Lounge with a view! From the deck of Premier Lounge at DPS.

Notes: After a week or two of total relaxation at Bali’s finest resorts, it’s not easy to just jam yourself into an economy seat for a forever-long transoceanic flight. The dull chaos of Bali’s main airport doesn’t help much either, so I grabbed my Priority Pass airport lounge card and slid into most recommended one here; the Premier Lounge run by JAS Airport Services. Inside I found a variety of seating from deep & comfortable loungers and sofas to firmer chairs surrounding small tables. There’s a little wear and tear here, but nothing that takes away from the lounge’s relative comfort or ambiance. Hop outside to the deck for a few extra minutes of Bali sunshine amidst speckles of Balinese statues and jet noise.

I suspect the reason that this lounge is widely considered the best at Ngurah Rai is the food. There are some limited entree selections, small salad bar, finger sandwiches, soups and a pretty hearty snack selection. The soft drink selection is lacking for those that want something other than Coke or Sprite, but You’ll find plenty of juices, teas and coffee drinks.

Wi-Fi: Yes/Complimentary. Connected workstations are also available.

Service: Easy, friendly check-in

Convenience to gate: Convenient low numbered gates, allow extra time as your gate number gets closer to double digits.

How I got in/Strategies: Priority Pass. If you’re not particularly loyal to a specific airline or don’t travel enough to justify the cost of a full lounge membership, I highly recommend joining. Premier Lounge also accepts premium class passengers flying several carriers including (but not limited to) China Airlines, Qantas and Cathay Pacific.

Rating: 4 hops (of 5)

Plane watchers dream-view from The United Club at CLE.

Notes: There’s usually some anxiety involved in my choosing an airport lounge, but at Cleveland Hopkins it’s simple: Either check into the United Club or just grab a latte and find an unused gate. I opted for lounge living. Inside, the deep leather seating is comfortable and arranged to accommodate social groups or individual travelers. I’ve always been amused by the theater-style TV room found in many of these former Continental Presidents Clubs, filled with scotch-sipping businessmen watching cable news.

This late afternoon visit left me a little hungry. It’ll likely do the same for you unless you’ve got a higher tolerance for processed cheese and yogurt covered raisins. Drinks are plentiful and free. There’s a staffed bar with hall of fame rock theme and grown up beverages, juices and soda while coffee & tea are self-serve.

Wi-Fi: Yes/Complimentary.

Service: Bar staff was friendly and making small talk with patrons. Check in was rushed but smiley.

Convenience to gate: Depends. Convenient to most C gates but a little bit of a walk to those on other concourses. Allow a few extra minutes.

How I got in/Strategies: Priority Pass. If you’re not particularly loyal to a specific airline or don’t travel enough to use airport club rooms, I highly recommend joining. Per-visit passes are also available for this and tons of other lounges at GoSimply.

Rating: 3 hops (of 5)

Be careful. Things could get a little crazy in here. Self-Serve at AMS Servisair Menzies Lounge

Notes: Judging by the hordes of people pouring in and out of busy airline-specific lounges down the hall, I felt pretty good about my chances at this independently run club. Such gut feelings aren’t always right, but this time I was right on. I practically had full run of the place with the exception of a few early business travelers all tucked away in quiet corners. This gave me a chance to move around and really kick the tires on the joint, sitting in just about every type of chair and sampling a good number of snacks with a lesser-than-gluttonous hangover of carb excess.

Most everything seems less than a few years old here. The wear and tear seems light on this lounge giving it a fresh, welcoming feel. The cafe furniture felt a little wobbly but the deep leather chairs were almost too comfortable. (Set an alarm for your flight, just in case!) There were plenty of snacks set out and well stocked. No real “meal” items were to be seen, but then that might be expecting a bit much. Along with a pretty decent selection at the self-serve bar the food and drink here are just above average, I’d say.

Wi-Fi: Yes/Complimentary for 60 minutes throughout Schiphol.

