Additional Perks of Travel Credit Cards
Lounge Access
Before starting our travel points hobby, we thought the world of fancy airport lounges would never be our world.
But we've crossed over and now it is one of the things we look forward to on travel days!
For families doing a few trips a year (or more!), I highly recommend looking into getting lounge access.
What is an airport lounge & how can I get in?
Airport lounges are an oasis of calm in a busy airport terminal. They typically have free wifi, free drinks (many include alcoholic options) and some food. Free food and drinks in the airport was a revelation for us. As budget travelers, we were always those people packing our carry-ons full of food for the airport and airplane. Prior to living the lounge life we have actually been known to refuse to buy water even if we were quite thirsty, because we wanted to wait to get on the plane where water was free. Such was the case in the Cancun airport where there aren't drinking fountains and bottled water is highly overpriced. We suffer from thirst no more!
To get in you usually need to fall into one of these categories:
- Have airline status (not us)
- Fly business or first class (not us, have never done it)
- Pay a one-time fee (not us, again with being cheapskates)
- Have a lounge pass for a lounge network (Ding, ding, ding! That's the one for us!)
Where are these lounges?
The most common lounge network that premium credit cards give you access to is Priority Pass. There are also lounge networks operated by banks for premium card members, by individual airlines, and a few more smaller lounge networks.
It would be too lengthy to list all the airports Priority Pass serves (over 1,300 lounges), so hop on their website and see what's available at your home airport or airports you often layover in.
We walk you through how to pick the best card for you based on your home airport here.
For some US airports, lounges might only be in the international terminal. That is the case for us at Chicago O'Hare. And some international flights don't even fly out of the international terminal, so sometimes we miss out. We were rarely able to use a lounge in Chicago until Southwest started operating some flights out of O'Hare's Terminal 5.
On the day of your flight, be sure to check open/close times when you are looking at lounges. Many lounges participate with other clubs and offer entrance to other loyalty programs. Because of this, note that some lounges say they are full and don't accept Priority Pass members at certain times.
Since we frequently fly Southwest, I often reference this Flyertalk thread when trying to figure out if I can get into an airport's Priority Pass lounge from the terminal Southwest operates out of.
We've enjoyed some great food and drinks (and sometimes massage chairs and showers) at lounges in South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, the Philippines, Jamaica, Cancun, and more. We've also been known to walk to another terminal (if airports allow) to track down lounges on layovers or upon arrival, such as in Seattle, Honolulu, and LAX.
Which cards get me lounge access?
There are many cards that provide airport lounge access to varying extents. These include hotel cards, airport cards, and flexible rewards cards.
Find the best card for you and your traveling companions here.
