I pay hundreds in annual fees to sit in a nicer chair at the airport

Let's discuss.

Love them, hate them or simply don’t (yet) have them on your radar – let’s talk (and demystify) airport lounges. But to do that well, let’s first take a journey into our very unofficial dictionary of travel terms and eras.

Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas. Carly Hefland/The Points Guy.

Airport lounges in 1995

air·port loun·ges in nine·teen nine·ty-five | noun, historical

1. Exclusive, dimly lit sanctuaries hidden behind heavy doors, populated (mostly) by men in pleated pants whose employers or clients footed the bill for their airfare and their lounge-provided cheese cubes.

2. Places where business travelers could sip a lukewarm beer, read an actual printed newspaper and make VIPCs (very important phone calls) between flights.

3. Off-limits to regular humans unless accompanied by the household’s designated frequent flyer, typically once per year while en route to Florida.

See also: status envy, expense account living, Dad’s big trip energy.

Airport lounges in 2025

air·port loun·ges in twen·ty twen·ty-five | noun, contemporary

1. Airport hot spots with the crowd-control challenges of a new brunch restaurant in the West Village, complete with waitlists, increasingly strict guest policies and the occasional bouncer-adjacent vibe.

2. Spaces often open to anyone with the right, heavy, metallic credit card — no corporate travel policy is needed, but annual fees of $400 to $900 are often required.

3. Sometimes offering handcrafted cocktails, celebrity chef menus, Peloton bikes, showers nicer than your last hotel stay and retro-style arcade games … gotta keep the 90s vibe alive somehow.

See also: lounge FOMO, credit card arms race, boarding group inflation.

Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas. Summer Hull / The Points Guys

We’ve come a long way from the wood-paneled pseudo-boardroom vibes for the few, but here’s the real plot twist: Airport lounges aren’t just arguably nicer now — they’ve become a tangible symbol of how travel itself has evolved.

What was once a corporate perk for the few is now a credit card-powered refuge for the “card-carrying masses,” equal parts modern oasis, premium card marketing funnel and cultural phenomenon.

If we are being honest, the airport lounges of today (yes, even the airline-operated ones) are less a refuge for expense account frequent flyers and more a key, shiny marketing component for high-end credit cards and their Gen Z, millennial and Gen X owners that helps justify the annual fees that come with those equally shiny cards.

And like a good card-carrying, shiny-objects-driven elder millennial, I’ve collected access to almost all of them.

So, the real question on the eve of 2026 isn’t just “Are lounges worth it?” Rather, it’s “Are they worth it in this modern era where access is more ubiquitous than exclusivity, but that convenience is now sold back to us one annual fee at a time?”

The answer: Absolutely, yes, sometimes … it depends. Pull up a (hopefully comfy) chair.

Why airport lounges are absolutely worth it

Airport food is often mediocre (or wildly overpriced), gate areas feel like doctor’s waiting rooms, and why not sip a cocktail and play a round of Ms. Pac-Man instead?

Some airport lounges are now places you actually want to be, with food that’s genuinely better than the airport Chili’s — no shade, those Southwestern eggrolls are legit.

Sure, the premium credit card that gets you in wasn’t free, but once you’re there, it kind of feels like it is — especially if other perks already offset most of the annual fee.

Even after decades of lounge visits, a good one still makes my travel day better. Take the new Champagne parlor at the Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas: Popping in to that glitzy, gold-clad room for a glass of bubbly feels like the modern golden age of travel in a way a bottled Coke Zero at the gate never could.

Add Momofuku pork buns or crispy nori potatoes, and yes — absolutely worth it.

Momofuku pork buns in question. Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas. Summer Hull/The Points Guy.

Made-to-order Impossible burgers (and fries!) at the Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas. Carly Hefland/The Points Guy

But sometimes lounges aren’t worth it at all

The cards that unlock many lounges typically cost $400-$900 per year. That’s a lot of small plates and free cocktails to justify the math.

Even at the lower end, it’s a real investment in your airport time. If you’ll only step behind those doors once or twice a year, that’s probably not enough to tip the scales.

And then there’s the modern lounge paradox: If everyone can get in, sometimes you can’t. Access is more widespread than ever, which also means lines, waitlists and crowds. Since the ideal amount of airport time is still #aslittleaspossible, waiting just to lounge can quickly cancel out the appeal.

This is the paradox of modern lounge life: Democratization makes them better and worse at the same time.

So … are airport lounges worth the trouble? Not always. Can they be fun anyway? Absolutely

I don’t hit the lounge on every trip, but when I do, it can make the whole travel day. And let’s be honest: Some lounges are just in a different league. (Chase and Capital One lounges have absolutely been detour-worthy lately.)

So if you’ve ever wondered whether a lounge is for you — and you pass through airports with ones that look worth your time more than a couple of times a year — I say try it. Pick the card tied to the lounges you’ll actually visit and walk in like you belong, because you do.

Worst case? You enjoy a year of regional cocktails and chef-inspired snacks and decide it’s not your thing. Best case? You find a small pocket of joy behind the curtain in an era of shrinking seats, rising fees and travel that too often feels like a chore.

And if a credit card can buy back even a sliver of that magic? That might just be worth it.