Airport Lounges Have Never Been This Crowded — Here's the Alternative
A new JD Power study found nearly half of frequent lounges are 'moderately or severely crowded.' That's not what anyone's paying for.
The numbers
JD Power's 2026 airport lounge study surveyed nearly 3,000 travelers and found 46% describe their usual lounge as moderately or severely crowded — and satisfaction drops sharply on their scale between an empty lounge and a packed one.
Why people go anyway
Close to half said they go mainly to escape the terminal, not for the free food. Which says less about lounges and more about what's happening everywhere outside them — the same congestion making lounges miserable is making the rest of the airport worse too.
The actual problem
A lounge buys you a quieter seat. It doesn't get you through the terminal, to your gate, or out to a car after you land — and increasingly, it doesn't even guarantee a seat once you're inside.
A different kind of buffer
A greeter meets you before any of that starts: at the gate on arrival, or at check-in before departure, moving with you rather than holding a door for you. No crowd to escape, because you're never standing in one.