AIRPORTS are never going to be my favourite place, I spend far too much time in them, but with a little help from Priority Pass, the journey certainly does get a lot easier.
I used the Priority Pass lounge at Dubai International Airport during a long layover on a recent flight from Bahrain to Singapore.
And I think I can safely say, with almost seven hours to kill, it might just have saved my sanity.
Priority pass works by offering members access to more than 600 airport lounges around the world. You can either pay a fixed fee for unlimited access or a lower fee for limited entries and, as a frequent flyer, the $399 top-of-the-range prestige membership is certainly a worthwhile investment.
In Dubai I used the DCA business-class lounge in Terminal 1 which is open 24 hours and offers rooms by the hour with shower facilities, workstations with computer and internet connection and separate families‘ and smoking rooms.
I arrived having spent most of the day in meetings so was really glad of the hot, tasty food available and there was a great choice of dishes with something to suit most preferences from salads and snacks to a full dinner with a glass of something chilled.
Fed and watered, I could quite happily have settled down in the smoking lounge where comfy chairs and a wide-screen TV would probably have lulled me off to sleep while waiting for my next flight.
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But with work very much in mind I, instead, made use of the freely available internet access and plentiful power points to set up my laptop and catch up with the office.
With a good connection and frequent trips back to the bar for cups of tea, the hours very quickly passed and, before I knew it, it was time to head back to Terminal 3 for my flight.
I wasn’t looking forward to the long trek laden down with hand luggage, duty free, laptop et al, so it was a delight to arrive at the lounge reception desk and find a buggy waiting to take me back to the boarding gate – now that’s what I call service.
Membership of Priority Pass means you can use the lounges regardless of your ticket class and those who fly regularly for business will appreciate just how much work time you can save by making use of all those lost airport hours.
I think it’s a great idea, now all I have to do is convince the boss!
By Liz O‘Reilly