When my wife and I travel domestically, we try to avoid Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are really nice, as the terminals—and by extension, the lounges—tend to be much less crowded. Time of day can also make a big difference. She really appreciates the food and amenities when we travel together, so having a quieter lounge experience is a plus.
When I travel with my friends, we’re more willing to put up with the crowds and actually kind of enjoy the energy of the situation. The lounge bars seem to fill up last, and the three of us are perfectly comfortable grabbing three seats together at the bar.
The waitlist on the Amex app really helps, and we use it frequently. I’ve also found that the Chase lounges really try to accommodate us when we’re using the CSP card. Every once in a while, we get caught at the airport at a particularly crowded time, and the best approach is simply to deal with it—or find a quiet area somewhere in the terminal.
When traveling outside the U.S., we rarely have an issue with lounge crowding. Mexico is the notable exception; over the last few years, the lounges there seem to be consistently packed.
I have all-but given up on lounges. Last week in Jakarta, one lounge had a 90-minute waitlist. The lounge across from it was packed. Children were running free, screeching. The lounge took just about every pass I have ever heard of, plus had a $30 cash option. Once inside, food was scarce. I had a can of Coke and left. What a mess!
I’d pay a premium for a quiet kid-free lounge with quality food & beverages.
I have all-but given up on lounges. Last week in Jakarta, one lounge had a 90-minute waitlist. The lounge across from it was packed. Children were running free, screeching. The lounge took just about every pass I have ever heard of, plus had a $30 cash option. Once inside, food was scarce. I had a can of Coke and left. What a mess!
I’d pay a premium for a quiet kid-free lounge with quality food & beverages.
I have all-but given up on airport lounges. They are overcrowded and useless. Last week in Jakarta, the first lounge we approached had a 90-minute waitlist. The lounge across the concourse was taking people, but it was packed. Children are running free, screaming. There was very little food of interest and it had the ambience of a school cafeteria. I had two colas and left.
This lounge accepted literally every lounge access card I’ve ever heard of, plus accepted $30 cash for entrance. As a result, the lounge was making money, but offered little in the way of quality or comfort.
I would be willing to pay a premium for a quiet business lounge that excludes children and offers reasonable food and beverage service.
Parents, take your little angels to the McDonald’s and leave the rest of us in peace. They will be happier and so will we!
3rd time’s the charm.
(Was that USD $30, or, um, err, IDR? Because, in Rupiah, that’d be a steal!)
And don’t knock McDonalds (good for adults too!)… CDG Terminal 2C saved me when the SkyTeam lounge’s food wouldn’t suffice for ‘dinner.’
The Saphire lounge at T3 is usually pretty good although it does get crowded at some times.
Aren't "WE" the primary problem. We fee to game the system and maximize the time and how many lines we can get into. I'm willing to bet some folks use multiple pp pass per trip just to be in a many lines as possible. If it's free, already included in the price we want it. That's sadly what this cc game have trained us. Last year I started skipping lounges because some are so pitiful it's not even worth getting into any kind of line to enter. I end up just going to a quiet restaurant away from the traffic.
Seeing how this points game is looking like it's going to implode in the next few years (and really at this point I don't really mind just paying a la carte) I mind as well start trimming the card benefits.
Umm, if you have 10 Priority Pass Select memberships thanks to all these great premium cards that Ben always promotes, are you supposed to not use them for yourself and your 20 ‘best friends’ at each airport? /s
Ben, what first class lounges anywhere in the world are victims of overcrowding? I certainly believe you when you included them on the list, but I’m just curious as to know where you’ve encountered them because I have no, and that could be because we travel to different places or fly at different times.
The Qantas First lounge in SIngapore certainly gets overcrowded at the point that the flights to/from LHR arrive, and an entire A380 of passengers has a 2 hour transit there.
The BA First lounge in LHR can be busy enough that it's hard to find seats, although it's not a true F lounge as the real F passengers go to the COncorde room.
“The Qantas First lounge in SIngapore certainly gets overcrowded…”
That’s actually a really good point and I didn’t even think of that. The only time I use that lounge is when I’m on the evening Air France flight to Paris; I’m usually escorted out about 10 minutes after the A380 passengers start their mass arrival, and it really does get extremely crowded quickly!
