I just received Priority Pass as a benefit of the Citi Platinum AMEX card. The main reason for my applying for that card is the thank-you points. I suppose among the lougnes' facilities, internet access sounds appealing & shower could come handy if one were to make another connection (or have to see clients right away thereafter) for several hours after a long flight. Aside from these, are there any other attractions of the airport VIP lounges that justify the cost?

I assume telephone and teleconference facility are not a big factor since almost everyone carries a cell phone and would not necessary need the added facility to conduct business phone calls. I also assume alcoholic drinks isn't a determining factor (although it might be important to some other folks), unless the drinks offered at the lounges are rare/special kind.

This seems more of a TravelBuzz question, but it is here so I'll bite.

I like the free internet where it is available, but that isn't everywhere. CO and NW offer it in the USA. I don't believe any of the other domestic carriers do.

Free drinks from CO/DL/NW are nice if you want to have a couple drinks. I don't think that they have to be rare or special to make up for the $7/pint cost that you'll pay at an airport bar. If you plan on drinking a lot that will add up in a hurry. Drinks aren't of any value for US/UA/AA since they charge.

I will almost always go in to a lounge to make a business call if I have access. Instead of random announcements cluttering the background of the conversation you'll have a relatively quiet space to make the call from. I still use my cell phone rather than the phones they provide just about every time, but I do like using their space.

I've used the showers in a few lounges over the years and generally enjoy them.

Access to the agents is generally the best benefit, but also one that you hope to use the least.

Which PP membership do you get? If it is the one where you pay per entry anyways you'll probably have a hard time recouping the cost of the fee. If entry is just included in your membership then what does it hurt to go in and decide if you get value from it or not?

My PP membership has first 3 visits free per annul and $27 per visit thereafter. The membership fee ($99/year) is covered by annul fee ($125/yr) with the credit card.

While browsing thru the list of participating lounges, it appears PP coverage might be better (more useful) for frequent international travel than domestic travel. Nevertheless, its still worth considering to keep, especially when the first 3 visits are free :-)

You are absolutely right in that the most helpful feature is probably ready access to lounge agents.

When I've had a United Airlines Red Carpet Club membership, absolutely the most valuable benefit to me was access to the lounge agents during irregular operations.

Currently I have the same Priority Pass membership that you do through Citi Platinum AMEX. I expect that access to lounge agents in the Premier Pass program will be statistically less likely to be useful than a regular airline club membership. When you pay for a regular airline club membership, after all, you'll likely do so on the airline that you fly the most and therefore the most likely to have lounge agents that can provide special help to you on that day's flight(s). By contrast, Premier Pass contracts with different lounges in different airports, and often it'll be with a company that isn't your airline. In non-US airports, in particular, it's common for Premier Pass to contract with a lounge that isn't run by any individual airline at all, but rather run by a company specializing in providing airport services, who contracts with not only Premier Pass but also various airlines who want a presence for their premium passengers at that airport but can't justify running their own facilities. Such a lounge's agents may be pleasant human beings trained to be helpful, but they won't have the computer access to help you in the same way.