I’m sitting in the centurion club at Hartsfield airport.

The national airport admiral’s lounge is VERY nice. I had a four hour layover there once and slept a whole sleep cycle in a comfortable chair once

[quote] mavins

Mavis

Never, ever fly thru Atlanta. The worst people!

I originate in Atlanta, no choice this time. And honestly, in the centurion lounge, Atlanta fades away. . . .

That’s no excuse Op. Free travel advice: Move!

OP, don't you have some friends you could share this with?

Atlanta? Bless your heart, dear. We only use The Concorde Club at LHR & JFK. Accessible only if you're flying BA First. No, *not* business class. First.

J'adore un centurion.

He’s chatting up strangers in THE LOUNGE of lounges—what do you think?

Centurion lounges suck. 10 years go they were actually ok.

R8 it’s a Room. It ain’t even a Lounge.

Where are your shoes?

Further R8 it doesn’t even exist at this point. You might want to know your JFK lounges before your pop off.

Haneda is more convenient than Narita.

Ronald Reagan National is more convenient than Dulles.

I love the American Flagship Lounge at LAX. Tons of good food and plenty of options. Plus free top shelf liquor and the bottomless bottles of champagne is great - although the brand of champagne has reduced a bit over the years. Showers are really nice but no separate sleeping areas.

Hong Kong Cathay Pacific first class lounge is also fantastic - and their cafe side on the other wing is very quiet and you can get some shut eye and rest before your flight.

Sydney's Qantas first class lounge is often talked about - it's beautiful architecture BUT I don't find it that impressive. You have to order through a waiter, so you can't serve yourself whenever you want. Same with liquor. It just seemed like a nice internal free restaurant - which is fine, but not as much choice and you do have to wait a bit for your orders. They do have massages and facials available - but I think you have to book those well in advance - not sure if they are complimentary or not.

These are all first class lounges which are a different level than say American's Admiral clubs or the regular airport lounges, which have limited food and you usually have to pay for your alcohol. Those are still nice to get away before your flight and to work - but they've become SO FUCKING CROWDED now that they let anyone in with a certain credit card.

Most of the airport lounges have gone to shit by letting too many people in. But it's still always a nice perk. First class lounges are completely different though.

I was molested at the Centurion Club.

These are great tips.

[quote] mavins

It's MAVENS, you fat whore!

If you have Priority Pass (a lounge membership offered with many credit cards), in some airports it will pay for your meal (or a good portion of it) in non-lounge restaurants.

Wow OP, sounds fancy.

[quote]You have to order through a waiter, so you can't serve yourself whenever you want. Same with liquor.

Yes, that's what civilised people *do*, dear. This self-serve crap may work at the Olive Garden, but that doesn't make it apropos for a proper lounge!

Priority Pass is a B-list lounge rip-off. They prioritize paid day passes, and many lounges are at capacity before annual members get a chance to get in.

Posters upthread about lounges generally being too crowded are correct. It's not as fun as it used to be. These days, a coffee at a quiet gate can be far better than what's on offer at these packed lounges.

And the Concorde Room isn't worth BA's business+ first class. They barely even bother post-COVID. Even Lufthansa is better.

R22 - nah, it's too limit your food and drinks - it's cheap and it shows.

You clearly have never been to other first class lounges. Go back to your Kraft dinner. Adults are talking.

R22 - let me also say - you only have so much time in a lounge before your flight and you want to maximize it. TWICE in the Sydney lounge, it took 15 minutes to take our order and another 20 minutes to get our food. By the time we finished, we had to leave for our flight.

That's stressful - is the food going to get here in time? We're going to have to wolf down this food.

That's NOT a first class experience AT ALL. And we got only 1 drink as well. That's the same as going to a regular airport lounge - fuck that.

R25 here - I meant to say that's the same as going to an airport restaurant - except we didn't have to pay.

And one more thing - the tables at Sydney aren't large - so you can't really work on a laptop or stretch out to relax on the lounge chairs or bucket chairs.

Give me options, let me take HOW much I want WHEN I want - let me get my drinks, as many as I want - and leave me alone.

