It’s 8:30am and I’m currently sitting in an airport lounge in Munich while I write this blog post. I’ve been meaning to write this for quite some time now, as every time I’m in an airport lounge it seems to be a different experience, which makes the question of this blog title an impossible straight forward yes or no answer.

Airport lounges are kind of like mystery bags, there are some that are wonderfully quiet with gorgeous food and beautiful bathrooms. There are also many that are overfilled (you know it’s bad when you would rather sit at the gate than there), that have a sad food offering with no vegetarian food (no, that limp bit of lettuce does not count as vegetarian options) and are quite frankly awful. Luckily today is the first option, as I sip on my chamomile tea and bite into a croissant at the World Airport Lounge in Munich, Terminal 1.

Priority Pass

I’ve tried a few airport lounges out over the years, I first began the airport lounge journey after getting a heavily discounted Priority Pass, which if I remember correctly was valid for one year and I got 10 lounge entries. The first lounge I went to was in Munich and it was gorgeous, a view of the runway, a warm breakfast and so nice and quiet. I thought to myself ‚this was such a good idea to buy this pass‘. Unfortunately this was the peak of my Priority Pass experience. After that the lounges I went to were either overfilled so that I wasn’t actually allowed in, overfilled and absolutely awful so I didn’t enjoy it or the entire lounge was closed.

To top it off, as the end of my yearly membership came closer I cancelled the renewal, as for me it wasn’t worth it. I cancelled it while I was in Canada and specifically stated to the end of the yearly membership. Unfortunately they cancelled it immediately (meaning really they only gave me about 10 months instead of the 12 I paid for) and I found out while I stood in the lounge at Calgary Airport not being let in. As a very long queue formed behind me I decided to just pay the entry. I wrote to Priority Pass explaining what happened but I never got a refund.

My experience after Priority Pass

So now you may be wondering how I’m sitting in a lounge if I no longer have priority pass? My husband gets various lounge passes through his Amex, and I am the lucky one who also gets it too, which also means I’m back with Priority Pass, but this time for free.

Since having these lounge passes and personally not having to pay for them, I am so much happier with lounge airports! Sure some are still awful, but I have less expectations as it’s more of a side perk that we get and we also don’t have a deadline of when to use the passes.

Would I ever buy a priority pass or a similar pass again? Most likely not. However if you do manage to get one in sale then I do recommend trying it out yourself, depending on which airports you regularly fly from/to.

Here are some airports that have great lounges (in my opinion):

Munich Airport T1 (Airport Lounge World) and T2 (Lufthansa Business Lounges)

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (Aspire Lounges) – SO many vegetarian options

Bangkok Airport (Miracle Lounge) – the relaxing private bathroom with shower really made it, the rest of the lounge was full though

Helsinki Airport (Aspire Lounge) – quiet and the food is clearly signed with allergens and dietary requirements (including a glluten free corner), staff are also friendly.

Some that aren’t so great:

Heathrow Airport (Aspire Lounges and Plaza Premium) – could be nice, but they’re usually just SO full

Lisbon Airport (ANA Lounge) – overfilled, no veggie options, one of the worst I’ve ever been to

So there you have it, those are my views on airport lounges. Basically the best way to enjoy airport lounges is to get a husband with a credit card that has these perks 😜

Have you been to any before? If you have let me know what ones were great (or which ones to avoid) in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Larissa

The Blonde Jetsetter