Starting two threads in one week? I am out of control. So .. Delta et al used to allow walkups to their airport lounges, but those days are gone ... much like My Yahoo. I fly like 3/4 times a year and my wife flies for business about once a month. This is more for her than me. Anyway, there are credit cards who give access to these alternative airport lounges ... Chase Saphire Reserve ($550/year) and Capital One Venture X ($395/year). These cards also give back some of their yearly fees, if you book travel with them, so that is about $300 off per year. I am trying to justify spending a couple of hundred dollars for the Priority Pass Lounges ... some of which are a bit sketch tbh. What is the BBS collective opinion on these cards and the Priority Pass Lounges?
I use the United Lounge and it is a game changer as far as wasting time and waiting on a flight. My United Card gives me 2 passes per year but if I traveled every month I would certainly look into getting one that allowed me to use the services. The last time I used it was at O`Hare at like 5am and got fed and was able to relax in a quiet Enviromint...............well worth it
They're usually nice but I refuse to submit to an industry feeding off how terrible it is to travel now. Dystopian. Shoot the airline CEOs too - DD
I do not fly that often, maybe 6 times a year. I used to have an American Express Platinum Delta Sky Miles. I usd to be able to use the Delta lounge, but January of this year they made it exclusively for The reserve card, for an additional 150 per year in service charges from the 300.00 I paid previously. I went ahead and upgraded cards. The reason is I often fly out of JFK for international flights, but live 2 hours away in Albany. So with a lot of international flights leaving later in the day I get to airport early, check my stuff once through TSA I go and chill for a couple of hours before boarding. Have a couple of free cocktails and my dinner which is usually pretty good. The best part with the card and the yearly fee is you get a voucher for one round trip ticket chit to any of the lower 48. SOME EXCLUSIONS APPLY BTW, the card also gets you into the AMEX Centurian Lounges
Amex/priority pass lounges suck they are always full. United has a lot of big ones and you can hop between terminals to find one that is open, but even those get crowded.
My father in law always said. "Work fascinates me, I could watch people do it all day" Shouldn't you be castrating bulls or something. PS you said you were in the hill country. I used to go javelina hunting in D'Hanis. You near there??
As a travel aside, I did an Ireland vacation last summer. On the trip home, I passed through US preclearance in the Dublin Airport, which was a real game changer ... since I was flying back to Dulles which is a real hellhole.
This. The United Lounge is very nice and entirely worth it if you fly enough with layovers that are a few hours long. You can get a meal or two, gratis coffee, soda, juice, water. Gratis Wi-Fi, it's super comfortable. Lots and lots of eye candy because the demographic skews up and ladies with those means tend to take care of themselves and not eat Big Macs on a daily basis. I didn't drink alcohol when I was there but the bar seemed very nice. And it's a good place to do some business networking. So for the United Club CC that has a $600 annual fee easily pays for itself with the Club access, 90k bonus miles on signup and really big miles multipliers for buying United tickets, it's a no-brainer. The food and beverages alone are a big savings over eating expensive crap in the airport, the quality is better IMO. I don't have this particular card because I fly direct everywhere, Houston is their home base and I can time most flights to park and walk on to the plane. But if I flew routes where I had layovers and the United Club were an option, I would absolutely do it. I do have the United Explorer card which offers bonus points on signup and multipliers for buying tickets, and it gave me two passes to the club, which is how I experienced it.
Many of the lounges are now over crowded and not worth for me personally (Centurian, Capital One, etc). I rather spend $20 on Panda Express than walk to a different terminal and to be in a crowded ass lounge.
I don't think it's worth the hassle with domestic but I like to roll the dice and check in before the hour window. It's mostly worth the money on international flights, esp on the way back when you miss having a corner of the english speaking world. What you could do if you fly intl occasionally is to get the united card for the 2 complimentary lounge vouchers. The first year is free then cancel when it comes time to pay for the renewal fee.
Nope (you had the NW of Austin part right). Burnet and Blanco Counties. San Saba was the ranch I advertised here and tried to sell yall...a decade ago?
My bad, wow how time is weird...only 4 years ago https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/who-wants-to-buy-a-ranch-in-san-saba-tx.305230/
Maybe less than a decade ago on selling the place at San Saba. So something like this for the boundaries of your World? Buchanan Dam.............Liberty Hill ....................................................... ....................................................... Johnson City...................Bee Cave I debated a line North of Buchanan Dam - Liberty Hill and a line South of Johnson City - Bee Cave, but will go with these for now. Civilization seems sort of sparse North of Liberty Hill, so not sure how to move the Northeast corner of the box up.
