One of my best tips for flying is to use airport lounges rather than hanging around in the terminal. It’s possible! It’s affordable and it makes your trip just that little bit fancy, especially if you’re travelling economy. Gone are the days when you had to be flying business class or better to access the fancy airport lounge. Now you can pay to use private lounges at airports all around the world. It’s not very expensive (from $40 AUD pp for around three hours) and airport lounge benefits are pretty considerable – and feel even more valuable when you’re waiting for a flight. You get a comfy seat, showers and amenities, food and drink (alcoholic beverages included) wifi, snacks and more.
This is one of my favourite tips for easy travel. I also love traveling carry on only – you can read my guide here, and travel safety is so important to me I wrote a 80+ page guide. You can buy it here for only $16AUD.
Make sure to buy your VPN before you travel overseas too – it will protect your data and allow you to bypass regional restrictions so you can watch shows from home (or anywhere around the world). We use Express VPN – you can get 49% off here (it’s around only $12 a month for multiple devices).
And find out how to get into fancy hotel pools on a budget too with a pool pass! Another one of my fave travel hacks.
Why we love the private airport lounge.
I’m not a huge fan of waiting around the airport for my flight. On the way out of Sydney I don’t really mind, I can find a bar and grab a wine and it’s all very exciting so that’s okay. But when I’m heading home from overseas and we check in early and have four hours to hang around an unfamiliar airport I prefer to spend the money and wait in comfort.
What you can expect from an airport lounge:
- A private area to wait, that is restricted in numbers and is just that bit of fancy that makes sitting in economy for hours a little more bearable
- Comfortable lounge chairs and tables and other seating
- Wifi and charging facilities
- Private rooms if needed
- Showers and amenities
- Meals – often super yummy curries, meat, starry veggies and main meals
- Lots of snacks – cakes, cheese plates, nibbles and fruit
- Drinks! Bottles of eater and soft drink and beer and wine.
- The lounge will keep you up to date with departures – they have TVs for you to check – but they will also announce when it’s time to go to board, and it’s usually at the very end so you walk straight on. No long wait at the gate.
There are a few ways to get into the airport lounges when you fly.
Of course if you’re flying business class or are a club member you’ll be able to access the lounge with your complimentary lounge passes or as parti of your membership. I used to love my Qantas Club membership. Then we went overseas and it lapsed and then it was the pandemic and now I don’t have a membership anymore. Sad face. But I don’t really fly Qantas anymore so…
I have to use other ways to get the fancy transit or pre departure lounge action.
What I’ve found is that every airport has private lounges that you can access for a fee. You just have to know what lounges are at the airport, where they are, and book in.
Booking your lounge in advance.
Klook generally has great deals and you can find a heap of lounges here from Sydney, to Hong Kong, London to Singapore and Amsterdam. Prices are discounted and cost as little as $40 AUD for three hours.
If you cannot find a lounge in your location in Klook just google. You’ll find one.
Check out the lounges on Klook here.
Walk in.
You can also just take a chance and walk in. The only problem with this is that lounges have a capacity – and while we were lucky at Denpasar and got in, people behind us in the line did not. It pays to book in advance in my opinion. But you can just leave it to the universe and see what happens.
Buy a Priority Pass.
This Priority Pass is good value if you’re travelling a lot. If you’re not then I’m not sure if it would be worth your while because if you have the basic pass you still need to pay $32US to access lounges anyway. But if you’re traveling a lot the Standard or Prestige pass may be just the ticket.
You can check out the Priority Pass here and take a look at their 1300 lounges around the world here.
Anyway, however you get there I reckon you should give using lounges a shot and see what a difference it makes to your travels.
We love them and will use them as long as we can get in. I reckon it makes all the difference.