Three options for gaining access to business lounges

One of the big headaches for the business traveler is ‘dead-time’. I’m talking about the insane amount of time you spend traveling to airports, waiting around in airports, taxiing in airports. If you fly within Europe or the States, it’s not unusual to spend more time messing around on the ground than in the air.

One way to make the most of your time in the airport is to access a business lounge. Your lounge will at the minimum provide a desk, power-point and Internet. Some offer free drinks, showers and other services. Usually though, these lounges are the preserve of business/first passengers. But what if your company isn’t willing to pay for a business or first class ticket?

You can, thankfully, still make use of those lounges – but only if you either buy access or get an unlimited access pass. Below I’ll talk through some of the options.

Priority Pass

You may have seen this company advertised in Airline magazines. They provide lounge access to economy class passengers and seem to be doing a roaring trade (particularly in tightened times).

The pass allows you access to over 600 airport lounges around the world, so it’s likely that if you’re flying from a major airport then there will be a lounge for you. In fact some of the bigger cities like New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo etc have several to choose from. Some are better than others.

There are several packages to choose from, ranging from $99/year to $399/year. The lowest membership package gives you the ability to charge visits to your card at $27 each. For 10 visits a year, the next tier up is $249. Then for unlimited visits you’re looking at $399/year.

It’s not a cheap option, but this card does provide the benefit of instant access without having to plan ahead. Also quite a good option for corporations who want to give their staff the option to use a lounge – much cheaper than paying for an upgraded ticket.

You can take a guest into a lounge for $27 (same for all plans)

American Express Platinum

If you’re credit-worthy and don’t mind the annual fee, the Amex Platinum includes the top tier of Priority Pass membership. Even better than that, you can nominate one other cardholder who can also use lounges free of charge.

The card costs around £300/year, so it isn’t cheap. However, there are additional benefits to the card such as free global travel insurance, so arguably the card would pay for itself if you travel enough.

Another thing to bear in mind is this: if you spend enough on your card, you’ll accumulate points. Those points can be used to pay for the membership fee, so this could be a totally cost-free proposition. Warning: accumulating enough points to pay your £300 fee will involve spending tens of thousands of pounds.

Some other premium credit cards also offer Priority Pass (HSBC’s offshore credit card, for instance), so keep an eye out for one in your country.

Ad-Hoc

If you’re not travelling too often, and you don’t mind planning ahead then it’s actually possible to book a few hours of lounge access online.

It’s fairly easy to do this – just type in the name of the airport in which you require lounge access, and then the keyword ‘lounge access’. I just ran a search for Amsterdam Schiphol aiprort and found access from £18 ($25) to the Menzies lounge, which is the same one Priority Pass offers. The price includes free drinks and snacks, inluding alcohol.

Things to remember:

Normally your lounge access is only valid for a few hours, so it’s not acceptable to sleep there. Also, sometimes lounges will not open until later than your flight so make sure you check this before you travel. They do occasionally shut earlier at weekends. YMMV – the quality of lounges varies enormously. At the least though, you should be away from the crowds and able to work which after all is the main thing!