ESteiner

I visited the Amex Airspace Lounge at BWI this morning, and was pleased to get a $3 discount off the $17.50 daily rate with my AS Board Room affiliation. It's a small, no frills club, and Airspace hopes to expand to 40 sites worldwide. It's free to real Amex holders (and not co-branded cards like my Costco Amex). I did not take advantage of the advertised clothes pressing, restroom or amenity kit, but the club offered free Wifi, newspapers and free beverages. It's a quiet alternative to the bustling food court as there are no other clubs at BWI.

cwilson830

I thought it was only free for Plat/Cent members...

cwilson830

Their website says Plat/Cent members: http://www.airspacelounge.com/faq.php?itemnum=7

Did someone there tell you differently?

JY1024

Thanks for reporting back, ESteiner! We'll shift this thread over to the Washington DC/Baltimore forum as this is non-airline specific, but airport-specific. /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

AirspaceOnFT

Yes, complimentary entry including a complimentary meal is for American Express Platinum(r) and Centurion(r) members, their immediate family when accompanied by the member or up to two guests.

Anyone else may enter Airspace Lounge for as a little as $17.50 and for a limited time we are charging members of other airline lounge networks $14.50. All entries include a complimentary choice of meal from our menu, wifi, soft drinks, coffee, use of pcs/macs, and...of course; the lounge itself. If you're not hungry, you may choose from our complimentary selection of alcohlic beverages from our fully stocked bar. We think it's a strong value proposition and hope to see you at Airspace Lounge in the future.

DaMadCroat

Thanks for sharing! It does, indeed, sound like a good value proposition compared to airline-operated lounge day passes. Is the paid access to continue indefinitely? I can see it may be tough to maintain lounge standards to a Plat/Cent level if it becomes flooded with $17.50 admissions.

Are there showers in the lounges, or merely toilet facilities?

Does the discount apply to members of frequent flyer programs that have US-based lounge access (i.e. non-US based OneWorld sapphire and emerald, or non-US based Star Alliance gold), or only to paid supplementary lounge memberships such as Admirals Club and United Club?

An interesting marketing move would be to temporarily extend a discounted rate to competing card products such as HSBC Premier and Citibank Gold account holders, who may then bite for a Plat card application.

EDIT - just noticed variable pricing on the website... no details, but seems like a good (if perhaps confusing) way to keep lounge numbers manageable.

Jcd2147

No showers and toilets are located across the hall. There are no discounts for frequent flyer programs. The roi seems minimal here:

Free wifi- who doesn't have a wifi card in their bag?
Food- standard lounge fare
Drinks- $20 buys lots of soft drinks or a couple of beers.

I think the ticket to sucess for them is an annual fee of say $150-250 and still offering day passes. Even being BWI based I'd never pay $20/visit.

DaMadCroat

Personally, I agree. Especially if there are no showers (I am no longer BWI-based and at least half of my travel is long-haul, so in the grand scheme of things showers are a biggie for me, especially after a red eye arrival). I really don't care about lounge access on a short-haul flight and would rather have a decent meal and drink at Vino Volo or elsewhere for a similar price.

That said, when you look at what other lounges charge for single-day admission (and the fact that others are willing to pay these fees), leads me to believe that the price point is right. Might be a low ROI for you and me (especially if you already have lounge access through another program), but that doesn't mean that this venture won't be competitive.

AirspaceOnFT

Hi everyone,

We at Airspace Lounge think it's worthwhile to make a few clarifictions....

Restrooms:
Airspace Lounge has in-lounge restrooms at BWI. They're not across the hall, they're in the lounge and exclusively for Airspace guests. There are seperate mens and womens rooms; no showers. Also...ask for an Airspace amentiy kit and we'd be pleased to hand you one included with entry. On top of that, ask for your clothes to be steamed and it's done; also included with entry.

Food:
We have eleven selections available on our food menu; our beverage menu is also extensive. See our complete menu here. Our favorite at the moment; the hot western omlete panini, but the rare DC Roast Beef sandwich is great too and it's big enough to fill anyone up.

So, to review, included with entry is:

• Use of our quiet and contemporary lounge
• A complimentary choice from our menu (even though there are prices on the menu, one is item included n/c. If you're not hungry, you may choose from our complimentary selections from our premium bar). Your menu selection is plated for you on modern china by the Airspace team.
• Complimentary Peet's coffee and tea served in extra large Peet's mugs
• Outlets at every seat, including the bar
• Complimentary soft drinks
• Wifi
• Use of our business area, PCs, Macs, and starting soon, Ipad docking stations
• In-lounge restrooms, amenity kit and clothes pressing
• And the little touches such as wine served in German crystal and even crystal, heavyweight glasses for water & soft drinks

Given that it's difficult to keep a trip to the food court under $10 we think Airspace is an excellent value for a few dollars more. But we understand that everyone has different views and we respect anyone's particular views about Airspace whether you like us or not

Thanks for reading through this post and we hope to earn your business in the future.

AirspaceonFT

SoCal

We've gotten into Centurion Clubs overseas free even with Gold Cards. Glad we have Platinum now. The Centurion Clubs I have been to have been more basic than most airline clubs I've visited.

popot53

what does swiping my plat card at the kiosk confirm? if it's expired or something?

AirspaceOnFT

It's a similar system used by the others in the American Express Lounge Access Program; Delta, American and US Airways. It's primarily used to keep the count but, though I might be mistaken, I believe it validates too.

On a separate note; we are as indepedent from American Express as the other airlines in the program. It would be great if the moderator could change the title of this thread to reflect that fact.

SoCal

Wow. Ads are allowed? This goes way beyond refusing specific points in a post. Haven't seen such a post before.

violist

The bullet-pointed post is a bit much - probably cut and paste from an
actual ad - but in this case it appears to me to be justified to counteract
the previous inaccuracies printed in this thread.

FlyingDoctorwu

I've used the Airspace lounge.. given that it's the only lounge at BWI, it's great to have the option (I don't count the Chesepeake club).

I am fortunate to have an Amex plat though...

I think some sort of partnership with Priority pass would be nice....

It's a nice option. Coffee is ok (even though it's Peet's, it's as strong as I like). Space is a little contempary but that 's fine.. it's quite....

What was nice once was that my wife wasn't feeling well and wanted Ginger ale.. popped in and grab one... also, they encourage taking drinks to go, if I recall...

Would I pay for a daily pass? prob not... but with my Amex plat it's great...

FDW