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Sunday 12 April 2015

Why Are USA Business Class Lounges So Poor?


I have been on a few trips to the USA recently, and the experience prompted me to flag up the stupendously average quality of US business class lounges.
They are always busy, I'll grant you that; and there is no shortage of customers desperately trying to gain access through one type of card or another only to be triumphantly turned away by smug receptionists.
My issue is simply that compared to the rest of the world, US business lounges are way down the pecking order when it comes to food and amenities.
And my question is why?
America has always been the home of customer service (albeit shameless and shallow) so why are the airport business lounges so bad.
They are in the main, soulless places, with practically no form of human interaction.
Servers tend to be disinterested, bored or both and there is precious little in the way of food, generally just processed snacks of cheese (red or yellow), crackers and jars of chemically infused nibbles washed down with stale coffee from flasks.
So, apart from admittedly well stocked bars, free internet and some peace and quiet, there ain't a lot to shout about.
Compare this with the Far East, or Europe and the difference is marked.  In many cases there are either a la carte menus or a number of freshly produced dishes, perhaps showers or massage or even (drum roll) a hairdressing service and nail spa. The environments tend to welcoming and positive with attentive staff who try at least to make your short stay pleasurable. Unless as was the case during a recent visit to Istanbul when a Siberian snow storm put the airport in lock down and I was stranded there for over 14 hours, but that as they say is quite another story.
Come on USA pull your finger out and provide much better business lounge facilities for your tired and stressed executive passengers. Or, perhaps its all a plot to make the plane experience feel a lot better than it really is?