The Qantas first class lounges in SYD & MEL also get crowded at times, and the problem is OneWorld Emeralds in biz & the steerage cabins. I’m pretty much over airport lounging these days, and prefer to check in with as little time to spare as possible.
Truly it's one of the great perks of flying American. The Admirals Clubs, with the exception of CLT (maybe PHX? I don't use that airport virtually ever) are just not that crowded. I don't think I've literally ever been turned away in DCA, PHL, ORD, LGA, etc.
I'm like you, I travel hundreds of airports every year, all in pPremium, no fancy US credit card. If its too crowded, I walk. I am after the peace and quiet. Luckily, if there is a F Lounge, I am mostly able to access those anywhere in the world and they are usually very quiet. ( Except QF F SYD, a shocker )
One trend I am noticing big-time, all the hanger-son with their fancy credit cards, stocking up on food and drinks for their Economy flights. You see them in their singlets and thongs packing their bags full of food and drinks like its the last meal they will ever have. It does my head in, especially in the Middle-Eastern Islamic countries and India.
They should make the taking of food with you like that a cause for being banned from future lounge entry. A cookie and cup of coffee is one thing. Taking food for the flight is quite another.
Never had a problem entering Senator Lounge at FRA. As it's a hybrid, for Senator members. It's between FC and bis class. And no CC entry. Best since EU 261.
Never had a problem entering Senator Lounge at FRA. As it's a hybrid, for Senator members and Star Gold. It's between FC and bis class. And no CC entry. Best since EU 261.
I've never tried it at LH lounges outside the US (and I'm back to being Star Gold, so a moot point once again for me), but the Amex Plat allows a user who is otherwise entitled to the LH Business lounge to use the Senator instead.
Just checked LH Senator lounge access. Yes to Star Alliance Gold. No to CC.
If you arriving in FRA from U.S., there is the Welcome Lounge after you get to baggage pickup. It's great for shower and quick breakfast, then off to meetings or vacation. If connecting to another flight, and checked your bags through, just clear immigration, and go to lounge. Then just go through security and to your Schengen flight. The advantage here is that it will less crowded than Senator lounge in early AM, as way many Americans will be going directly to Senator lounges, and more using showered than in Welcome lounge.
@AlanZ, if you're on the FRA non-Schengen side in the morning, you could always access the AC lounge.
Feels like beating a dead horse at this point to point this out but…it does feel like the lounge overcrowding is mostly a North American problem. In most parts of the world, credit cards that provide unlimited Priority Pass visits are very rare (they might provide a dozen visits per year at most), and airlines are not as reliant on co-branded credit cards for revenue. Some Asian airlines are even willing to turn away credit card holders during peak hours and only allow J and elite passengers entry. Lounges get busy during peak hours yes, and it might be hard to find a seat or use the shower, but it’s really rare to see queue out the door situations (except at a few priority pass lounges, such as the Plaza Premium at HKG and KUL).
Yet this seems to be a near constant experience whenever I travel in North America (especially in domestic and trans-border terminals), and it feels like airlines and lounge operators are just not interested in doing anything about it.
I think the overcrowding experience in the UK and India particularly is far worse than North America, especially at common-use third party lounges.
I was shocked last year at the Plaza Premium Lounge in Gatwick where as an airline premium passenger I was told that due to overcrowding I would either have to make a co-payment to enter or wait for an hour.
Asking airline guests for extra money is shocking indeed! Did you flag it up with the airline?
@Throwawayname - I did indeed as the local manager was a friend. He said they are not supposed to do that but he got 1-2 complaints every week that they were trying their luck anyway.
I completely agree. I’ve rarely had a problem with an overcrowded lounge in Europe, Asia, or even Africa. It has happened to me in North America, Central America, and South America, though.
Obviously, at certain times (school breaks, long weekends, etc.), there are more people in the lounges, but it’s never been a problem or ruined the experience.
No, actually, the last two times I was in Amsterdam, there were quite a few people there, but that's the exception. I think it's really a problem in the U.S., although it could start to spread as premium cards with those kinds of services become more common here.
No disagreement on the India part — the lounge passes / pay-per-use lounges do get crazy queues there, especially those that grant access in collaboration with local banks. Though I found that the lounges reserved for airline passengers are *usually* okay (it’s also possible i just got lucky the last few times I visited lol).
