Flying anywhere is always going to be unpleasant unless you go first class every time. Even then you’ll still be a victim of jetlag, DVTs, screaming children and compression/decompression earaches. Well I do anyway.

For most people the whole airport experience is an awful yet unavoidable aspect of taking a foreign holiday; it’s not surprising that cruises are still so popular, you may not get anywhere quickly but at least the getting there is pleasant instead of being curled up into an uncomfortable ball with a six year old kicking the back of your seat mid-tantrum. (You can guess I don’t appreciate flying much, can’t you?)

But I digress. Travellers today, rather than cutting costs when it comes to travel have realised that the checking in and boarding process needn’t be a barely tolerable preamble to the main torture event. Instead travellers are paying the few extra pounds it costs to use the lounge before flying.

Fly Economy but Love The Lounge

If you read Travel Trade Gazette you’ll have seen that, rather counter-intuitively given these cash-strapped times, while passengers are flying economy or on budget airlines, they are still treating themselves to the comforts of the lounge before they embark. It seems people have had enough of noisy uncomfortable airports and instead are looking to spend a few pounds on taking advantage of the lounge to get something to eat and drink, have a sit down and wait in comfort until it’s time to board the ‘plane.

Travel agents love these add-ons as they improve their commission and so they are making more and more people aware of them, not just the A listers and the VIPs but anyone who’s taking a trip and knows how stressful flying can be. In the UK the biggest growth has been at Manchester’s new Terminal One Lounge, which is up by 89% and the Leeds Bradford Premier Lounge, which is up by 180%.

There are currently dozens of lounges which are available to the traveller all over the UK and as the craze continues to grow so will the number of lounges which are available, both at home in the UK and abroad. Traditionally it has been the airlines themselves which have set the standards for lounges, Virgin’s V-Room for their own passengers at Gatwick has been popular since it opened and they expect to open another in Manchester in July. The V-Room cost £20 per adult and has gaming and play areas, an adults-only space and bar.

Dan Cash is a features writer who likes to travel but hates flying. It’s all about the destination. Recently he’s been looking at detox spa holidays and yoga holidays: they’re amazing, the only problem is getting there and back!