Excellent thread, OP. I still learn useful things here on the DL.

R8 — It’s the Concorde Room, not “Club.” The JFK one closed over a year ago; the Heathrow location remains open.

Yes r28. Try reading all 27 posts above—all of 45 seconds out of your life, which would have saved 3 seconds of mine. Do pay some attention.

In the Centurion Club at Hartsfield Airport, all seemed to breathe peace and freedom, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

[quote] Give me options, let me take HOW much I want WHEN I want - let me get my drinks, as many as I want - and leave me alone.

MARY.

I find drop their premium travel habits into conversations like r28 does revolting, considering discretion and privacy is one of the perks.

R32 is looking for the BA Concorde Club at JFK, not even realizing BA now flies out of T8.

See my post at r23, r33. May I offer you a cocktail for that nerve I hit?

R32 R34 you are a day late and a dollar short.

See R14.

R23 not 32^^. Point remains

Of course this thread became a cunt-fest

R37 indeed, the stench of fat prissy cunts has clouded up the thread .

Cunts are gunna cunt

Only worth it if they have actual Centurions like the ones in this gay porn classic.

Shenshooreeun lownsh.

I don't have any club memberships.

My advice: buy a large bottle of water in the airport. (Stay hydrated and dewy.)

Pack your own snacks. Last time, I brought almonds and chocolate and that pretty much tided me over through a long flight.

No thanks

Lounges? Commercial airports? AIRLINES?!

R24/R25/R26, I have no idea what I said that could've triggered you to such an extent, but to comment on your posts:

[quote]You clearly have never been to other first class lounges.

Shall I send you pics from my most recent experience in one, namely the JAL First Class Lounge at Haneda? Or the one before that, at Lufthansa's First Class Terminal at FRA?

[quote]- nah, it's too limit your food and drinks - it's cheap and it shows.

To clarify, you're arguing that a first-class lounge is being "cheap" by offering waiter & bartender service, never mind that 90% of the business class lounges on Earth offer unlimited booze access? Yeah, I'm afraid that doesn't track. (And btw the JAL lounge also has waiter service.)

[quote]And one more thing - the tables at Sydney aren't large.

Small tables? Oh, no! That must've ruined your entire day! POOR YOU! (Darfur Orphan asked me to pass that along.)

[quote]Give me options, let me take HOW much I want WHEN I want - let me get my drinks, as many as I want - and leave me alone,

Can't decide if this is giving "I am telling you NOW so I don't have to tell you LATER" or "get off my lawn" vibes. Or both.

[quote]R22 - let me also say - you only have so much time in a lounge before your flight and you want to maximize it. TWICE in the Sydney lounge, it took 15 minutes to take our order and another 20 minutes to get our food. By the time we finished, we had to leave for our flight.

Translation: you're assuming the Sydney lounge "sucks" because you, and ONLY you, had a bad experience there. Once. That's entirely fallacious: your anecdotal experience doesn't reflect that of either the crowd or a particular expert. And of course this is entirely THEIR fault, despite your own failure to bother showing up the slightest bit early for your flight. (To be fair, I don't even bother visiting an airline lounge unless I have a 90-minute minimum layover, at least if it's a long way from my departure gate.)

The one linked below does, however, and like me it starkly disagrees with you.

[quote] Give me options, let me take HOW much I want WHEN I want - let me get my drinks, as many as I want - and leave me alone.

Translated: "I am an entitled princess!"

This thread is why they hate us.

R45 - look at the tables where you have to sit to get your food. I stand by what I said. Put two people there - then wait for the waiter to notice you, then wait for your food, then wait again for your drinks. While you have your roller suitcase and laptops.

And look at the 'bar' area - there are exactly 5 seats. Good luck trying to get one. Other lounges have tons of seats at a bar - or just open alcohol where you serve yourself and you don't have to wait.

That review shows all the bucket seats in the seating areas - which would be GREAT to sit in with your food, but no.

I will say - I couldn't remember if the spa treatments were complimentary - and they are. That's great. And the soaps in the bathrooms were amazing - I actually ordered some for my bathrooms at home - seriously.

But pretty doesn't always cut it.

