lounge – TrupTravels

REVIEW : FORT LAUDERDALE FLL DELTA LOUNGE- WELL GRAB N GO

Our family of 4 are currently at the Fort Lauderdale Airport. Its currently raining right now in Atlanta, so there is just a rolling wave of delays on flights headed there.

Well Delta is currently upgrading their lounge here. Which means its closed for the next few months. They have a temporary space which is about 15ft by 20ft next to D2. Delta still scans your credentials and can help you rebook flights. Then they have bags of snacks to go. This includes sandwiches, fruit, and cheese. As well as water and chips. They also have Starbucks Coffee and Biscotti chocolate chip cookies as well.

No wine or beer though, but this is better than nothing. They mentioned they will have a mini lounge reopened in October of 2018, but the new lounge wont be complete until 2020.

REVIEW: LOUNGE HOPPING AT THE ATL AIRPORT. 3 Skyclubs and 1 Priority Pass

A business trip in Late February had me going to London and then a few days later to Rome.After a normal flight from OKC to ATL, I had over 4 hours to relax. So I decided to do 2 things, walk everywhere since I usually eat too much while on travel, and check out a few different lounges.

I flew into terminal D so I decided to first check out the terminal D Skyclub lounge. You walk in and go down a story to get checked in. The desk person took my boarding pass and informed me I had a while till my next flight and that there was also a Skyclub in terminal F next to my gate. I told him I know but have 4 hours to kill.

There was two things I first noticed about the lounge, one that it was small, and the second that it was pretty empty. When you can find 8 seats next to each other, its end up being very peaceful. Also with it being empty, getting a drink was not a problem They mostly had snack food which you can see in the pictures. I only spent about 45 minutes here, got some work done, and had a snack and a drink. There were some small windows, but not a lot of natural light here. The bathrooms were individual bathrooms and small but clean.

After this I decided to walk down to Terminal E and up to the Skyclub there. I could tell before walking it that it would be crowded here as there were several people all walking in at the same time. While they had several more hot options of food here, there was no place to sit down to eat. The bar was crowded and there was a line to just get a drink. I decided to walk through here and leave to the next lounge.

I figured there would be some priority pass lounges in the international terminal F. I looked online and see that have a “Club” in F but that there was also a Minutes Suites in terminal B. So I decided to get some more steps in and walk back down to Terminal B.

With a priority pass you only get one hour of time per cardholder. I have several memberships, so I don’t know if I could have combined them or not since I was planning on going to other lounges. I had to put a credit card down for incidentals and she led me to my room and told me that she would come knock on the door in about 75 minutes. (thanks for being a lil generous) There was about 8 suites total in this little space. No food or drink is included, but you can bring it in and they have some water, snacks, and other drug store type items at the front desk or in the room to purchase.

The room was about 8 ft by 8 ft. It had a couch with a trundle bed and a small desk with a TV above it. The best thing is it was nice and quit. While you could hear some noise from the terminal, it was more peaceful that what I was expecting. I was able to get an hour of work done while watching the Olympics. With only an hour, I didn’t want to try to take a nap and then wake up groggy, but they did provide some blankets and pillows. There was also an Alexa in there. Just having your own personal space where you can kick off your shoes and relax in an airport was amazing. I could see taking kids here and playing a game, or even getting a lil yoga or other type of workout in.

After my time was up here, I decided to walk from Terminal B to Terminal F. Wow, that walk was a longer than I expected. It took more time to go form E-F than it did to go from B-E.

So now that I am in terminal F I walked up to the Skyclub Lounge. Now after the crowds at E, I expected F to be crowded as well. It wasn’t though. As you can see there are lots of spots open to each other. There was also numerous open chairs in the quit lounge area. They had several hot and cold food options similar to E. The best part of the F lounge is the outside terrace. It was about 75 degrees, sun was setting and beer was cold. The main downside is the bar area smelled like somebody mopped the floor with and old mop. This lounge is their main lounge and is very large. I didn’t see a kids area which I was a little surprised of.

If I had 4 hours again, I would definitely hit up the minute suites and the Terminal F lounge. D lounge was nice if you are in that terminal already, but I would avoid the E lounge.

REVIEW: PRIORITY PASS LOUNGE ORLANDO, THE CLUB MCO. DENIED ENTRY.

There was 6 of us on our way back to OKC from Orlando. As I mentioned in an earlier post here, my wife and I have 7 Priority Pass memberships between the 2 of us. Our flight was at 7, and we got to the lounge around 5.

Unfortunately there was a large group in front of us, and by the time we got there they told us there were at capacity. This is the second time that had happened to me in 2 months. The sad part is I just asked for 6 bottle of water so a least I could save a few dollars from not having to buy it in the concourse. The front desk lady said sure, and then just blew me off… This was in Terminal B and our flight was out of Terminal C so we had to go through security 2x for nothing.

