Effective immediately, there are more ways to access most Escape Lounges in the United States…
In this post:
More Escape Lounges in USA now accessible with Priority Pass
Escapes Lounges are a network of 21 airport lounges, with 15 lounges in the United States and six lounges in the United Kingdom. Travelers can either pay cash to access these lounges, or the lounge network has a partnership with American Express, whereby these lounges belong to the company’s Global Lounge Collection, for those with the Amex Platinum Card or Amex Business Platinum Card.
When it comes to Priority Pass access, up until now, the UK lounge locations have belonged to Priority Pass, while the US lounge locations haven’t, with the exception of the location at Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR).
It has just been announced that the partnership between Escape Lounges and Priority Pass has been extended, and the following 10 Escape Lounges in the United States are now accessible with Priority Pass (in addition to Syracuse):
- Bradley International Airport (BDL)
- John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH)
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
- Greenville–Spartanburg International Airport (GSP)
- Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP)
- Oakland International Airport (OAK)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) – T3
- Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD)
- Sacramento International Airport (SMF) – Terminal A
- Sacramento International Airport (SMF) – Terminal B
In the interest of being thorough, the following four Escape Lounges in the United States aren’t participating in Priority Pass:
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
- Palm Beach International Airport (PBI)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) – T4
- Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO)
In each case, lounges can be accessed through Priority Pass for a period of up to three hours. I also can’t help but laugh at this point on Priority Pass’ website about dress restrictions for Escape Lounges:
Smart casual dress at all times (shorts must be tailored and of a reasonable length. Fancy dress or matching hen/stag attire are not allowed).
This is great news for Priority Pass members!
In my experience, Escape Lounges are above average when it comes to non-airline run lounges in the United States, with better food and drinks than you’ll find in most Priority Pass lounges.
Suffice it to say that these lounges joining Priority Pass is a huge value-add, especially since these are largely airports that don’t otherwise have many Priority Pass lounge options.
Now, to be balanced, I’d say that this is bad news for those who access Escape Lounges through American Express, since you can bet these lounges will suddenly be much more crowded. After all, there are plenty of people who get a Priority Pass membership through cards issued by Capital One, Chase, Citi, etc.
Bottom line
Escape Lounges have an expanded partnership with Priority Pass, and now 11 of the 15 Escape Lounges in the United States belong to the Priority Pass network, in addition to the locations in the United Kingdom.
This is fantastic news for Priority Pass members, since these lounges are largely at airports that don’t otherwise have Priority Pass locations. However, this is arguably bad news for those with eligible Amex cards who could previously access Escape Lounges, since I imagine these will now be much busier, and will more frequently have waiting lists.
What do you make of most Escape Lounges in the United States joining Priority Pass?
I’m not a fan of Escape lounges and some other third party lounges. Recently I tried to use my priority pass membership at Escape Stansted and was told it was a half hour wait. We waited an hour without notification then went to enquire, only to be told the wait time was now 2hrs despite being second in the queue. What is happening here? Are full price paying guests jumping the queue?
The new one at TUL this year was already planned to be Amex and PP so they definitely had plans to integrate more. The other new one at XNA says they are Amex only but I'll be surprised if that sticks. The real question is will they hierarchy entrance like Plaza Premium does when full.
Not sure why the SYR Escape Lounge was voted so high in the Priority Pass Excellence Awards for North America? I visited my first time last month and would state any of the chase lounges have a far better offering and experience hands down.
The SMF B lounge is always over capacity with a wait. Now it will be near impossible to have lounge time before a flight.
Thank goodness RNO isn’t one. It’s so tiny already!
They're already over run
I guess the loss of restaurants from PP for many issuers is forcing them to pay up for Escape
SMF’s two lounges are too tiny to accommodate the throngs of PP travelers…ugh. It’s already crowded as it is.
Glad they excluded PBI and FLL - those are crowded enough
PP needs something in FLL though.
Why is OHare the least lounged airport in the US, and for how much longer must we suffer?
The MSP Escape Lounge was part of Priority Pass at one time, but that ended in June 2017. So now it's just going back to what it was. Unfortunately, the food options have been half as good as what they were pre-COVID, so that's really sad for me as a Minneapolis-based flyer.
Lounges at SMF and OAK to me were better than nothing, even if meh.
But they were frequently busy as is, and this will absolutely destroy them.
Terrible.
The RNO lounge is tiny and always full, and the PHX lounge is the BA lounge in the evenings, so it's clear why those two are excluded, there would never be availability to offer.
I missed it - can Priority Pass holders bring guests into the Escape Lounge, or is it just the cardholder?
The MSP escape lounge is usually terrible. Always dirty, little selection available, etc. Woudl be nice if they stepped up their game a bit
Escape lounges in UK are meh...
Better than nothing though ♀️
The Oakland location is already full most of the time, now there'll be a line. I'm curious what the strategy here is
I'm curious about the upcoming Escape Lounge at PDX being listed as not participating in Priority Pass access. Is it listed as not participating simply because it does not yet exist, or has the operator specifically stated the PDX lounge will not participate in Priority Pass once it finally opens?
Is it just me, or did they drop the “Centurion Studio” branding from the US Escape Lounges? Just walked past PHX T3 this week and noticed there was no mention of Amex on the signage… and I no longer see references to that on the CL website or in the Amex app
The Escape Lounge in terminal 3 in Phoenix is the only one listed. The Escape Lounge in terminal 4 is the one adjacent to the Centurion Lounge and unfortunately is not included.
@ Paul M -- Whoops, missed that detail, thank you. Updated the post.
Love your blog but you realize that the picture in your post is of Phoenix T4, where Priority pass won’t be allowed?
Nice. And it shouldn’t be. They take BA premium pax and the entry line would spill into the terminal.
The Escape lounge in Sacramento is possibly the worst airport lounge I’ve ever set foot in. SMF itself is a very nice, spacious, naturally lit airport with many quiet places to hang out… and decent food/coffee options… so opting to have the privilege of sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers in a space smaller than many lounge bathrooms just seems bizarre to me.
Which seems to be the case with a number of Escape lounges. Reno and PHX T3 are almost as small. I don’t see how most of the locations will be able to handle the additional capacity.
Exactly! The last few times I've been to the Escape location at SMF Terminal B, it's been so crowded with old, stale food and not very well kept. I do wonder how they will handle the extra demand. I'm still surprised there aren't more plans for more lounges in SMF. It's a growing airport.....
You stole my PHX strategy! And the escape lounge won’t be just as busy, it will be full almost always. Curious what the plan is with the BA premium pax that use this lounge. I’ve seen them get turned away with a wait time as is, which is mind blowing to me.
I've used these at the Ohio airports. They are OK - decent options when other clubs aren't available. Food is fine; service can be tough to come by as the lounges usually seem understaffed.