Premium travel or playground: How kids take over the airport lounge
Gary Leff July 27, 2024
Airport lounges used to be the domain of business travellers, with bars and business centres. But the face of travel, and premium travel, has changed. Premium leisure is much more prevalent than it used to be, and lounges now often cater to families too.
Club lounges can sometimes seem a bit like daycare centers: enclosed spaces where parents can sit and have easy access to bathrooms. Kids have a blast. Customers expecting a more traditional concept of a lounge are diving headfirst into this new model.
If you have kids with you, airport lounges are ten times more valuable.
▫️The area is contained
▫️Wide seating options
▫️Toilet always nearby
▫️Kids love the bottomless juice and don’t mind the so-so spreads (stale bread, half-melted cheese, cafeteria cold cuts)
Conversely… pic.twitter.com/VhMrkwVmnq
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) July 16, 2024
Some lounges have dedicated family rooms and should be used for their intended purpose.
But it’s a mistake to blame the kids for the mess. The problem is the parents, the way they parent, and the things they teach. Like this family that left this mess:
Come on guys, you can raise your kids better!
byu/Brian Old Salty Delta
One comment and response caught my eye: “Money can’t buy class,” followed by “No, but money can buy you high-value credit cards and access to cafeteria buffets.”
From the glasses on the wooden shelves behind the booths, it’s clear that moms and dads have been drinking rather than parenting, and while some kids are well behaved in the lounge, many adults are not.
Here we see a grown man with his feet up on furniture in a United Club, with a sign in front of him that reads “Do not put your feet on furniture.”
Credit: Ali
If the lounge imposes an “adults only” rule, passengers may be required to undergo entry screening as “adults.”
