Airport lounges offer a relaxed environment with a number of useful facilities such as private spaces, reliable internet and comfortable seating. Also there is usually access to complimentary food and beverages including alcohol.

Remember, you do not need to travel first or business class to access airport lounges and can get free or reduced price access by a number of means such as:

Credit cards

• Some credit cards offer a number of free airport lounge passes per year.
• Look for cards that have little or no yearly fee or offer promotional rates with lounge passes included.
• In many countries the American Express Gold rewards card comes with free passes and has no annual fee in the first year.

Daily deal sites

• Check Groupon and other daily deal sites for vastly discounted airport lounge access
• Check the Ts&Cs carefully - you may be limited to using the lounge in off peak hours
• However daily deal sites can be a great way to pickup cheap passes