The rich are not like us.
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Never been in an airport lounge, but I have great memories as a kid running to get hot dogs while my mom slept on the benches for an overnight lay over on a route to Australia decades ago. 
This was back then when flying was still considered fun.
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Flying was hella more fun when I was child-size and the mere idea of being on a plane & traveling somewhere was exciting. Now it’s just a means of getting somewhere. I f’n hate the travel part, but I’m not one of the privileged folk who fly business or even first class everywhere 
The only time I experienced a lounge was this summer in CPH and LHR due to our flight delay with SAS. It was alright.
We used to get a free lounge pass as a perk of our bank account. It was nice.
By the by, our local airport (Manchester) has recently established a “private terminal”. It’s for the rich and famous of course. It’s food is overseen by Adam Reid, who is my favourite local chef. As I’d expect from Reid, there’s a strong regional influence on the dishes.
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I’m certainly not a “regular” in airport lounges but I have been in a few . . . and recently was able to be in the Delta One lounge in Boston (posted the menu and pics in a thread on airline food). The food was very nice and I was very impressed. But it was a sit down/waiter service experience. While that might sound nice, I wasn’t really looking for that much “attention” before my flight. Such a minor complaint and I do believe there is another area outside the 'restaurant" space where you can just sit and have a drink.
I have also been in lounges (mostly internationally) that are so small, crowded, and horrible that we’ve left to just find a quiet gate out in the terminal. So don’t always believe the marketing hype 
I think the Centurian lounges of Amex Platinum were the first lounges to really start driving this “luxury” aspect. When they first opened they had bars with custom cocktails, a buffet with very good food (no star chefs but nice), a massage service in the lounge . . . so everyone else had to step up. Now it’s getting crazy!
The best part of the lounges to be able to have shower after a long flight (and a cocktail)
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I’ve never tried using the lounge after a flight - but you’re right, a shower when landing somewhere at 6am after a long red-eye would be nice. I’ll have to give that a try next time (manifesting that there will be a next time).
It’s something which is particularly good after trans-Atlantic flights and some time before the next connection flight
When I was 11, I flew by myself to visit my grandparents. Connecting flight in ATL. We were socked in by weather in ATL. Delta Airlines. A Delta employee took me to their house to spend the night with their family. And got me on my flight the next day.
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What a great story! I used to fly Cologne to Munich by myself as a kid to stay with my maternal grandmother (whom I didn’t like very much — feeling was clearly mutual) when my mom wanted some time off.
I remember having to wear a large tag around my neck like a dog so I wouldn’t get lost, and the flight attendants being extra sweet & giving me little puzzles to play with.
Of course, that flight was less than an hour long.
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Many years back, my BiL used to work as cabin crew for British Airways. He hated “unaccompanied minors”. In those days (and possibly still), the child would be accompanied throughout their time at the airport, by a specialist member of staff. They would hand over the child boarding the airport, introducing Andy “who is going to look after you on the plane”. However long later, Andy would thankfully hand over the child to the ground crew person at the arrival airport.
Hey! I was a cute kid, and very well-behaved. Plus, I was probably carrying a book!
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Same. I was immensely grateful for the attention and care —not that I needed it: as the proverbial latchkey kid I was pretty independent, as early as 7 or 8 years of age.
And I positively loved flying back then.
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Lounge service, even uber Lounges like Emirates, VA, Centurion, and the like, are the now basically the norm. If you’re not offered lounge access, even basic ones like Capital One, it’s like not being offered free (non-alcoholic) beverage service in-flight.
If airlines (or credit cards) really want to compete for the premium business (or luxury) travelers who do not use chartered or private jet services like NetJet then they need to offer pre and post flight services beyond just lounges. .
Chauffeured pickup to/from airport (aka “Limo or Meet‑&‑Greet services”), as well as PS Terminal access at select airports like LAX, dry cleaning services at your destination city, car services while your in town, etc.
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Interesting read. We bought the lounge access we were offered from Azores Airlines, which for about $40 per person gave us access to the Air France lounge in T1 at JFK. This was my first lounge experience (and compared to the descriptions in the article, almost nothing like the new higher end ones!). It was our first time flying out of T1, which seems tiny in comparison to some of the other terminals. So I’m not sure that contributed to the relative uncrowded-ness of the lounge. Anyway, this was completely worth it for us at this price point. The food and drink buffet was quite good, and my daughter with her bottomless stomach surely got her money’s worth (we did too, especially after factoring in a couple cocktails each). It was also a calmer and more comfortable start to our vacation than is typical for us, and with a kid, the easy access to clean and line-free bathrooms was great as well. I’m glad we took advantage of it. I’m afraid these other lounges are out of reach for us, and it’s probably just as well given some of the issues noted!
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I almost never use lounges as I don’t see the point in arriving at an airport so early that I have that much time to kill. I try to get to the airport so that maybe I’ve got 20-30 minutes until they start boarding. Perfect timing is they announce boarding as I get to the gate. I’ve got too much work to do to be spending hours hanging out in a lounge drinking and eating.
But you have to arrive 2-1.5 hours in advance for transatlantic flights. If security takes forever, you might luck out and only have 20-30 min til boarding, but usually there’s time to kill.
In our case, the lounges came in handy for several hours at CPH airport and LHR due to a missed connection.
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What, you guys don’t fly private jets? Luxo lounges unneeded….yes, kidding, kinda.
Priority boarding and pre check and clear can get you through quickly. I travel too much to spend that amount of time in airports.
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I did, too — once I grew out of airsickness
I’m so old, I remember dressing up to fly.
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