And yeah Priority Pass / contract lounges at major hubs definitely get busy, especially during peak travel times. But I think there’s something unique about how heavily even first-party airline lounges are monetized in North America. There’s premium cabin passengers, foreign elite status holders, co-branded credit cards, credit cards from a partner bank, lounge access subscriptions, lounge passes, companion passes, etc. etc. that sometimes it feels like half of the plane has access and it just creates a terrible experience for everyone.
Also, yikes on the Gatwick lounge. Usually I have the opposite experience where the contract lounge will grant entry to airline premium passengers even when the lounge is already obviously overcapacity (which isn’t necessarily a good thing but…points for trying? Lol)
Some of the top tier East Asian airlines would actively offer premium / elite passengers the option of taking a meal voucher instead of lounge voucher if they know the contract lounge is overcrowded — which I always found to be a nice touch (and likely doesn’t cost them that much extra).
WSJ article: "Gen Z Has Just Discovered the Premium Rewards Credit Card." From SEC filings, in spite of the high price tag, the Amex Platinum has seen explosive growth. In spite of ham-handed management, also the CSR. Roughly 65% are from Gen Z and Millennials. To me, card-accessed lounges are the problem. At airline-operated lounges, I see high occupancy and short entry processing lines but not over-crowding denial of entry.
(Not to make this an intergenerational proxy war for what is usually just a class war, but…) How Gen Z paying for that?
On the flip side, there are BA's lounges at LHR T5 main concourse. One could write a book about their overcrowding.
I've never understood people that will pay an annual fee of $600 or more just to sit in a usually crowded, often dirty lounge 2-4 times a year. Sure, if you travel a lot and are good with Applebee's type food it's worth the fee. Airline lounges "might" be able to help you with travel disruptions versus other lounges.
Yup, that's all those cards do. Great over-simplification, George. /s
(I see you've graduated from trashing Wawa to attacking Applebees now. On this, we agree.)
I think a major factor is that people tend to get to the airport a lot earlier than they used to before COVID, so are spending more waiting time in a lounge. Also, I don't know that I've ever seen seats at a gate that were as nice as even a middling lounge, or less crowded, for that matter. And when there are IRROPS, the gates and restaurants are usually even more of a zoo than the lounges. I've had 6 hour delays due to weather where I felt that the money I paid for the lounge card was worth it just for that.
Surprised lounges are not more restrictive on entrance (2 hours before schedule departure). Also, departure screens to get the laggard out of the lounge and to the gate; no excuse of not getting a departure text message.
In addition, no sleeping; no feet on the tables or chairs; no yoga exercise; no screaming children. If in doubt, I'll reincarnate my 1st grade teacher (Sister DaVida) and she can patrol with her yard stick. I’ll admit, I did get hit once….Ok, maybe twice. But she would have that lounge in ship shape and Bristol fashion.
Lots of them impose a 3-hour maximum, I have had to suffer through one or two long connections in 'unusual' places (e g. from AV to LH at MAD) where I couldn't get in despite holding both status and a business class ticket.
Lounges are now often worse than the terminal with people putting their feet onto the tables, leaving massive messes, somehow being allowed in with animals that clearly aren't service trained, etc.
I miss the days when lounges were restricted to people who earned their way in and knew how to handle themselves once inside.
Now, it's people racing to fill a plate with slop, rinse/repeat, stuff extra crap in their bags, loudly talk on their cell phone and then leave.
The Concorde lounge ( not the Concorde room ) had every singel passenger in the lounge . That was overcrowded .
Today most Airports are so nice so many alternatives to lounges.
As Ben notes, different people have different reasons for visiting a lounge. Some are looking for a quiet place to work or relax, others are looking for food, others are looking for amenities. I'd like to see more specialization so lounges can better cater to people according to their goals. I see grab and go as a step in this direction: if you just want something to eat (and I'll admit that a big appeal of lounge access for me is avoiding terminal prices for food), you can do that without taking up space that someone else wants to use to get work done. I wonder if there are other ways that lounges can tweak their designs or offerings so that they appeal to business travelers and not family travelers, or vice versa.
I still miss when lounges had no food and were a place to work. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate getting to eat in the lounge. But I appreciate quiet more.
I do have to say that Delta lounges are finally getting better.