What Do You Want From An Airport?

by Robert McGarvey

Forget the obvious. If I were asked about my wishes for an airport, I’d say I want planes to take off and land on time, for security lines to be fast, and, well, I pretty much covered my essential wants. I admit I may never get what I want.

But a company named Airport Dimensions – which builds airport lounges and which is part of Collinson, which created Priority Pass – wanted to look at the question of what creates airport satisfaction a bit more broadly.

Airport Dimensions surveyed travelers and it found that 57% reported visiting an airport lounge in their journey.

Me too, usually. Ten years ago I would have said 100% of my air travel involved a club stop. Nowadays a majority of my trips still do but when entry lines are long and clubs too full, sometimes I am staying away.

Airport Dimensions wanted to know why we stop in a club. It found that 56% said they accessed the lounge to use business services. But 78% said they came for the food. And 68% said they sought leisure amenities.

I have no idea what leisure amenities these folks found because other than a rack of generally useless magazines I don’t recall seeing much in the way of leisure amenities.

The food is rather blah too. Amex Centurion is an exception. Some Priority Pass venues are too (but by no means all). De gustibus non disputandum est.

As for how we gain entry, the study found 25% say they got in by virtue of cabin class , 19% got in because of programs like Priority Pass, 19% got in because of airline elite status, and 18% paid to get in. As for me I get in via Amex Plat and its associated Priority Pass deal.

I admit I am quite surprised that nearly one in five shelled out money to get in – AA’s Admirals Club costs $59 to get in and, nah, I am not parting with three double sawbucks to open that door. $59 at United too. Nope.

Now we get to a number that genuinely floors me. Actually several numbers.

Here’s what Travel Pulse reported: “nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of respondents emphasized the importance of being able to access airport retailers online while they’re at the lounge, while only 12 percent didn’t feel this aspect was important to them.”

Count me in the 12%. I have no interest whatsoever in any airport retailers. Whether digital or analog. For many years I always bought a couple newspapers…but now I read NYTimes and WaPo online so I don’t even stop at a newsstand.

Here are some retailers in Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor; I can honestly say not only that I have never been in any, I had never noticed they existed – and I have zero interest in accessing them online while I am sitting in a club.

Who are that two in three of us who want digital access?

A third number that makes me twitch: 56% of us say they’d be willing to pay for grooming, spa services, and personal care in the lounge.

Would you?

Not me. Maybe I could be persuaded to get a haircut if I really needed one and had a half hour to fill before boarding but probably not and definitely not the other stuff.

Is any of this central to a club experience? Not in my mind.

Look, a good club experience is simple to define. Think Centurion in its early years. Plenty of seating. Quiet. Good coffee. A decent glass of wine. Maybe a few nibbles to take the hungry edge off.

Done, sign me up. I don’t need to conduct in-lounge digital retail with airport vendors, I don’t want spa services, and I don’t need leisure amenities.

It’s not hard to create the club experience I want – but it apparently is even easier to screw it up with crowds I definitely don’t want and complexities I have no interest in.

I duck into an airport club to get away from the hurly burly outside. I don’t want the noise and clutter to follow me inside.

What about you?