How to Get in The Lounge

I travel a fair amount for work, enough that I want to be comfortable doing it. The best way to be comfortable is to not travel: stay home, and make your home relaxing and peaceful.

The best hotel room is not as nice as my own bed at home. I sleep worse and wake up earlier. Sometimes my middle-aged bladder is to blame, but generally it's from not being home. The thing that's missing is knowing my beloved wife is sleeping beside me, the sound of our youngest son breathing on the baby monitor, and probably a dozen more factors of which I'm not conscious.

But you live in the world. You have to earn green paper rectangles and exchange those rectangles for food, shelter, and orthodontist bills. So you want to make travel as nice as possible. There are a few ways to travel well, depending on your personality. Regardless of your proclivities, however, the first order of business is airport lounge access.

Airport gates suck. They're full of people coughing, sneezing, and engaging In other unpleasant behaviors. The only quiet people are the ones who've decided it's socially acceptable and sanitary to sleep across a row of seats, or even better, the floor. Check out "Passenger Shaming" if you don't believe me, or if you just want to catch a glimpse of humanity at its worst but don't like to go to Wal Mart.

If you have an hour or more to wait, you should be in a lounge. You should also have an hour and a half or more to wait, because PreCheck saves you time. Get PreCheck. It's under $100 and reimbursable with several of the premium cards we're about to discuss. You don't have to take off your shoes and you don't have to wait while infrequent travelers- bless them- repeatedly set off alarms and delay the x ray scanner with their water bottles, pocket knives, all the while professing indignation at the poorly paid government employees who must occasionally pat down their dainty parts in an effort to make us all feel safe. 

I digress badly. Get a premium credit card. If you travel 5 or more times per year , get a couple. What you pay in annual fees, you'll get back in sign up bonuses, free meals, and intangible pleasures like seeing fewer people who wear flip flops and pajama bottoms to the airport. 

Which premium card is best? It depends. In which airports and on which airlines do you travel? If it's Delta, the American Express Platinum Card gets you in Delta SkyClubs as well as any of the 8 premium American Express Centurion Lounges at airports like DFW, IAH, and SFO. Are you in the military? I am, and Amex waives the annual fee for servicemembers on all its cards: they certainly earn the appellation "American" for that kind gesture. It's especially nice with the Platinum, which carries a $550 annual fee. 

Do you fly from or through Washington Dulles? I do, so I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which includes Priority Pass: a membership that allows you to access a network of airport lounges worldwide. There's spotty Priority Pass coverage in US airports, but Dulles has several nice lounges, the best of which is the delightful Turkish Airlines lounge. (In case you didn't catch the pun, they actually keep a plate of Turkish Delight at the check-in counter; I ate two pieces on my way out this past Thursday) Where most lounges offer light to heavy snacks to go with free booze, beverages, and coffee, the Turkish lounge serves a full buffet. 

We military folks have plenty of free options, too: most large airports have a USO lounge, staffed with volunteers who are often retirees and great conversationalists. Flying United? Your military ID and boarding pass get you in any United Club. Although I haven't personally tried it, American Airlines offers lounge access to servicemembers in uniform who are traveling on American. Friends tell me they've been welcomed in wearing civilian clothes, but the policy states that the benefit is for servicemembers in uniform. As all savvy travelers write, YMMV (your mileage may vary). 

(purpose-driven individuals may stop reading now, what follows is more digression)

It's a good time to be military and we should always express thanks to airline employees for their policies. I remember pre-9/11 when we were more likely to be thought of as the people who were too dumb to go to college. Despite the somewhat elitist mantra that fewer than 1% of the population has served, I make a point to ask everyone who says "thank you for your service" if they or anyone in their family has spent time in the military. Usually someone's dad or cousin or son or daughter did a tour somewhere. I say a silent prayer for that person and their loved ones.

Full disclosure, I also make it a point to not be out in uniform, because I generally like my milk-buying experience to last only a few minutes. In uniform I am public property and it takes longer. Plus I like to slouch, put my hands in my pockets, and do things one shouldn't do in uniform- like wear comfy driving moccasins on my 80-minute commute.