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Airport lounge access for economy passengers
Accessing an airport lounge with a business or first class ticket is a given, but what if you're flying economy?
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Your support makes all the difference.Free wi-fi, spa treatments, complimentary fine dining, champagne, chauffeur-driven transfers... first and business class airline lounges look after their premium-paying passengers.
However, there are options for economy travellers. Independent airport lounges let you bolt on some pre-flight seclusion from the hubbub of the terminal concourse. Until recently, these used to be bland, soulless places without the pamper factor provided in the lounges of their airline counterparts. That's changing: showers, private rest areas, dining and even spa treatments are available at some of the new generation of indie lounges that can be accessed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The new Aspire, the Lounge and Spa at Heathrow's T5 is a case in point. It's a collaboration between airport services provider Swissport, and Collinson Group, owners of Priority Pass, the membership programme comprising 850 lounges worldwide (though you don't require membership to gain entry). The lounge's centrepiece is the Bliss Spa at Aspire – the New York-based beauty company’s first airport location. Facials, manicures and pedicures are available in 20- or 40-minute sessions, and the lounge is also equipped with "rest pods" that letguests chill out on custom-designed reclining loungers before heading to the boarding gate. Admission starts at £29.99 per person for three hours, with spa treatments starting at £20 for 20 minutes.
Another key player in this sector is Hong Kong-based Plaza Premium Group, with over 130 independent lounges across 35 airports, including three at Heathrow. Plaza Premium is the first airport lounge network to achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification, providing consistent quality of services and, says Jenny Zhang - the company's Operation Director - "we also pioneered live cooking and have Plaza Premium’s unique honeycomb seating to provide extra privacy and comfort to travellers." Plaza's Heathrow T2 Departures lounge includes private resting suites, shower rooms, a Wellness Spa and a Champagne and Tapas Bar, with "a wide variety of vintage and non-vintage liquor brands, as well as a selection of freshly-made food". Two hours cost £35 for an adult, £60 for three hours in a single resting suite and £90 for a double.
The UK has its own home-grown independent airport lounge provider - Manchester Airport Group (MAG), which offers Escape Lounges at Manchester (all three terminals) and Stansted Airports. (Manchester T2 lounge is undergoing a revamp and is scheduled to reopen later this month). MAG is also exporting its lounge concept to the US where it's opening a $2m, 2,700sq ft lounge at Oakland International in the San Francisco Bay Area this June. Access starts at £21pp in the UK and $40 in the US.
Rosemarie Andolino, President and CEO of MAG USA, says "Increasingly, consumers seek simple and affordable upgrades to their daily lives." Details of the freshly prepared food for the US lounge remain hush-hush, but at Manchester there's a wide-ranging menu of soups, gourmet pies and a buffet with charcuterie board, artisan breads and chutneys. For a supplement, there's a kitchen menu with salmon Nicoise, grilled Scottish salmon and even that quintessentially English favourite - bangers and mash.
Just a word of caution: Theoretically anyone can access independent airport lounges, but there are minimum sartorial standards. Turn up wearing flip-flops and a baseball cap and you may be denied entry. The Escape Lounge's dress-code insists that "football shirts are not suitable ... alongside hen and stag party attire and any items of clothing with slogans which may cause offence to other travellers."
Paul Sillers is a freelance aero-industry writer focusing on design, technology, user-experience and brand strategy. He writes the “Future of Flight” column in BA's Business Life inflight magazine and contributes to Business Traveler USA, Raconteur, Quartz and Salt Magazine @paulsillers
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