Originally Posted by
cordelli
A good amount of the lounges out there will already let you pay to get in.
That was my first thought: don't most airline clubs offer daypasses?
I know this is incredibly common in the U.S. - all of the majors sell daypasses. Don't know whether the other biggest worldwide carriers do this or not.
Then there are also other networks of lounges for various credit cards, access clubs, etc. (Although I agree with the OP that sometimes this category of lounge is both lame and not where you need it to be.) I see these more often in non-U.S. airports. Maybe a decent "infrequent lounge user" strategy would be Diner's Club + the occasional U.S. airline daypass.
If I was flying Y with no status, I think I'd be most likely to just find a good pub. At the kinds of airports where you're likely to have a long layover, you're also likely to find a decent pub. Unless you're really planning to tie one on, that's just as good as the kind of lounge you'd get with Diner's Club.
Disclaimer: I dumped Diner's about 10 years ago. I used DC for lounge access in a few international airports over the years - it was always one of those generic lounges for a variety of credit cards, that "Priority Access" card (or similar), and maybe the least-dominant airline alliance for that airport. No idea if the program has changed since then.