For years, most of us liked Priority Pass because it was straight forward. Scan in and you have unfettered access to food and drink. Then they started to charge ~$10 for reserving space in some lounges (mainly in London). But this week, there have been two announcements of lounges accessible on Priority Pass but they require an additional charge.
| Lounge | Airport / Terminal | Surcharge | What you get |
|---|
| Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse | Los Angeles (LAX) – Tom Bradley Int’l | $35 per person | Full Clubhouse experience: à-la-carte dining, cocktails, cinema pods, Zen Den |
| Clubrooms by No1 Lounges | London Heathrow (LHR) T3 | £15 per person | Table-service menu, quieter space than the No1 Lounge next door |
That’s on top of the annual fee you’ve already paid on the card that gave you Priority Pass.
Any Postives?
So no one wants to pay more money, but can we take anything positive from this?
The Terminals
Priority Pass access at LAX is very poor and the Virgin Clubhouse is the first real lounge that Priority Pass has access to, so that’s better than nothing and now you can walk all the way around LAX after security; it at least gives you an option .
At Heathrow, the No1 Lounge at T3 is pretty bad. Better than sitting in the terminal but nothing great with lacklustre food options and generally pretty busy. I don’t love the Centurion Lounge there either and if you don’t have Virgin Gold or One World Emerald, your options are limited. I suppose having the options is better than nothing.
Why it’s worrying
- How many more lounges are going to do this? I wouldn’t mind the option if it was a truly step up. But are the big airlines ever going to put the Concorde Room, Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Heathrow, Chelsea Lounge etc on Priority Pass? I doubt it. So instead of building bigger and better lounges, are they going to have a basic lounge for the people who have Priority Pass and then a nicer lounge for those who want to pay for lounge entry every flight? Maybe the airlines are starting to learn from the tech industry:
https://stratechery.com/concept/business-models/bundling-and-unbundling/
https://hbr.org/2014/06/how-to-succeed-in-business-by-bundling-and-unbundling
