SarahSince Markus and I both worked as management consultants, we had the chance to enjoy the benefits of airport lounges a few times while being on a business trip.
Unfortunately we both missed the Lufthansa Senator Status (Star Alliance Gold) and therefore the opportunity to gain complementary airport lounge access on an Economy Ticket.
So we looked around and found a solution: The Priority Pass!
Wait – what’s the cool thing about an airport lounge anyway?
A typical airport lounge offers at least free drinks (most of the time including alcoholic beverages), free WiFi, a comfortable seating area, free newspapers and some snacks.
Some of the more elaborate lounges include a staffed cocktail bar, a large variety of premium food (sometimes better than 5 star hotel buffets), hot showers or even small rooms to take a nap and massages – all for free.
Free food and drinks? Count me in!
So, what’s the Priority Pass?
The Priority Pass gives you access to over 1.000 lounges worldwide – regardless of the airline or class you booked and does not require any frequent traveller status.
It comes in three versions: Select (Standard),Standard Plus and Prestige. While Select (Standand) only gives you the possibility to buy access to participating lounges, Standard Plus comes with 10 free visits in each year of membership.
Most interesting for someone on a RTW-trip with a potentially high number of flights is however the Prestige version – it offers unlimited free access to participating Airport Lounges.
It is priced at 399$/€ per year but there are usually a few ways to cut that price to a lower number (mainly credit cards).
For German travelers: You get the Priority Pass Prestige for free with a Deutsche Bank MasterCard Platinum (200€ per year – 320€ for couples) – essentially reducing the price for us by 60%!
When can you use those lounges?
In theory, those lounges are only accessible on departures.
However, numerous users have reportedly used them on arrivals too after a longer flight (some of the lounges are outside security and can therefore easily be entered even after collecting luggage). And we did as well!
Lounges usually do not ask for your boarding pass but only ask you to sign as they get payed by Priority Pass per visit and are therefore incentivised to offer you access.
However – even though we have not experienced this so far – some lounges might limit access for Priority Pass members at certain busy times (according to Priority Pass T&C’s in case the lounge gets too crowded).)
One thing to mention is that some lounges might require a “Smart Casual” dress code according to their own information. So far we never had any problems with this (and have seen plenty of people definitely not dressed “Smart Casual”) – but think of maybe not wearing the dirtiest or most rotten pair of clothing 😉
What’s a Priority Pass Lounge like?
Air Mauritius Lounge at Sir Rangoolam Airport – International Departures. Be sure to check their cocktails and spirit selection!
Of course you cannot expect Singapore’s Changi First Class or Turkish Airline’s signature Istanbul lounge for this price. However we had a quite pleasant experience with those lounges!
All of them offered plenty of comfortable seating, good WiFi (waaaaaay better than that occasional free airport WiFi!), beer, wine and sparkling wine. Sometimes they even had really good cocktails as well!
Food offering was of varied quality and the range was from only a few cold snacks to a huge selection of hot and cold food – it really depends on the specific lounge!
You can easily check participating lounges on the Priority Pass website or via the Loungebuddy App.
Is the Priority Pass worth the money?
Yes. In my opinion (after visiting over 40 lounges during our trip) it was probably one of the best spent Euros!
Especially on an otherwise rather cost concious trip this is really a refreshing experience against the otherwise not-so-nice airport hours!
I would definitely buy the Pass again and can recommend it to anyone on such a trip as well! If you only fly a few times a year, it might depend on where you are based – US lounges are known for their bad quality and this is particularly true for Priority Pass!
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