not widespread. I'm not losing any sleep if I experience overcrowding in 3% of my lounge visits (that's more or less where I'm currently at) and I can empathise with the annoyance of someone who may encounter it 15% of the time due to their travel patterns, but I have enough first-hand experience and enough friends and relatives who travel very regularly to know that it's very concentrated in a small minority of lounges and/or travel dates /times which are not just in high season but exceptionally busy.
I think that the real issue here is that there'll always be a genius on tiktok etc trying to sensationalise even the most mundane of things and we need to keep everything into perspective - I have no trouble believing that Ben's absolutely correct in observing that lounges around where he lives are chronically overcrowded, but that doesn't make it a global phenomenon.
Agree with a previous commenter that access via credit card should somewhat be tied to actual credit card spending. Maybe give 2 lounge passes each year, and then at spending thresholds (say every $10k) that unlocks more access. Hit a higher threshold like $50k for unlimited access.
I disagree.
There shouldn't be an unlimited threshold.
I'd say one pass every $10k spend is good.
My 100 annual visits from my spend should be more than enough at airports without business class lounges or sucks worse than PP.
But that's not how greed operates.
Lounge would be better off giving everyone access with little service and make profit for every schmuck that comes in.
Instead of making $20 they settle at $10 sharing the burden with the banks, who now charges $200 more in annual fee but most people don't even use 20 visits to breakeven the bank.
So that's a win-win-win for everyone except the schmuck who paid $795 to get stuck in line and never got in.
Bonus add on: Airlines are in on it too. Since they all cut deals with their banks or card issuer. They schedule your layover to 31 mins to make sure you paid for the access but never have time to use it.
What's good paying $795 for credit cards with lounge access when you can barely make it before final call.
A couple other aspects:
1. The lack of investment in the infrastructure/design of non-lounge areas for travellers
2. The rampant pricing abuse that is prevalent at most retail outlets within airports.
3. The domination/culture of status projection through social media
In the last few months I have walked in and out because of overcrowding more times than I can count.
The TK lounge Miami queue pictured, is there a dedicated fast track entrance for TK J passengers?
The TK lounge pictured is one of two at MIA (Concourse D/E) — and does not serve Turkish Airlines passengers. There is another one in Concourse H/J that does serve Turkish Airlines and other Star Alliance customers.
While I’m unsure of the existence of a specific priority line, you will definitely be prioritized and will always be able to get in as a J passenger
No, This is the Concourse J lounge hallway , You can see it here : https://onemileatatime.com/reviews/turkish-airlines-lounge-miami/
Ah! You mean the cover photo. There’s also a photo in the article of the D/E Turkish Airlines MIA lounge
Times change!! Many lightyears ago, I was a business traveler and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a Northwest lounge at MSP during a layover where you could plug your laptop modem into a phone in a cubicle and catch up on email. 5600 baud! Currently, we are enjoying the new, spacious AS lounge at PDX.
Most of my travel is in Australia, Asia and Africa, and lounges are rarely full for me. The exceptions are weekday 4-6pm at BNE, SYD or MEL, and Phuket’s Priority Pass lounge, which was packed. Outside of that, there’s usually plenty of seating and I’ve never seen a queue out the door.
On credit cards, most people with a premium card probably only travel a few times a year. That usage gets spread out across hundreds of lounges globally, so it makes sense it doesn’t create the same crowding you see with high-frequency US cardholders concentrated in a handful of hub lounges.
Same logic applies to paying for Qantas Club. If you’re flying enough to genuinely need lounge access, you’d have Gold status already, which gets you in for free. Paying for it only makes sense if you’re doing a moderate number of trips a year, not enough for status but enough to justify the fee. For a handful of visits a year, it’s not worth it.
Since you mentioned it, the renovated Qantas Club (and Business) lounges, like in ADL, really impressed me. SYD T3 could use a refresher; better showers, please (especially after arriving from a transpacific flight and needing to connect…)
Things are looking up at Manila NAIA (T3 - the only terminal you should ever consider using) under new management. The lounge situation always was dire - terrible lounges over-full. While there were dedicated CX and SQ lounges, there has been a rational reorg. In addition to the meh lounges, there is one new premium lounge that admits only business/first class ticketed passengers. No Premium/Dragon Pass, no credit card admission. The age of "I'll book economy and get into the lounge anyway" strategy is dead at many airports, plenty of which provide better facilities in the open terminal area anyway, plus it's the same WiFi infrastructure named differently or not. For example, give me Costa @ LHR T3 over queuing with entitled plebs with grubby Priority Pass cards any time. The airlines will love what NAIA has done because it was the final straw that pushed me (and I assume some others) back to booking Business. At my age ...
the copenhagen lounge is great since most people go to the carlsburg lounge. The morning food is basic and well worth it. It beats spending $30 or more on a hotel breakfast. Overall with the exception of LHR, overseas lounges much quieter and a great place to chill.