What the point of Priority Pass when its practically worthless?

MY CALL TO PRIORITY PASS

Between my wife and I, we have a least 7 Priority Pass Memberships. I think we actually have more, but some we throw away as they aren’t value added. With several premium travel cards, you can get a complimentary membership that includes yourself and 2-3 guests, some are only for yourself, and some are for yourself but at a fee still. Sometimes you hear stories of people using the wrong priority pass and they get into a lounge and then they get a bill on their credit card its enrolled through a few weeks later. AMEX and Citi card memberships seem to have 11 digit numbers and Chase card memberships seem to have 16 digit numbers. I have multiple chase and AMEX memberships so it can be hard to figure out the difference. I have written on some cards where it comes from, but sometimes I forget….

I keep the pass I receive from my Citi prestige card in my travel wallet so I use that often and know it gets my family of 4 in to Priority Pass Lounges. We have a trip with some extended family coming up so I needed to figure out how to get them in as well.

PP levels — Pricing from Priority Pass website. I don’t know who would pay $399 and not have any guest privileges. AMEX Platinum, Citi Prestige, Chase Ritz Carlton, and some of the premium Chase cards (which I don’t have because of 5/24) all include guest privileges.

So I called the number on the back of the cards (1 469 241 6807). After about and 8 minute wait, I got a live person. She asked me the name, number, exp date, and address of each card and was able to tell my what bank it was issued from as well as what membership level it was and what benefits were included. So this time I wrote them down and threw some away as well. Interesting though that I receive a membership from the Chase Ritz Carlton Card via JP Morgan, and they could not inform me what membership level it was.

REVIEW- PRIORITY PASS LOUNGE ST. LOUIS LAMBERT AIRPORT

I had a late flight home on Southwest Airlines departing out of Terminal 2. I am originally from St. Louis, and am excited that they finally have a priority pass lounge here. This is my first time ever using one of the restaurant “lounges” so I was excited to see how it works.

I was traveling with to co-workers. We had already eaten dinner that night, so we weren’t really hungry. The priority lounge in Terminal 2 is The Past House / Schlafly Beer Restaurant. This is towards the end of the terminal, but Terminal 2 is pretty small so its probably less than a 10 minute walk to the farthest gate.

We went to the hostess and she seated us and took my priority pass card. I have several different memberships from credit cards. This one was from my Citi prestige card which should give access to 2 guests or family. The hostess came back and told us we had $58 dollars to spend. I am not sure how she came up with that much, or if she was including all 3 people, but $58 was plenty for our 30 minutes there. We had some toasted ravioli and local Schafly beer.

Overall, its nice to see a lounge at the STL airport. However its not very relaxing or a place I would want to spend more time than needed at. Its a cheap busy airport restaurant that I would rather just have some food and beers and get on my way.

REVIEW- AMEX CENTURION LOUNGE SEATTLE

After getting denied access at the Alaska Airlines lounge, I headed on over the the Centurion Lounge in the B terminal at about 11am. I was able to gain access with my Platinum Business Card.

Surprisingly it was not too busy yet. There was still several areas of seating to select, a least for a lone business traveler. Now they did recently expand this lounge and added the bar section, but its still not a very large lounge.

The food was still appealing as well and did not look like it had been ravaged yet by a mob of hungry travelers.

I just decided to hang out around the bar area. This is where the centurion lounge sets itself apart. So often I feel like a cheapskate at most lounges as I have to make sure I ask if my requested drink is included/free or if my drink is an additional cost. Not here, whatever they make taken care of when you get in the door.

The bar wasn’t very crowded being 11am, and the young bartender was willing to make me whatever I asked for. They had a menu of suggested cocktails as well, and I started off with the Housemade IP Yay.

After that, I just told the bartender to make me some interesting Vodka drinks. I have no idea what she was making me, but they were all tasty.

Overall this is a very solid lounge. I could see it easily getting crowded though. The best part was that my gate was in the C terminal, and the Lounge is in the B terminal, but it was only a 5 minute walk.

Review- ALASKA LOUNGE SEATTLE, WELL NOT REALLY

I arrived to the airport about 90 minutes before my flight and was through security in less than 5 minutes. Having a Platinum AMEX card, there are a few different lounges I have access to so I thought I might try 2 or 3 of them. I find my first Alaskan Airways lounge and about walked in when I saw this sign.

That really sucks. This is a Friday morning at about 11am. I know lounges have to control their capacity, but then they shouldn’t offer access to priority pass if they cant honor it. Shame on you Alaskan.

Well, off to the AMEX Centurion lounge next…