Airport lounges aren't what they used to be. Here's why.

The overcrowded airport lounge is no longer a perk. It's purgatory.

Karin Kemp will tell you why. She had a four-hour stopover in Washington and thought it was the perfect opportunity to use her airport lounge pass.

She was wrong. The lounge was full; an agent ordered her to wait to get in. She finally was admitted half an hour later.

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"There was barely anything left on the breakfast buffet," said Kemp, a retired graphic designer from Matthews, North Carolina. "If you could call it that."

That's the lounge letdown. What was once a quiet corner of the terminal – your reward for loyalty or a hefty annual fee – has turned into a cafeteria for the masses. The lines to get in stretch longer than the Starbucks queue. The food runs out by midmorning. Finding a seat requires the sharp elbows of a subway commuter.

Booked a vacation after a bad day? You may be rage-booking

Are airport lounges worth it anymore?

Blaming credit cards is easy, but the truth is complicated. Sure, the proliferation of plastic with lounge benefits drove more visitors to the airport lounges. But the slow degradation of air travel contributed, too. Passengers just want a little civility amid the chaos.

"Demand exceeds supply," said Mike Taylor, an analyst at JD Power.

Banks discovered that lounge access drove credit card applications. They paid airlines substantial fees for entry rights. The airlines took the money and sold day passes to anyone with $50.

Capacity did not grow with demand.

"What changed wasn't just credit card dilution – it was the shift from lounges as a rest space to lounges as a status performance space," said Maury Blackman, a tech CEO who spent 20 years in constant travel. "People aren't there to decompress anymore. They're there to be seen having access, taking Instagram photos of champagne walls."

The breaking point happened just before the pandemic, Blackman said. Business travelers stopped visiting lounges entirely.

"I'd walk past a packed Priority Pass lounge in SFO and head straight to an empty gate with power outlets," he said.

Walmart vs. Ritz-Carlton

The resulting product is a hybrid that satisfies no one.

"We used to have a saying in marketing: you can either be the Ritz-Carlton or Walmart, but you can't be both," said Danielle Styron, a retired private jet flight attendant and co-author of The Mile High Club: Confessions of a Private Jet Flight Attendant. "Airlines, it seems, have made a choice."

Styron flew first class coast-to-coast recently. She paid extra for lounge access, only to find lukewarm scrambled eggs and a space that felt like a corporate office break room. On her return, an agent denied her entry entirely.

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"The luxurious-experience-renaissance of modern travel is dead," she said.

She's right. The lounge letdown is mathematical. The global airport lounges market is projected to grow from $5 billion in 2025 to $20 billion by 2034, according to one estimate. Someone is making money. But it's clear that customers are paying for gold and getting tin foil.

The $4,850 Solution

If you want real exclusivity, it exists. But you will pay dearly.

PS – formerly The Private Suite – operates private terminals at Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles. You check in at a separate entrance, clear TSA in a private screening area, and get driven across the tarmac to your commercial flight. You never set foot in the main terminal. 

The Salon option starts at $895 per use. Annual memberships start at $1,250.

"The real solution is to ramp up exclusivity and develop private airport spaces just for the uber-rich," said Susan Sherren, founder of Couture Trips. 

For everyone else, the industry is moving toward a segmented model. High-end lounges will target elite travelers with enforced capacity limits. Everyone else gets the food court with nicer chairs.

How to beat the crowd

If you don't have $1,250 to spare, you can still salvage the lounge experience. Here's how:

• Call ahead. Pat George, a frequent flier, avoided a line at the Admirals Club in Miami because a representative called ahead to a second lounge near Gate D15 to confirm there was no wait.
• Pre-book your spot. "I do this as soon as I land," said Matthew Justice, who runs the site LoungeNerd. Capital One and American Express now allow you to join waitlists via their apps before you arrive at the lounge.
• Scan and scram. If you can't pre-book, move fast. Ilonka Molijn van Ginkel, a travel advisor, learned the hard way at Heathrow to scan the QR code at the lounge door immediately. "Then we get access within 30 to 60 minutes," she said.
• Walk the floor. Once you're inside the lounge, don't take the first seat you see. "I set my bag in a corner out of the way and then walk the entire lounge," Justice advises. He often finds hidden seating areas or outdoor patios that the mob missed.

What's the future of lounge letdown?

Airlines know they have a problem, and they're trying to fix it. Jeannie Walters, a customer experience expert, notes that lounges are introducing family zones and "quiet" areas where phone use is restricted. 

But decoration doesn't solve density.

"The exclusivity died the moment credit card companies started selling status as a perk," said Deepak Shukla, founder of the travel agency Pearl Lemon.

It's true. Credit card companies sold you a dream they can't deliver, and airlines let them. Now they are figuring out how to take it back without admitting they oversold it in the first place.

If you are standing in line for a "VIP" experience, you are already the victim of the letdown. The lounge is full. Your text message inviting you to the lounge will never arrive. You are better off walking away.

"Much has changed in airport basic amenities," said Donna Shelton, a banker from Chicago who gave up on the lounge chase. "Internet ports are pretty abundant, food service has improved." 

Shelton has a point. Find a quiet gate, buy a decent coffee, use your noise-canceling headphones. That may be the best way to get a VIP experience these days.

Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Airport lounges aren't what they used to be. Here's why.