For the first time in its 95-year history, Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) is expected to get a traditional airport lounge…
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Midway International Airport getting lounge in 2024
A lounge will open at Chicago Midway Airport in the fall of 2024, and it will be called “Club MDW.” According to airport officials, construction on the 3,300 square foot lounge is expected to start in early 2024, and it will be located between Concourse A and Concourse B, so will have quite the central location.
The lounge will feature a selection of complimentary food and drinks, and a variety of seating, including workspaces. However, 3,300 square feet isn’t exactly a huge lounge, given the number of passengers who pass through the airport.
The lounge is expected to be accessible through Priority Pass, which is available through several premium credit cards. On top of that, it’s expected that any passenger will be able to enter for a fee of $50.
Midway Airport is a massive hub for Southwest Airlines, but also has limited service from Allegiant, Delta, Frontier, Porter, and Volaris.
The three biggest US airports without lounges
Here’s an interesting tidbit. As of now, the three airports in the United States with the most traffic that don’t have airport lounges are Chicago Midway (MDW), Dallas Love Field (DAL), and Houston Hobby (HOU).
These are three of Southwest’s biggest hubs, and Southwest doesn’t operate its own lounges. Still, that doesn’t mean that some Southwest passengers wouldn’t appreciate lounges, so it’s a bit surprising that no lounge operator has bid on a lounge like this, at least until now.
I’m curious if there’s more to this. Does Southwest control a lot of the terminal space in these airports in a way that prevents lounge operators from opening lounges, or…?
I know Southwest is very much about offering all passengers a civilized experience, as everyone gets two free checked bags and a carry-on, there’s no basic economy, etc. However, the airline also goes after business travelers, including with its Business Select fares.
I doubt it’ll happen, but I’m curious if Southwest has at least considered the concept of opening its own lounges at hubs. These could be independently profitable (by admitting Priority Pass members), and the airline could maybe also offer access as part of certain fare bundles.
I doubt it’ll happen, especially as Southwest seems like an airline that’s largely set in its ways. But more radical things have happened, and I think the concept could make sense.
Bottom line
In roughly a year, Club MDW will be opening at Chicago Midway Airport, and it will be the airport’s first-ever lounge. It’s expected to be open to Priority Pass members, and travelers will also be able to purchase access to it at the door.
The three biggest airports in the United States without lounge access are all Southwest hubs, so it’s cool to see that finally starting to change.
What do you make of a lounge coming to Chicago Midway Airport?
What do you mean that it does not have a lounge? Not even a local airport operated lounge?
Surprised JetBlue has not established lounges of its own. Especially in BOS, JFK, & FLL, SAN. Lounges in BOS & JFK would enhance its expanding footprint in Europe and interconnect with Euro carriers.
Right now, B6 is focused on the NK merger. Either way, lounges would be the next priority.
Oops....SAN should be SJU (San Juan, Puerto Rico).
It’s been a long time, but Midway did have lounges in the past. Midway Airlines had a MetroClub lounge. Midway Airlines at some point also had an “Executive Club” on Concourse B, but I have not been able to figure out whether that was before, after, or at the same time as the MetroClub. There is an old terminal map showing the Executive Club as being between gates B3 & B5, while another old map...
It’s been a long time, but Midway did have lounges in the past. Midway Airlines had a MetroClub lounge. Midway Airlines at some point also had an “Executive Club” on Concourse B, but I have not been able to figure out whether that was before, after, or at the same time as the MetroClub. There is an old terminal map showing the Executive Club as being between gates B3 & B5, while another old map appears to show the MetroClub as being off of the hub by the B Concourse. I believe there was also a USAir Club, or maybe it was a Delta Crown Room, on Concourse C.
Given that many US airports are oft owned and managed by their respective metropolitan / county authourities, I'm surprised that they seem averse to opening their own 'destination' lounges. Surely, there is a reasonable business case for Midway Airport to open its own lounge within the terminal - rather than outsourcing it and becoming just another rent-collector?
There is no argument that (airline) lounges are a profitable venture, irrespective of the obvious point of them...
Given that many US airports are oft owned and managed by their respective metropolitan / county authourities, I'm surprised that they seem averse to opening their own 'destination' lounges. Surely, there is a reasonable business case for Midway Airport to open its own lounge within the terminal - rather than outsourcing it and becoming just another rent-collector?
There is no argument that (airline) lounges are a profitable venture, irrespective of the obvious point of them being an additional airline 'loyalty' benefit, but a full-use, open to all (independent of airline), chargeable entry model could be highly lucrative. It could have a small business section with computers (hey, the city runs libraries with these), a few TV sets, basic food & beverage (Midway is more a leisure focused compared to O'Hare) as well as a reasonable seating / lounge area.