Thanks for linking to it so everyone can see that I'm right.

Prissy gays doing the tired old "I'M more elite than YOU are!" game.

So sad and embarrassing.

This sure turned out differently that what I expected

R48 Vulcan mind meld: I’ve been in better Greyhound stations than that Qantas lounge!

R45, linking one of the prissy queen credit card shills? Is Ben Schlappig paying you?

I used to travel business class internationally for years and enjoyed it. Now I am semi retired prematurely due to lay off and don't have the money I used to have. I miss it or sure. Enjoy yourselves and drink all the bubbles you can get your hands on!

[quote]My advice: buy a large bottle of water in the airport.

I take an empty liter water bottle through TSA and fill it on the other side. Many if not most airports have water bottle dispensers next to the drinking fountains.

R54 - yep, that's the way - take a big sports drink bottle on the way to airport - something to drink along the way. Empty it, take it through security - and there are plenty of water bottle fountains.

Airport prices are painful. And you need more than the 8 oz. of water they may give you on a flight.

Al Mourjan Business Lounge, Doha, Qatar

R54 R55 why didn’t anyone think of that upthread? Scathingly brilliant, you two!

Even by DL standards, this thread brought out the cuntiest.

This travel thread is TEARING us APART!

Actually, R26, everything that you wanted is available in the Qantas International First Class lounge in Sydney (and Melbourne, LAX and LHR) - you just didn’t know / weren’t aware.

The lounges weren’t set up to cater to basic Americans traveling on points. That’s all.

You’re not helping us

^^Like Australia is such a high-class pinnacle of civilization. "Basic" indeed.

The total of my experience in the centurion lounge was: three drinks, all gin based, all nicely prepared by the bar staff - buffet but some very tasty hummus that was nice and garlicky, WAY too many cookies and lots of people some nicely designed spaces. As the evening wore on (i was there for four hours) the crowds dispersed. I liked that outdoor spaces were available and the bathrooms were nicely appointed. Worth every penny. I even chatted with a cute rabbinical scholar heading to San Antonio. I’m looking to get the credit card so i might enjoy this again (i was merely a guest)

You lost me at starting a sentence with “Like”, R62.

Looks like I touched a nerve - enjoy lining up to self-serve the slop in the Admiral’s Club while eking out your two drink vouchers. No hard liquor, though! And don’t forget to tip your server.

When did you last visit the Qantas International first class lounge in SYD, MEL, LAX or LHR, R62?

Or the Business Class lounges?

Flew on a plane?

Been to an actual airport, perhaps, R62? To pick someone up?

Run along - people are laughing at you.

Nobody who flies Qantas should be a snob about anything.

All of the above r65. But an Australian calling an American "basic" is quite laughable.

Fantastic responses from Americans who aren’t even in possession of a passport.

When was your last Qantas flight, R66?

I love the snob here defending Qantas. Jesus.

Lounge access is not as good as it used to be. Amex practically gives it away to anyone who shits. I was in Las Vegas there was a two hour wait to get in the lounge.

Centurions at LAX and JFK are okay, LAX is a weird formation of rooms. No waiting at JFK (I was there super early), about 30 min wait at LAX. I hear that the lounges for Turkey and pretty phenomenal foodwise. But their lines were way shorter than Delta's lounges.

Is there anything more prissy gay than hissing about which "luxury" airport lounge is "classier" and "first class?" Jesus Christ. It's a goddamned airport. Get over your nellie selves.

^^^spoken by someone who scrapes together their annual fare on Spirit each December

When was your last Qantas flight, R70? You know that you would need to leave the USA to fly on Qantas, right? Qantas once had Fifth Freedom flights between LAX and JFK (this will mean nothing to you) but these were dropped during the pandemic.

Meanwhile here's the First Class suite that Qantas will be offering out of JFK once approved. New York to Sydney and to Melbourne non stop. I'm assuming that Spirit or SouthWest will offer something similar?

Not that you'll be able to afford it but we can all aspire, can't we, R70?

I fly plenty, and internationally r75. It's not a big deal. You sound very insecure.

No drama R75, I'm sure that you fly "plenty". When was your last Qantas flight? You forgot to include that.

