Name: Airport lounge wars.<\/p>\n
Age: American Airlines opened the first airport lounge in 1939<\/a>.<\/p>\n Appearance: Dripping in caviar and cocktails.<\/p>\n Airport lounge wars \u2013 is this a TV show where teams of would-be hospitality entrepreneurs compete to design and deliver airport lounge experiences for a demanding celebrity jury? No (but I\u2019d absolutely watch that). It\u2019s the arms race to provide increasingly extravagant lounges to persuade customers to shell out for first-class plane tickets or fancy credit cards that grant access, as reported by the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hang on, my credit card gives me lounge access! You queue up in a dingy corridor and eventually, if a scowling woman in a blazer deems you worthy, you get a picked-over buffet of dried-out ham and mini croissants, plus the chance to fight for an uncomfortable chair, still warm from the previous set of buttocks. Yes, that\u2019s the lounge experience for your kind of low-value riff-raff \u2013 people are increasingly complaining<\/a> about queues and overcrowding<\/a>; American Airlines<\/a> is expecting 18m lounge visits this year. But at the exclusive end of the market, competition has heated up in the last five years and lounges are getting really decadent.<\/p>\n What\u2019s on offer? High-end cocktails, nap pods, waffle stations, a \u201cjuice wall<\/a>\u201d\u2026 Capital One offers a \u201ctapas attendant\u201d serving important Spanish produce at Reagan Airport in Virginia, and pick-your-own personalised cheese flights<\/a> at JFK; Emirates Dubai has a sushi and sashimi bar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meh, I\u2019m lactose-intolerant, teetotal and allergic to fish. How about the Air France \u201cPremi\u00e8re\u201d experience at Charles de Gaulle; with a Sisley spa and the Wonder Block<\/a>?<\/p>\n Ooh, what\u2019s that? Some kind of amazing massage chair? No, it\u2019s a pile of bricks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Excuse me? Sorry, a \u201crenowned work of art\u201d by Jean-Michel Othoniel \u201ccombining monumentality with delicacy\u201d.<\/p>\n You\u2019re not convincing me to shell out. As if you could afford it. But how about Swiss Air Zurich\u2019s<\/a> private bedrooms, with luxurious double beds and a \u201cpanoramic view of the Alps\u201d? Singapore Airlines also has bedrooms in Changi, and what the Lounge Guru<\/a> \u2013 a luxury flight and lounge influencer \u2013 calls \u201cone of the most luxurious airport shower suites I\u2019ve ever seen\u201d.<\/p>\n Phwoar, now we\u2019re talking. And I\u2019ve saved the best till last: some lounges offer separate security lines<\/a> and passport control<\/a> so you never have to mix with the grubby proles. Air France in Charles de Gaulle<\/a> even transports you planeside by Porsche if you\u2019re travelling first class.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what lounges are really about, aren\u2019t they? Getting to feel special. Oh yes, it\u2019s all about having \u2013 and showing off \u2013 your status. Lounge customers \u201cDon\u2019t have to go out in gen pop,\u201d an American Airlines spokesperson told the WaPo.<\/p>\n