Wine Wednesday: Free Airline Lounge Booze
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Although we normally span the globe for our Wine Wednesday series in search of delicious wine regions, we thought it would be fun to mix things up today and cover the booze that many of us are likely to be drinking in transit: the complimentary beverage selection at airline lounge bars. We're sticking to the free drinks with this compilation, but many lounges also offer premium or top-shelf options as well for purchase.
Remember, even if you don't have membership in these individual airline lounges, if you have the personal Amex Platinum, Mercedes-Benz Platinum or Business Platinum cards, you can get into them all except United Clubs.
American Admirals Club
Although the list on this FlyerTalk thread hasn't been updated for a while and offerings can vary from lounge to lounge, here's a list of what you're likely to find at American's domestic lounges.
- Spirits: Gordon's or McCormick Vodka, Gin, Rum, Early Times or Sutton Club Whiskey, Juarez Tequila
- Wines: Trinity Oaks Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
- Beers: Budweiser, Coors Light, Miller Lite
Delta
Delta recently downgraded revised its list of complimentary beverages served in its domestic Sky Clubs per this FlyerTalk thread. Per the Delta representative on FlyerTalk:
"Delta Sky Clubs are changing the selection of both complimentary and for-purchase premium alcoholic beverages beginning tomorrow. Complimentary well-known alcohol brands will still be provided at the Club just as they have been.
Altering our complimentary offerings will enable us to expand our portfolio of premium for-purchase products and maintain complimentary spirits, beer and wine as we continue to invest in the overall Club experience. We review our Club offerings periodically so that we are able to make changes based on customer feedback, financial considerations and other factors including the variety of options we offer our members.
The new offerings are comparable to house/well brands in other airport lounges.
- Complimentary spirits: Vodka - Gordon's; Gin – Gordon's; Rum - Myers's Platinum; Scotch – Scoresby; Bourbon - Jack Daniel's; Sweet Vermouth - Martini & Rossi; Extra Dry Vermouth - Martini & Rossi.
- Complimentary beer: Budweiser and Miller Lite
- Complimentary wine: no changes to current wine offerings
Other brands will be available through our for-purchase options available through our Luxury Bar. Our goal is to offer members quality products and services at reasonable prices that are competitive with other airport lounges while continuing to provide good value for membership."
United Club
A definitive list is hard to come by but according to anecdotal reports you can expect to find the following in United Clubs (please share your findings in the comments below and we'll add them to the list).
- Spirits: Smirnoff Vodka, Bacardi Rum, Gordon's Gin, Jose Cuervo Tequila, Canadian Club Whiskey, Jack Daniel's, Seagram's 7, Kahlua, Campari, Crown Royal Brandy
- Wines: House wines
- Beer: Miller Lite, Bud Light
US Airways Club
Although it's unclear what will happen to these post-merger, for now, here's what you can expect at US Airways Clubs. The one big drawback is that US Airways only offers complimentary beer and wine but not spirits (come on!).
- Wines: Beringer Chardonnay, Beringer Merlot, Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon
- Beers: Bud Light, Budweiser, possibly Becks
While far from impressive, these lists are still better than what they were a few years ago – especially since many airline club lounges stopped serving complimentary alcoholic beverages for a while a few years ago. While I still might choose to go to a bar in a terminal and pay for a drink instead of opting for the complimentary ones here – or worse, paying for "premium" options even at discounted prices, at least there are some offerings in domestic airline clubs these days.
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month