Girls, girls, you're both tedious.

By all means keep digging, R76 - it's always fun to see someone holding forth on a subject about which they know nothing.

Whew, this thread really is cunty. And we haven't even started discussing flight attire!

I need a palate cleanser!

Even the trolls who thunk they run this place are in awe of the airline queen venom.

He's full of it r81! Apparently flying Qantas is the epitome of class and sophistication. Because, you know, Australia is so known for that.

The Airline Queen is the new cuntiest troll on DL!

Still waiting for the DL experts on Qantas to come back regarding their most recent experiences on something other than Spirit and Southwest.

I could be here a while.

Keep cunting r84! You're the best cunt of a troll we've had in a long time!

Qantas International first class lounges are the only airport lounges in the world that have a restroom attendant at the ready with a pre-moistened towelette to dab your asshole after a shit.

Of course you plebeians will never get to experience such luxury. Now go back to your Kraft Boyardee macaroni dinners and turn up your Posit Malones music and let the adults talk.

Spirit and Southwest dominating at Las Vegas is why there's a two hour line for that Centurion Club.

It’s easy to joke about the Qantas “troll” rather than of the parochial queens who have never left their square state.

Know it alls whose sole experience in an airline lounge is the Admiral’s Club in Orlando - “free pretzels and two drink vouchers!”.

Honestly, the lounge whores are insufferable and don't get what premium travel is about. People mistake social display of "status" with luxury.

It's about what you avoid as much as what you get. It's also about having options, and it can be just as decadent to not take the options as it can be to take them. Like I said upthread, $10 on a coffee and pastry, watching the planes at an empty gate with rows of empty seats, is oftentimes more comfortable than the overcrowded lounges with cheap buffet food — especially since COVID.

I'm not drinking myself into oblivion at a lounge or accepting subpar/too much food & bev just because I have the option, even in the super-luxe First Class long-haul lounges. It's ridiculous watching people guzzle champagne at 2 AM while connecting in Dubai so they feel like they "get their money's worth", trading the on-ground benefit of sleeping on a comfortable live-flat seat for a nasty jetlag hangover.

FOR luxury, not with*

[quote] trading the on-ground benefit of sleeping on a comfortable live-flat seat for a nasty jetlag hangover.

Huh?

The on-ground benefit of a lie-flat seat is to have a better time when you land by getting a full night's sleep, Einstein.

For me, the key benefit of top tier frequent flier status is when things go wrong - if a flight gets canceled I know that I’ll be looked after.

Being first in line when bidding for upgrades is second. Having the seat next to me blocked if I’m flying Y or J is third.

The lounges are great when they’re great - e.g. Cathay Pacific lounges in HKG, Qantas lounges in SYD, MEL, LHR and LAX or the Concorde Room at LHR, The First Class Terminal in Frankfurt - a nice perk. I’m based in Australia so getting to Europe or New York invariably involves a stopover for now (roll on Qantas non-stop flights in 2026) and the lounge is great for a shower in the middle of the night on the way but otherwise no big deal to me as a destination.

Status and points would be an obsession if I was in Australia. There's no way I'd fly that far and long all the time without status on one of the big alliances. Otherwise, I'd be forced into paid First, because even Business doesn't give you the perks the top levels of alliance status does. I pay business and chase top tier status here in Europe for this reason.

Geez, who’d have thought this thread about sharing travel tips would become armageddon!

It’s a stealth marketing campaign by Delta…their new premium flyers-only lounge opens next week at LAX.

That reminds me of when I got to go to the Virgin Atlantic lounge at LHR, back in 2015- i felt like a rockstar, but Virgin was always good in making you feel like one.

On balance, I think Skyteam is where it's at if you fly to Europe It's a bit weak in Asia until one of them comes out with a better business class (Korean) or Etihad joins officially so you can earn status on them (they won't). For transatlantics, though, it's a no-brainer. AF/KLM and Virgin are likely the best business classes across the Atlantic right now, they just added SAS, Delta's arguably the better/best of the US carriers. BA/oneworld is fraught with customer experience issues both on and offline. I'd be on Star if I was going to Asia/Auzzie for ANA and Singapore more, but to Europe they aren't as appealing with a terrible United, middling Lufthansa (it's only good in FRA), a somewhat better SWISS, and a network that's reeling from SAS's departure.

