when did lounges first appear?
 

when I was a kid I was fortunate to travel in biz class. I never went into a lounge. when did lounges appear? Specifically I'm curious about United and JAL. A google search didn't turn up anything for me. TIA.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/amrcorp/corp...alshistory.jsp

1939. i recall specials in the early'50's offering lifetime admiral club membership for $100 or 150.

They did appear with public transportation. Not sure whether the Romans already also had frequent traveller programs in place, though.

Yes, as noted by slawecki, the first lounge was opened by AA in 1939 at La Guardia airport.

When UA opened one, I don't know. An interesting fact about UA though was that way back in 1931 when they had just 8 FAs, they were all Registered Nurses. That was to allay passengers fear of flying.

Airlines indeed did have them even before WW2. I would be surprised if there were not some even in the mid-1930s.

Train operators/stations had premium passenger lounges before airlines did the same.

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Yes, those were the good old days ROCAT when all the riff-raff couldn't afford to fly. Now look at what you see in an airport, even in the Lounges.