Cruising Altitude is a weekly column about air travel. Have a suggestion for a future topic? Fill out the form or email me at the address at the bottom of this page.
I have a confession to make. I’m a frequent flyer who got rid of all my credit cards that granted me airport lounge access.
I have no regrets.
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For years, I carried both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the American Express Platinum cards in my wallet, but as their annual fees rose and lounges grew more crowded, I felt the costs no longer justified the benefits for me.
The Chase card now costs almost $800 annually, and the Amex nearly $900. Both issuers declined to comment, but public statements suggest that their customers still largely find value in the products.
“You have to start from a pure cost analysis: How much am I going to save? Am I really going to use this on as many trips as I think I will?” Kyle Potter, editor of Thrifty Traveler, a travel and flight deal website, recently told me.
I’m not much of a math person, so my calculation was more feelings-based than rooted in the hard numbers on a spreadsheet. But I can confidently say that – for me – the lounge vibes were increasingly off with every visit.
Why are lounges so popular?
The rise of lounges has followed along with the rise of premium travel generally. Airlines are doubling down on premium cabins as more travelers than ever are willing to spend extra to fly in comfort, and the lust for luxury doesn’t stop at the boarding door.
According to Airport Dimensions’ 2024 Airport Experience survey, 52% of frequent travelers use lounges on at least some of their trips, and 70% of travelers say more options for lounge access would improve their experience.
Heather Garboden, chief customer officer at American Airlines, previously told me that AA is expanding and improving its lounge footprint because that’s just what travelers have come to expect.
“People want experiences. ... The younger generation is expanding their participation, not only in just flying but as cardholders,” she said. “We know that our co-brand [credit card] customers, second to earning miles and points, lounges are one of the most important things for our Citi cardholders.”
Potter said companies across the travel industry are seeing the same trend – and milking it.
“Everything in travel right now, in the United States, is about premium travel, and you can’t sell premium travel without a lounge,” he told me. “This is where every airline and hotel chain and every other travel organization is spending their resources on, to get these credit cards into people’s pockets and get them in this high-spending hamster wheel.”
But that’s where the cost and the vibe disconnect begins. It’s easy to get sucked into the social media vortex of sipping champagne with an out-of-focus airplane in the background for your Instagram story without thinking about the trade-offs.
“Everybody’s trying to get you to make decisions without really doing the math on whether you’re really getting your money’s worth,” Potter said. He added that some people devote loads of time and money to chasing airline or hotel status without really thinking about the benefits they get in return.
For me, when I really stopped to think about what I was doing in the lounge when I visited, I realized I wasn’t getting my money’s worth.
On the few trips a year that I would stop in at the lounge before a flight, I might grab a few snacks, have a glass of water or two, or maybe a cup of tea.
Even at exorbitant airport prices, I could do that for less than a few hundred dollars a year just by buying what I wanted à la carte in the terminal. And as lounges get more crowded, I don’t find them to be significantly quieter or more comfortable than a regular seat at the gate.
How can you get into the lounge without a credit card?
If you still want to experience an airport lounge and don’t want to open a new fancy credit card, I regret to say you’re still going to have to find a way to pay for it.
Either you’ll need to buy a premium-cabin airline ticket that includes lounge access, or you’ll need to purchase a day pass to the lounge (if available). You could also get a Priority Pass or annual lounge membership, but at the end of the day, I’m not sure the benefits outweigh the costs of any of these options for the average traveler.
United Airlines, for example, sells day passes for $59 to its United Clubs when capacity allows. It’s on the low end of day pass prices and still costs more than an overpriced burger and a cocktail that you might get at one of the concourse eateries.
“It just comes down to a really utilitarian calculation: Am I going to be able to visit these lounges often enough in order to offset the cost I’m paying to get in?” Potter said.
What are the alternatives to going to a lounge?
The main alternative is really just not going. Lounges make the most sense, in my mind, on a long layover. But if you’re just departing from your local airport and not connecting anywhere, you may as well just get there a little closer to your departure time and head straight to the gate.
Your wallet will thank you in the long-run.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York, and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: I don't go to airport lounges anymore, and I don't miss them
