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My frequents are Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata, Mumbai from Delhi.
And they are all useless. Why get to the airport 3 hours early, just to stand in a queue for 30 minutes to fight over free-ish food? and its not as if Ramsay is sitting behind teh counter serving up unpronounceable dishes. How much are you really saving? I just find a seat near the gate, with a book, sufficient.

But for international travel, yes, I can see the draw. But even that in T3 was so crowded the last time I travelled earlier this year.

Book a vistara or an air india, have a half decent meal in flight ( I find Air india's meals way better than Vistara's).

However, I have seen in Lucknow at least, that access has become very restricted to the lounge. Last visit over, I had no option but to get to the airport about 2-3 hours before my flight. They did not accept HDFC regalia and mentioned some cards which i dont recall.

Is there any connection of this to card providers starting to reduce lounge access as a benefit ?

One of my cards had lounge access as a benefit, but now they have changed this such that we need to request access based on our quarterly spends being above a certain level

I think they take only premium cards. I was able to enter via HDFC Infinia credit card. AMEX cards have diverse acceptance in this lounge

Off topic (but just to spread awareness about security risks while charging your device at a public place): Please be aware of the "Juice jacking" tactics used by hackers/scamsters where malwares might get installed on your device, or your sensitive data might get leaked. If you must charge, please always select "charge only" option when prompted. Never select options like "trust this computer" or "share data". Source: https://www.fcc.gov/juice-jacking-tips-to-avoid-it

Did you take the Benjamin Button pill or what? You look younger now than when we first met!

The challenge with "declining lounge quality" started before the pandemic. Post-pandemic, with "revenge travel" becoming the norm, this issue only worsened. Both credit card (CC) companies and airlines have realized that "lounge liability" is detrimental to their image among their "premium" customers and are taking steps to remedy it. You only need to Google to find articles covering the changes both airlines and CC companies are making. I have tried not to come across as elitist but with increasing passenger volumes, the airlines/CC companies have to create some differentiation.

I used Amex travel card in T2.

In T1 I had used Priority pass.

There was a time when I flew international 5-6 times a month and domestic atleast twice every week for work; but post Covid, this has considerably come down. When the schedule used to be hectic, and timings erratic, the lounges would act as a saviour, sometimes for nothing else but a peaceful nap, on reaching way early than the boarding time of the flight. Frankly speaking, the lounge food was never really lip-smacking; I preferred a drink (or two) along with some finger food at best.

Glad that banks are finally cutting down on lounge benefits for cardholders. In recent times, the lounges had turned into noisy street-like areas: no class, just crass!

The lounges should also put up a terminal/kiosk where the passenger can check if his/her card is eligible for free lounge access. Now that lounge access is also dynamic (i.e. based on spend), I foresee the problem that people will wait in the queue for a long time only to be told at the last that they are not eligible.

last time at Delhi airport, the person in front of me just handed all the credit and debit cards they had. Most of these cards were LTF entry-level cards. The lounge staff manning the check-in counter took glance at the cards and rejected some cards outright, saying these cards won't have lounge access. For remaining cards, they just started swiping card after card and said lounge access was exhausted for the quarter on each card.

I have not seen such liberal lounge accessibility while in the US. It always used to be a coveted benefit for top travel cards like Chase Sapphire or Amex platinum etc. In India, both lounge operators & credit card companies have now realized that lounge access needs to be cut back, and only given on premium cards! And it makes sense to me atleast. Lounge is supposed to be that exclusive place where you can get away from the crowd and relax. If you start giving lounge accessibility to every credit card in the country, it is bound to feel more like bus stand or railway station canteen than an airport lounge.

While I was heading back home to DXB from DEL (Terminal 3) by Emirates post BharatGP in September, I have to admit, the worst airport I’ve witnessed in a while with below average lounge options, always under renovation for god knows what purpose. Even the below average stores for shopping. Nothing fancy. Wonder what’s the reason behind this mediocre coverage.

No Rolex store at all! You kidding me!

Cheers
Amey

This situation is described well in this video:

https://youtu.be/Ne6PM5NevGk?feature=shared

Although I travel fairly frequently domestically, I have never attempted to get into a lounge. One reason is that I just prefer to find a corner and settle down with a book and some music if I have a lot of waiting time. The second reason is that I just own one simple credit card and I did not even attempt to find if it had any lounge benefits. Being a basic card, I did not think it would have any such benefits.

At the airport, whenever I passed by the lounge area, I would see large crowds and a queue to enter. At that time I would always wonder- So many people have fancy credit cards with lounge access privileges and all and I need to probably move up in life:). Only after reading this thread I realised that the banks have been throwing in lounge access on all kinds of cards. So Maybe it is not too bad and I have it too.

In any case will still prefer my random corner I think.

I stopped entering lounges back in 2019 once it became free-for-all. It is lot more relaxing to sit somewhere near the departure gate. Also, it stops you from eating unnecessarily, just because of free food.

Besides, I have rarely taken a flight (just 3) once the pandemic started.

I used to fly extensively all over the world. I was never particularly keen on the lounges that would allow credit card holders in.

Best lounges tend to be airline-specific lounges, and or lounges that cater for multiple airlines, but not to CC holders.

At least its limited to people who have raked up enough credits on whatever carrier program they are flying, or flying business/first.

Even in 2019, the last time I travelled to India a couple of times, the lounges in Delhi and Mumbai were not particularly pleasant, compared to most lounges I have come across in other countries.

For me a good lounge with good facilities was important. I spend so much time on the road, so the ability to work at a decent desk, have unlimited decent coffee, and have a bit of piece of quiet, was really necessary. Especially at my age ! :)

Jeroen

Airport lounges are now nothing short of a fish market.

I have been a regular patron of the lounges at Mumbai T2 (Adani formerly GVK) and Delhi T3 (Prremium Plaza).

The Adani lounge lost its charm after it opened gates to every card holder post COVID. Still I used to and sit in the business class section which was secluded and quiet. Now I don't do that either . I just pick up a croissant etc and sit in food court by the window and later by the gate.

Delhi T3 Premium Plaza is worse. No place to sit and food spread is all messed up. Its better to sit on those nice lounge chairs near the gates.

Volvo few years ago had a nice small pop up lounge on T3 Delhi. I used it often. Empty most of the times with tea coffee and some limited snacks. But I quite liked it