Service: If you’re planning on napping horizontally in the lounge, forget about it. While very sweet checking people in at the desk, I saw the lounge agent scold a customer for using a couch as a bed. Whether this is good or bad service depends on what you define a lounge to be. Clean up and re-stocking of food-stuffs was prompt and the lounge was spotless.

Convenience to gate: This is a centrally located lounge. The airports website has a map feature with maps indicating how long a walk it is to different gates or airport landmarks.

How I got in/Strategies: Priority Pass. If you’re not particularly loyal to a specific airline or don’t travel enough to use airport club rooms, I highly recommend joining. Per-visit passes are also available for this and tons of other lounges at GoSimply.

Rating: 4 hops (of 5)

Airline/Club Name: United Club (formerly Continental Presidents Club)
Location: LGA – New York LaGuardia
Terminal/Concourse: Central Terminal – Concourse A
Get in! (support modhop): Priority Pass

If there were ever an argument for overhead flourecent lighting...this would be it.

Notes: As airlines merge it’s hard to keep up with who has what and where, but at post time this is a Continental Presidents Club. Continental Airlines merger with United is just about complete but it’s unclear what the fate of this club location will be. For now it’s a dated, cave-dark vampire hideaway with booze and okay coffee. With few places to sit and not many places to recharge the laptop or phone, I’d easily take my pre-flight business down the hall to the legacy United Red Carpet Club that has better views, more space, more light, more outlets and a far better layout.

Wi-Fi: Yes/Complimentary.

Service: Check in was friendly and appeared to have a good rapport with Continental regulars. The bartender appeared to like to spend time gossiping at the front desk while keeping a wine-thirsty customer staring at the empty bar before he noticed and finally returned.

Convenience to gate: If you’re flying Continental or anything from Concourse A, it’s not too hard to get to your gate. The only exception being that you still have to get through security. Allow at least an extra 20 minutes before boarding time.

How I got in/Strategies: Priority Pass. If you’re not particularly loyal to a specific airline or don’t travel enough to use airport club rooms, I highly recommend joining. Presidents Club and United Red Carpet Club members have full access and reciprocal club access is granted between United/Continental and US Airways Clubs.

Rating: 1.5 hops (of 5)

(Originally reviewed May 11, 2009. Updated text and video May 22, 2011)

Airline/Club Name: United Club
Location: LGA (New York. LaGuardia)
Terminal/Concourse: Central Terminal (Land-side) near “C” Concourse.
How we got in (support modhop): Priority Pass

Notes: This Red Carpet Club at LaGuardia is decidedly business-like and caters well to that end. You’ll find an array of business newspapers and magazines, a full service (cash) bar, lots of power ports for plugging in laptops and a conference room for you pre-flight meetings. For those of us just looking for a snack and some quiet it delivers with the  standard coffee, soda and snack-mix…The “quiet” depends mainly on what time you’re there (as with any airline lounge), but was library-like on my visits.

Wi-Fi: Yes/Free. Accessed with either Red Carpet Member # or with PIN code issued at front desk.

Service: Friendly greeting, quick check-in. Snack/beverage area was well stocked. Breakfast items were minimal but sufficient. Speedy clean-up.

Convenience to gate: Being a land side club, it’s a little more complicated as you’ll still have to deal with security on your way to the gate. You’ll need to allow an extra 15 to 30 minutes (or maybe more) to get there which is inconvenient (to say the least), but the lines have been fairly speedy on my recent visits. Check with the club reps to see what the average wait is during the time/day of your flight.

How I got in/Strategies: Priority Pass. If you’re not particularly loyal to a specific airline or don’t travel enough to use airport club rooms, I highly recommend joining. You can also access this room with annual Red Carpet Club memberships and by purchasing day-passes either online in-advance at United’s website for $39 or at the club upon your visit for $50 (prices are per-person). You may also use miles to enter the lounge, but at 7,000 I think it’s a bit steep.