Just thinking 'back of the envelope' : open 15 hours a day, 300 people per hour, $50.00 entry per head would provide a potential daily revenue stream of $225,000.00 per day (or $82m+ per year). Of course, then you have costs, such a 'rental' offset (against outsourcing to a 3rd party), wages (maybe a staff of 12-15), cost of consumables (F&B), insurance etc. This would not need to be a luxury style Flagship / Polaris / DL Skyclub, so you'd avoid showers and 'premium' dining but instead include snackable food (cheese, biscuits, pretzels, fruit and maybe low-maintenance salad options and wraps etc). Savings could be made by utilizing the 'old school' airline tricks of a per-person complimentary beer or wine voucher on entry and make any subsequent alcoholic drinks chargeable. Just like the old model that airlines used 10 years ago - before the airlines went crazy trying to out-do each other with a First Lounge, a Business Lounge, a Chairman's / Concierge Key / GS lounge all at the same terminal.
Believe it or not, this exact model works Canberra (CBR) and Darwin (DRW) Airports, where the airport actually owns the lounge. Rex Airlines in Australia also operates a similar 'open to all' model, where they are competing with both Qantas and Virgin Australia in a domestic configuration.
I am surprised that it is taking until next Fall for the lounge to open as there have has been talk about the lounge coming to MDW for at least a couple of years.
I hope that there is enough space for this lounge and that it does not end up being like the Priority Pass lounge at ORD T5 where it feels like an amazing occasion for anyone to ever get in because there is so much more supply than demand.
You must mean so much more "demand than supply".
I am surprised it has taken this long at airports like MDW, LUV, and HOU. Southwest loyalists will gladly handover $$$ for lounge access. Like others have stated, this one at MDW is woefully small for the likely demand.
Wow, Austin! Who are you even? What a nasty and unnecessary comment.
I'm thrilled, but also expecting it to be jam-packed. MDW actually still gets a lot of domestic traffic, albeit almost exclusively Frontier, Southwest, and Delta fliers.
The silver lining is that ORD still doesn't have a Priority Pass Club at its busiest terminals (1-3), despite it being the 4th busiest airport in the US. It only has a partner lounge (Swissport), that routinely rejects Priority Pass travelers when more than 5 enter the lounge. Not...
I'm thrilled, but also expecting it to be jam-packed. MDW actually still gets a lot of domestic traffic, albeit almost exclusively Frontier, Southwest, and Delta fliers.
The silver lining is that ORD still doesn't have a Priority Pass Club at its busiest terminals (1-3), despite it being the 4th busiest airport in the US. It only has a partner lounge (Swissport), that routinely rejects Priority Pass travelers when more than 5 enter the lounge. Not to mention Terminal 5 is not connected to the other airport terminals.
It's not a case of Southwest holding real estate - believe me, like any airline, they aren't leasing any square footage at an airport they don't need (and many airports, especially on gates and space that is accessible to the public, have a minimum usage requirement to hold it). I don't know the specifics with CDA, but lounges like this are difficult in some airports because of the lease requirements for concessions to share revenue...
It's not a case of Southwest holding real estate - believe me, like any airline, they aren't leasing any square footage at an airport they don't need (and many airports, especially on gates and space that is accessible to the public, have a minimum usage requirement to hold it). I don't know the specifics with CDA, but lounges like this are difficult in some airports because of the lease requirements for concessions to share revenue and what should that share be for a lounge primarily funded by credit cards/third party lounge memberships. Or a company may have overall sole concessionship for food/beverage outlets. Also, square footage on the concourse is just dang expensive (frequently 4-5 times more expensive than say something downstairs). MDW currently is $295-369 per sq ft depending on lease terms.
Midway DOES have a lounge. They have a USO past security. It’s not huge but it’s decent if you can access them.
LOL. I'm a disabled veteran dude, and saying the USO space counts as a public/private lounge is RIDICULOUS. You know the types of lounges that are being discussed here: Airline Lounges, For Pay Lounges, and Membership Lounges. What's next? You'll include the employee break room as a "lounge".....as long as You as an employee can gain access? Bahahahahahaha!
STFU, Benjamin.
Kinda crazy that a dying market like Chicago is getting a lounge, when Dallas & Houston are growing leaps and bounds. Maybe they have more closed down retail space at Midway? I know Love Field is maxed out on space at the moment. In other news, the CME and other major Exchanges and businesses are talking about leaving the city for Texas after the new mayor proposed $800,000,000 in new taxes aimed at them! Smart move Mayor Johnson!
