How I Got Multiple Meals and Unlimited Drinks at the Airport for Just $59

As the old saying goes, sometimes you've got to spend money to make money. I recently spent an unscheduled day working from an airport lounge on my way back from a vacation. Getting to an airport at 5 a.m. isn't ideal under the best of circumstances, but doing so and then finding out you're not actually flying out until late afternoon due to a rebooking really stinks.

I ended up shelling out $59 apiece for my travel companion and I to get access to the United Club at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. Thankfully, we more than made up the cost in consumables -- not to mention the time I spent working. Here's how.

Unlimited food and drinks for a flat fee? Sign me up

Airport food is all too often a personal finance don't -- it is expensive. One of my colleagues recently dropped $72 on airport food after accidentally neglecting to bring her own, and this is a move I try to make, too. (Even just having granola bars in my travel bag has saved me on multiple occasions.) The higher cost of food at an airport is due to multiple factors, including commercial rent for restaurants and employee pay/parking.

Thankfully, we were greeted by a generous breakfast buffet upon arrival at the United Club, and the best way to cope with the emotional turmoil of a rebooked flight is to put coffee and scrambled eggs on top of it. My travel companion ended up with two lounge breakfasts to my one (he's part Hobbit, clearly), and we both had lunch, so that's five meals right there. And the lounge staff was incredibly helpful and nice, and regularly came around to collect cups and dishes.

We also took advantage of the bar in the afternoon -- basic alcoholic drinks (think gin and tonic or something similarly simple) were included in our $59 admission. Plus, you could get nonalcoholic drinks, including decent coffee, all day. It certainly beat the pants off overpriced fast food. And not having to wait in lines at airport restaurants also left me with more time to do my job.

A productive work day to boot

Even before our flights were rebooked, I already had plans to spend a chunk of my day working from an airport. (As a fully remote freelance worker, I can do my job from anywhere -- both a blessing and a curse.) I just assumed it would be from a gate at San Francisco International Airport, as we were originally going to spend a long layover there. I could've worked from a gate at Honolulu airport, for that matter -- but there's no way I would've gotten as much done. The United Club had speedy and reliable wifi, not to mention electrical outlets at every (comfortable) chair.

The lounge space was also a lot more relaxing and quieter than an airport gate area would have been. I didn't have to listen to announcements over the loudspeaker every few minutes (is it still news to anyone that we're supposed to supervise our luggage at all times?). The lighting was soft, and the bathrooms weren't fancy, but they were nicer than those in the terminal. Based on being able to put in a full work day, I far and away came out ahead by putting $118 on my credit card for lounge access.

Is it worth paying for lounge access?

This experience was actually my first time in an airport lounge -- here at The Ascent, I get to read about them frequently. But I don't fly super often, and so it hasn't made sense for me to open a credit card with lounge access. It might for you, though. If you fly frequently, and especially if you fly with the same airline a lot of the time, it's worth digging into that airline's credit card options.

I put the $118 charge on my favorite general travel credit card, getting 2 points per $1 in the process, which isn't nothing. I don't think I'd make a regular habit of this charge, even in spite of the benefits on this particular trip. It's not likely that I'll find myself with almost 10 hours to kill at an airport very often, and for a far shorter period, $59 per person (or similar; lounge access prices vary) is a lot.

Air travel comes with a lot of pitfalls, and the possibility of flight delays and cancellations is always there. The next time it happens to you, consider whether paying your way into a lounge might be worth it -- it was for me.