Our Aussie friend here is probably in one of the best positions to be in as a points collector. Qantas is generous AF with their credit card and status deals for Aussie residents.

Skyway works great for travel east out of NYC

Skyteam*

Lounge access is okay but once you get in you realize the food is shitty, the places are always crowded. The United Lounge in CLE has one of those Gelato machines (Think a large Krueg) and it is always broken or someone's kid is monopolizing it making 20 gelatos. Mostly for me it is the ability to sit in a somewhat comfortable seat, shit in a private bathroom and get a few drinks at no additional cost. Luckily for me, my company pays for my credit card fee for lounge access.

Shitting in a clean and quiet airport bathroom is a perk not to passed on lightly.

Maybe in America, where you all secretly hate each other so much you give each other cheap stalls from home depot with no privacy. You also use dry paper to clean your ass, then walk around like that all day.

r104 speak for yourself. I have not travelled without dude wipes since forever.

Who said America?

I've walked into a crowded lounge, taken a shit, and left because it's such a shitshow. Many times.

I’m sitting here perfecting my hog call.

Another thing I love about DL is getting a glimpse into "how the other half lives."

In my experience, gay men (who of course are a subset of men in general) make much, much more money than lesbians.

More's the pity.

American Express seems to lack a plan for managing crowds at their lounges. Restricting free access to cardholders only unless they hit the $60,000/year spending mark hasn't helped. The lounges are still overrun with infrequent flyers who want free food and drinks and to take pictures of themselves to post on social media.

Why is it so? Is it the males traditionally made higher wages? I’ve often noticed this disparity between gays and lesbians r109

I went on a work trip with a group of coworkers. Two of us (not including me) had access to one of those clubs (I think it was American Express?). Anyway, one of the two got shitfaced and was not allowed on the plane. So, I guess it really was all-you-can-drink because this guy is a heavy drinker.

I've just never understood why being in an airport is an excuse to get shitfaced drunk. Personally, I couldn't care less about drinking in an airport.

r104 which country has bidets in public restrooms?

That’s really useful advice for us mostly getting in on our credits cards loungers. Thanks

Terminal 7 is the most relaxed, least crowded terminal at JFK. If you aren’t going to spend time in a club it is certainly preferable to any of the other terminals.

I loved business class on FinnAir (unlimited ice wine!) and the lounge in Helsinki, but I’m infrequently in business and never in first so basically a peon.

[quote]Shitting in a clean and quiet airport bathroom is a perk not to passed on lightly.

Not to be sniffed at!

T7 is the oldest and rattiest part of JFK.

It’s uncrowded, the lines are short, the people are pleasant and you get your luggage quickly though.

So essentially it costs $375 per year for Centurion access via your membership for Amex Platinum or higher? Seems like a great perk.

You get centurion lounge and Delta lounge access, Hilton gold and Marriott gold status with amex platinum - the Fee is 695 though. You also get 240 refunded in streaming services as well as other services. If you use them.

Marriott gold is worthless.

Yes, the Gold fee is $375, not the Platinum. My bad.

Also priority pass plus $200 in airline extras of your choice and free Trusted traveler and clear memberships. There’s free nights and upgrades at fancy hotels as well.

Occasionally there’s swag at Broadway shows as well.

You also get Global Entry fee covered. However the Delta access is limited- they'll give preferential access to Delta bigwigs first if there is a line.

I need more access to the american admiral’s clubs

I love the threads where the piss elegant queens here brag about how "elite" they are.

I’m shocked at it in its extremity

There is nothing remotely elite about the Admiral’s Club, R126, except to people like you.

r128 it's not me, it's the queens who are bragging.

And you are comedy gold, Airline Venom Queen!

r127 nothing gets these queens more vicious than what they imagine to be their "elite" status and pissing on everyone who they think is "common." It's a riot.

No wonder people vote for turmp. It’s all about getting that damned gold toilet