Rating: 2.5 hops (of 5)

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Airline/Club Name: Qantas Club Lounge – American Admirals Club
Location: Honolulu International (HNL)
Terminal/Concourse: Overseas Terminal above Gate 26
How we got in (support modhop): Priority Pass

Notes: I was traveling on a Delta Vacations itinerary but found this lounge close to my departure gate so I whipped out the Priority Pass card and ducked in. Shared by One World partners Qantas and American Airlines, this is a small lounge decorated nicely with locally themed wall art and fairly typical lounge furnishings. The view is nice as you can position yourself to either look out onto the tarmac or back toward the stunning topography of the island…if you can find a place to sit.

Wi-Fi & Workstations: There are just a few workstations (as seen in the video review) each equipped with desktop computers. The computers themselves take up quite a bit of room leaving little space to work. You’ll be better off just firing up the laptop in a more comfortable seat in the lounge. Wi-fi was complimentary and worked well.

Service/Food & Drink: Service was outstanding. Check-in was quick and I was welcomed with a smile and a full (albeit brief) rundown of the clubs features. Various reviews across the web have given this lounge high marks for service as well. Food and drink was however a disappointment. Few snacks and and a very limited selection of alcoholic beverages were available and really not worth it if you’re paying per-visit.

Convenience to gate: Great if you’re flying Qantas but not so great if you’re flying American. That said the entire terminal isn’t huge so it’s not terribly inconvenient. Surprisingly very close to the gate my Delta flight departed from.

Rating: 2 hops (of 5)

How we got in/Strategy: Priority Pass membership (recommended) will get you into this lounge or 2 others at Honolulu including United Airlines’ Red Carpet Club.  Other ways to get in: American Airlines Admiral Club members, Qantas Club Lounge members and OneWorld Alliance highest tier members can enter. Additionally you can purchase an Admirals Club One Day Pass for entry.

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**Note: This Sky Club has been remodeled since this review.

Airline/Club Name:Delta SKY Club
Location:LGA (New York. LaGuardia)
Terminal/Concourse:Delta Terminal (Airside) left after security, located just before gates.

Notes:I was pleasantly surprised by this Delta lounge. I’m not sure if it’s now standard to provide members with a more reasonable array of food choices, but on this visit I was greeted by a relatively generous (please note the word “relatively”) food buffet. Bagels, cream cheese, mini-muffins, fruit and more were available at breakfast and after my flight had been cancelled, I came back to find Delta’s standard olive, pretzel, and snack mix upgraded with more choices like cookies, mini-carrots (obviously a cue from NWA) and a few other surprises. The lounge itself is spacious with plenty of comfortable seating in multiple rooms. There are cubicles, some of which are equipt with PCs, free for use and an adjacent business center with copy, fax, shredding and other services. If  you need quiet time, there is also one of Deltas famous “Quiet Areas” that is reserved for those who want to get away from chatty people on their cell phones.

Wi-Fi:Yes/Free. As with all Delta SKY Clubs Wi-fi is now complimentary.

Service:Friendly greeting, quick check-in. Clean-up was quick, entire staff was pleasant. Reservations crew at front made announcements for those of us who’s flight had been delayed and were there to make changes to my reservation if necessary. Check-in was a little backed up upon my initial arrival, but staff was quick to get through the line.

Convenience to gate: This isn’t a large terminal, so even getting to the farthest gate from this lounge shouldn’t take more than 1-3 minutes.

How I got in/Strategy: Priority Pass. [As of September 1st 2009, Delta SKY Clubs no longer accept Priority Pass] Other options for entry are to buy a $50 one-day pass or full yearly membership at Delta.com or at the club itself. American Express Platinum Card holders can also access this lounge for free (Excludes co-branded cards). [*As of 2/1/2010 day passes are available to holders of Delta branded American Express cards for a reduced rate of $25 per guest].
Rating: 4 hops (of 5)