Priority Pass adds and subtracts members from its 1000+ network of lounges each month. This month two notable additions are worth your attention: the Turkish Airlines lounge at Washington Dulles and the Grain Store Cafe & Bar inside London Gatwick Airport.
Turkish Airlines Washington Dulles Lounge
Open from 6am to 11pm daily (Concourse B, near Gate B43), this lounge offers both comfort and great food. You can read this review from the day it opened and since then I have visited many times. During my last visit a couple weeks ago I snapped these pictures–
Even better, there are no time restrictions for the use of this lounge. Air France – KLM and British Airways both have Priority Pass nearby at Dulles and only allow Priority Pass holders during non-peak hours. British Airways does not even put any real food out for during the Priority Pass hours, only chips, cookies, and apples.
If you are a United flyer, I guarantee you will never go to the United Club for food or eat onboard if it can be avoided after a meal here.
(tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
Grain Store Cafe & Bar – London Gatwick
Priority Pass added an airport lounge in London Heathrow last year and this year has added a restaurant across town at London Gatwick Airport. Your Priority Pass card will provide you with a 15GBP credit per user. Any additional amount you are responsible for.
The restaurant looks nice, but how much will meals actually cost? In looking at the lunch and dinner menu (.pdf) it appears your 15GBP will cover an appetizer and non-alcoholic drink or dessert, but if you want a main course most (slightly) exceed 15GBP. An English Breakfast is £10.95.
This will be a nice additional option to the four lounges already available at LGW.
(tip of the hat to One Mile at a Time)
CONCLUSION
Priority Pass continues to get more valuable for me. Now I do not have to be flying on Star Alliance to use the Washington Dulles Lounge and can probably use it as an arrivals lounge after a redeye, like I have the British Airways lounge for many years. The new restaurant option in London Gatwick is also an innovation which hopefully will expand to the USA.
Remember, while many credit cards come with Priority Pass, not all memberships are created equal. The Chase Sapphire Reserve gets you unlimited guests, CITI gets you two, and American Express zero.
The GBP 15 F&B credit is an interesting new development. I can tell you the PP lounge in Gatwick South is serially overcrowded, so that’s a good option to grab a couple of drinks before boarding. Curious to see if this is expanded to other airports eventually.
I agree that the dining credit is an ingenious way to expand their network, and it may be cheaper for Priority Pass to reimburse a restaurant than a lounge. In theory, it will work as long as people don’t double-dip by eating $15-20 of food at a restaurant and then hit up the lounge afterwards.