Airport lounges - worth it?

4D82

The aspire lounge at Birmingham is pretty poor. I wouldn’t pay for it again. 

You can get some bottled beers and drinks and a few spirits. No proper bar..  it’s just a table and a couple of fridges with someone pouring the drinks.  The lunch was just 3 cheap pasta dishes. 

Brie

Not worth the money unless you're after the free drinks and do you really want to be onboarding when you're drunk?? 

The food I've had in them has been mostly blah.  (breakfast has been cheap stale croissants, bowls of bananas, apples and oranges, lunch/dinner uninspired or very carb based - I could have bought it all for less)  Drink is limited to cheap stuff, mostly beer and wine. 

And the one time I might have been really happy to be in a lounge (very delayed flight) all food and drink service shut down about 30 minutes after we arrived.  

But that's not at the airports you mention.

DullGreyGuy

Many lounges, even proper business class ones, are just self service (or in covid times, table service) and not a proper bar you could sit at or order cocktails etc... there are notable exceptions but most the time they arent ones that you can buy your way in.

mattyprice4004

They're only really worth it to escape the riff-raff and screaming kids - the food is usually fairly meh, but if you plan on having a few beers and want some peace it's a good option. 

The last time I used one was to avoid the main part of Manchester Terminal 3 in peak 'Benidorm' season - money well spent! 

Westin

mattyprice4004 said:

They're only really worth it to escape the riff-raff and screaming kids - the food is usually fairly meh, but if you plan on having a few beers and want some peace it's a good option. 

The last time I used one was to avoid the main part of Manchester Terminal 3 in peak 'Benidorm' season - money well spent! 

. 

I think those pay lounges are exactly were the 'riff-raff and screaming kids' are going now. Often quieter and better food/drinks can be obtained outside of these Aspire/No1 type lounges.

Ganga

Westin said:

mattyprice4004 said:

They're only really worth it to escape the riff-raff and screaming kids - the food is usually fairly meh, but if you plan on having a few beers and want some peace it's a good option. 

The last time I used one was to avoid the main part of Manchester Terminal 3 in peak 'Benidorm' season - money well spent! 

. 

I think those pay lounges are exactly were the 'riff-raff and screaming kids' are going now. Often quieter and better food/drinks can be obtained outside of these Aspire/No1 type lounges.

Was it  "On The Beach "  offering free airport lounges and free fast track through security last year ?

Westin

Indeed. Their TV advert kind of summed up the type of travellers who seemed to be in airport pay-to-enter lounges this year.

lady1964

We’ve considered paying for lounges when we’ve bought tickets that don’t include a lounge but we’ve decided that what is charged for a couple of hours isn’t good value for money. That said, we fly on Tui in January on premium tickets so get a lounge included, it’ll be interesting 🤨 

bagand96

Doshwaster said:

A good airport lounge can be a great escape from the madness of the terminal but they tend to be airline operated ones for those with status or premium tickets. Some of the cheaper pay to enter ones are little more than a glorified waiting room with a fridge in the corner. I haven't used the lounge at BHX before but I haven't been very impressed with the "No 1" lounges at Stansted or Gatwick. 

daveyjp said:

Lounges in predominantly holiday charter airports are generally terrible.  Overcrowded, poor food and drink offer.  One I went in had a glass wall adjacent to the shops and it felt like being sat in a goldfish bowl.

Lounges reserved for business/first class passengers only are far better.  Somewhere to have peace before a flight.

The worst lounge experiences I've had are Heathrow T5 BA Galleries in the main terminal. Overcrowded, nowhere to sit, noisy etc. That said the one at the B gates satellite was great, an oasis of calm because no one knows it's there!

Best in recent years is the No1 Clubrooms at BHX. That was great and exactly what a lounge should be. Although it is interesting that No1 have introduced their own premium tier lounges. Shows how popular the paid for lounges have become. 

k3lvc

I've spent a few hours over the past couple of days in lounges c/o my KLM status - very much a tale of 2 cities

Manchester I got to use the Aspire lounge - 95% of occupants were TUI who apparently can reserve tables/specific seats - 30min queue for me to enter as they're all milling around waiting for their 2hr time slot to start. Were it not for the fact that my flight was delayed and I needed to work I'd have gone elsewhere. The place was like Wetherspoons had been transplanted into the airport

Amsterdam is KLM lounge - decent range of food, proper bar and enough different areas that you can be as social/anti-social as you want

As said above for most people there's better/cheaper food/drink in the departure areas unless you happen to get free access