Airport Lounge One-Day Passes
Looking for ways to travel in luxury without paying a small fortune?
While I am all about keeping costs to a minimum when I travel, my fiancee isn't the budget travel warrior I am. The challenge for me is to find inexpensive ways to travel without compounding the stress and frustration my fiancee faces that could ruin any potential trip we take.
I remember reading an interview with Wayne Brady in a in-flight magazine on tips to make travel easier. In the interview Wayne said he always buys one-day passes to the airport lounge to make his travel less stressful. This tip really hit me as a great way to add a little luxury to your air travels without the expense of having to purchase higher class fares.
Heres a list of Airport Lounges found in most major US airports:
| Airline | Club name | Membership | One-day pass* |
| American Airlines | From $400 | $50 | |
| Continental | From $425 | $45 | |
| Delta | From $450 | $25 | |
| Northwest | From $450 | $45 | |
| United Airlines | From $500 | $50 | |
| US Airways | From $375 | $40 |
These airport lounges often offer free alcoholic beverages, several varieties of snacks, local papers and periodicals, internet access, TVs, workstations, etc all in a more relaxing and less crowded atmosphere than the terminals. At times they can be worth every penny to survive a stressful travel experience without breaking the bank.
I find airport lounges essential in long overseas travel.
Comments (2)
Wow. United and American are ripping you off at $50. I've used to be a member of the Red Carpet club and it's in no way shape or form worth $50 for a one-time visit. I agree that lounges are key for long, overseas travel, but for the not-so-great snacks, house wine and cramped lounges, it's just not worth it. The membership prices seem to have gone up nearly 100% too. In 2000, the annual membership was around $250 for frequent flyers.
Posted by fin_indie | December 18, 2006 6:22 PM
I've been a Red Carpet Club member for some time, no way is it worth $50 for a visit. Alcohol and internet access are not included - they cost extra. You get coffee, water, and some light snacks. Nice, but not worth the money unless you have an insanely long layover.
Posted by Nathan | January 7, 2007 2:21 AM