Midway has already surpassed its pre-pandemic passenger numbers and is still growing. Regardless of your opinion of Chicago, it is the 3rd largest city in the country with millions of people flying to, from and through it. Plenty of demand for an overdue lounge.
LOL, Chicago won't be the 3rd largest City (or Metro area/MSA) for long! DFW WILL take that crown in the next 6-7 years (if not sooner). Oh and tell Chicago thanks for all of the Fortune 500 HQ's they've given us recently.
As a born-and-bred-and-resident Chicagoan, let me just say this: drop dead, and I'll help you with that.
BenjaminGuttery is wrong. Not that Chicago won't soon become the fourth largest city but that it is Houston that will be the third largest city, not Dallas.
Hey Chicagoan, are you going to tell me to Drop Dead also because you can't handle the truth?
Midway is always SLAMMED, and passenger numbers are now back to about where they were pre-COVID. O'Hare had over 33,000,000 passengers last year, making it the 4th busiest in the country, about where it ranked pre-COVID. If they were dying, Delta would have pulled out of MDW years ago and only be flying out of ORD, and it's planes in and out of MDW would be empty (they aren't - they're always packed); Southwest would...
Midway is always SLAMMED, and passenger numbers are now back to about where they were pre-COVID. O'Hare had over 33,000,000 passengers last year, making it the 4th busiest in the country, about where it ranked pre-COVID. If they were dying, Delta would have pulled out of MDW years ago and only be flying out of ORD, and it's planes in and out of MDW would be empty (they aren't - they're always packed); Southwest would not be expanding even more out of MDW; and MDW wouldn't continue to add international destinations year after year. Nor would AA and UA continue to add non-stops out of ORD. Meanwhile, the city was packed wth tourists all summer long, with hotels selling out like we've never seen. But sure, Chicago is dying...
For the cities proper, Dallas has half the population of Chicago. For the metro, Chicago had over 9.4 million people at the last census, while Dallas had 7.6 million. I suspect most population experts would agree that Dallas metro will eventually surpass Chicago, but it's not going to be by 2030.
In any event, and much more relevant to the discussion of which airport should get a lounge first, Midway is substantially busier than either Dallas Love or Houston Hobby.
What the heck are you going on about? Midway is SW biggest focus city as they call them, since they don't call airports hubs. It is very close to National Reagan in terms of passengers. Also there aren't empty store fronts, I was literally just in there today. I doubt you live in Chicago, take your political crap and shove it. Nobody cares what you think.
Oh my God you can’t help yourself can you? It’s like you’ve got some ideological form of Tourette’s syndrome. It seems to be contagious among a certain crowd.
Effing worthless troglodyte.
Considering how much 1 double cocktail costs at MDW bars, $50 to access a priority pass lounge is a better deal than arriving early and paying $75 for two drinks and some food.
I used to predominantly fly Southwest from 2012-2017, and most terminals I flew out of where SW was exclusively housed did not have lounges. TPA, MCO, FLL, BWI, ATL(the Club is technically on the other end of the airport), DCA, and LAX all come to mind.
I think it might be easier to list terminals that SW operates out of (with a decent presence, not just 1 or 2 gates) that have lounges. I can only think of LGA Terminal B (which has a Centurion Lounge).
Southwest flies out of Concourse C in Denver, where the Centurion lounge is. I have a theory that the Centurion Lounge's proximity and the lack of any other lounge Southwest passengers would have access to is a big part of the reason why the DEN centurion lounge is so busy.
I think a bigger factor for DEN's Centurion's popularity is that there were really no other lounges at DEN when it opened that were accessible to everyone regardless of airline you were flying (assuming you met entry requirements). That's still the case until the C1 lounge opens (in theory any day now).
UA's, DL, and AA's lounges were nothing spectacular either, until recently when UA just opened two new lounges. Finally, their guesting policies...
I think a bigger factor for DEN's Centurion's popularity is that there were really no other lounges at DEN when it opened that were accessible to everyone regardless of airline you were flying (assuming you met entry requirements). That's still the case until the C1 lounge opens (in theory any day now).
UA's, DL, and AA's lounges were nothing spectacular either, until recently when UA just opened two new lounges. Finally, their guesting policies until recently were better than the others, too, for most people.
Centurion was just the best option for everyone who had an AMEX card.
St. Louis, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Pittsburgh. But I assume a 3000 sq/ft lounge in Midway will be a zoo (but probably profitable for the operator).
If anyone thought the Delta lounges were packed, just wait for this tiny lounge to open..