For many travelers, the airport lounge has gone from a nice-to-have perk to an essential part of the journey.
A quiet place to sit, reliable Wi-Fi, decent food and a break from the terminal crowds can make the difference between a stressful travel day and a smooth one. But not all lounge networks are created equal — and travelers are noticing.
JD Power has released its second annual airport lounge benchmark study, ranking which lounge networks customers see as the best. The report measures everything from cleanliness and comfort to staff, amenities and overall atmosphere.
The results reveal some clear winners, and a few surprises — including a tie for the top network!
That’s right: All of the top three networks in this year’s rankings are hosted by credit card companies for premium cardholders. (Yet another strong case for holding one of these cards.)
Here are some other interesting tidbits:
Food and drink are winners. More than a third of customers visit the lounge primarily to escape the high cost of food and beverages in the terminal. The vast majority of customers (96%) say lounge food meets or exceeds their expectations.
Service is doing OK. About 77% of customers say they feel welcomed by staff, while about half describe staff as “knowledgeable.”
Crowding is still an issue. Nearly half (46%) of customers say their most-visited lounge is usually “moderately to severely” crowded, while guests who visit uncrowded lounges showed substantially higher customer satisfaction scores.
One more big thing we’ve learned from this survey since it launched last year: Most of the customers surveyed choose their airline based on its lounge network. So if you want to figure out what your best option is, check out some of our airport lounge guides below, and keep reading this newsletter every day for the latest lounge reviews and policy changes you should know about.
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Photo Credit: AMERICAN EXPRESS.
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