Start Your Holiday Off In Style….Or Not?

There are many of us who pay for airport lounges whilst waiting for their flight. Some say this is the best way to start your holiday off, after all you get a nice place to sit, away from the crowds and usually get free drinks and something to eat included. Is this really the best way though?

This week in one of our tabloid papers, they had a “investigation” of sorts into the best and worst of lounges throughout the UK.  Having experienced many of these I thought it was a interesting read.  If i firstly speak about a couple of experiences I have had which really are very different but worth mentioning.

I have flown with Virgin Atlantic airlines to the States many times as these are my preferred airline, and have been very lucky to use the facilities in the Club Lounge at Heathrow.  This is the BEST experience I have had, but of course it is very “select” and mostly used for people flying upper class.  The food is fantastic, the area has fabulous areas to sit, and you can even have your hair and nails done – now that is something else!  Now I will go to the Aspire lounge at Newcastle airport (my local airport) which of course is not anywhere like the Club house however the concept is the same. This is meant to be a pleasurable area to sit and drink before your flight. Well, I think it is mediocre to  say the least. The service can be pretty bad, food not great and seats are a little uncomfortable. Or have I been spoilt? – Perhaps.

So back to this article.  The best lounges are (according to them and the survey) No 1 lounge at Heathrow, the House lounge at Terminal 5 Heathrow, and the 1903 lounge in Manchester.  The worst ones were, Skylife in Southend, Aspire in Edinburgh, and  Aspire in Luton. Main complaint was the food and the general “upkeep.”

To me, this is not rocket science. Have somewhere nice to sit, keep it clean, have nice staff, make sure the food is good and plenty of it. Do all of that and you will get good positive comments and then people will be more then likely to book again. I would honestly quite happily pay more money if I knew I was getting good value for money and somewhere clean to sit in.

I would of course, always welcome your thoughts!

Till next time x