Ever since I got my first Priority Pass lounge card several years ago, I have visited probably hundreds of airport lounges (if not more). There is a wide variety of lounge quality and amenities. Naturally, most of the really good lounges (like the Emirates First Class lounge or the Qatar Al Mourjan lounge) are reserved for premium cabin passengers and not available for Priority Pass members.
(SEE ALSO: Capital One Lounge Dallas / DFW lounge review – one of the best lounges I’ve been to)
In the United States, some foreign airlines have their own lounges in select airports, and in some cases, they do also allow Priority Pass memberships.
Recently I went to a lounge that is definitely a contender for the worst Priority Pass lounge in the country (if not the world).
What Makes a Bad (or Good) Airport Lounge
Before I talk about my candidate for the worst Priority Pass lounge, I thought I would think about what makes a lounge “good” or “bad”. Here are a few of the things that I personally look for in a good airport lounge
- Fast wifi
- Comfortable (and non-crowded) seating. Bonus points if it has a variety of different kinds of seating options
- Convenient location
- Food and drinks
So of course the worst Priority Pass lounge is going to have little or none of those things. I used to think many years ago that The Club CVG was the worst airport lounge I had been to, but after attending many other airport lounges, I now know that it is a middle of the road lounge. It’s a bit small, and the food and drink selection is limited, but it’s comfortable, convenient and has good wifi.
IASS Hawaii Lounge – the Worst Priority Pass Lounge?
The IASS Hawaii Lounge is the Priority Pass lounge in Terminal 2 of the Honolulu (HNL) airport. I had previously written about the the Plumeria Lounge, which is the HNL Priority Pass lounge in Terminal 1, but as we were arriving into Terminal 2 (from Maui), we thought we would check out the IASS Hawaii lounge. We were arriving to Honolulu so we didn’t really need a lounge, but I figured we could at least check it out to see what it had to offer.
The answer was…. not very much.
The IASS Hawaii lounge LITERALLY does not have any food at all. Not even snacks and cold finger food. Instead, all it has is some coffee makers and a drink cabinet with a few cans of Coke products.
It has a small seating area
But at least the wifi was fast!
We only stayed about 5 minutes. I hope Capital One enjoyed paying $28 times 7 (or whatever the reimbursement rate is) for our 7 cans of soda…
The Bottom Line
I am proposing the IASS Hawaii Lounge as the worst Priority Pass lounge in the United States. Never before have I been to a lounge that literally had zero food at all. When we were in HNL a few years ago, you could visit the the Plumeria Lounge in Terminal 1, which I rate a bit better (though I would say slightly below average compared to other Priority Pass lounges). Sadly, the Plumeria Lounge has left Priority Pass, so if you’re traveling through HNL now, you do have the option of the Premier Lounge. Though depending on where your flight is departing from in the HNL airport, that may be a bit of a hike for you. On our flight departing HNL, we did stop by the Plumeria Lounge but then had about a 20 minute walk over to the G gates (though we could have taken the free inter-terminal shuttle).
What do you think is the worst Priority Pass lounge? Is the IASS Hawaii lounge a contender for the title?
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Clearly you haven’t visited the lounge at OGG, which is far worse… and ironically a waitlist to enter!!
I tried to visit the OGG lounge when we were going through there but it was literally closed on the day I was there!
You are correct!! The worst overall which is sad since it is located in “America’s Paradise”! That “lounge” is really a terrible place that should not be charging people to enter
LH lounge in DTW is terrible too. Not as bad as the HNL lounge but close. Most PP lounges are terrible.
I.A.S.S. Is pretty bad. I was just there today. Not only they don’t provide food, we were not allowed to eat the malasadas that we just bought from Leonard’s. And we were not allowed to take the drink out, not like we packing all the sodas into the suitcase. One of the ladies was not friendly to the preschoolers (Not mine) as they were exploring the area.
You’re not the only one with this opinion. I recall OMAAT reviewed this with a similar opinion.
Every time I’m at HNL I enjoy sitting in the garden outside this lounge. I have briefly used this lounge just to connect to the wifi and then went outside to sit with my connected iPad.
The lounge is somewhat relaxing when it’s empty which is usually the case.
The Colorado Springs Airport Priority Pass Lounge is worse than the one in Hawaii ….
Hard to judge the HNL lounge, it was never open when we traveled thru. I’d give it a “0” for availability. Yes, to lovely garden setting, but, Hawaii…
There are two IASS lounges at Tokyo Nartia and they are awful also. There is a reason it is called I Ass
No iAss
Actually now after security at Narita there are really nice iAss lounges now. One in each terminal at Narita.
The OGG lounge is the worst by far. I’ve been to the HNL lounge 2 years ago and they had soups and chips. OGG is the worst.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of the other HNL lounge (Plumeria Lounge in Terminal 1)?
I completely agree with two comments that named the OGG lounge as the worst. These pictures in this post made the OGG lounge looking really sad.
Let’s not forget the KLM lounge at IAH. Truly pathetic.
Well I’ve never been there but looking at the VFTW review, at least it has food!
that is fair – but it is just so depressing.
incredibly depressing. dream go to the KLM IAH lounge to die
I think every single American priority pass lounge is the worst priority pass lounge I’ve ever seen
It’s kind of depressing every time you enter a PP lounge it’s true… 🙂
PWAC, pls reduce size of the pictures of your commentators. The pictures are overlaid on about 25% of their comments, at least on an iPhone.
Small blip, you are doing a great job. Don’t post this, just correct and delete.
Turn your phone sideways.
The one in Sacramento sometimes has No hot food as the cook calls in and they close early since no staff!! and the expresso machine has been broken for 2 years –Same thing in Providence….no food sometimes as no cook and no staff so very limited otherwise
Oof, that sounds rough! It’s always a gamble with Priority Pass lounges — you never quite know what you’re walking into until you’re there. Love that you’re keeping it real though! Reviews like this are so helpful for setting expectations (and maybe dodging a travel disappointment or two). Can’t wait to read the full breakdown — sometimes the worst ones make for the best stories!
Swissport ORD t5. End of story.
Gosh it is worse than the Wingtips Lounge at STL T2 since it has no food. I do like the photo of all the people milling around. You know you have climbed the ladder of the “elite” when you glance around and see yourself surrounded by the upper crust of society. 🙂
I just went to IASS in Honolulu and indeed, it’s awful. It was not easy to find as it’s on the lower floor of departures, kind of hidden. In addition to no food in the lounge, you cannot bring and eat food inside the lounge. No diet drinks. But, it’s clean and wifi was good. It did remind me of a Tokyo lounge where the only thing available was a dixie cup of coffee.
Dude, I was at that lounge on Maui on Friday morning. I was wtf is this s**t? There were six of us, and the same thought went through my head. What is Priority Pass paying $200-ish for us to have a chair and a sprite?
That is too funny. I think I will go to my personal “lounge” room that I call the kitchen and get a k-cup coffee. No food and K-cup machines in what is supposed to be an airport lounge. Yikes! WELCOME TO PARADISE!
Just to update things, the Priority Pass lounge you mentioned in HNL Terminal 1 (Plumeria Lounge) stopped allowing Priority Pass access several months ago. Instead, you can access the regular Hawaiian Airlines lounge in that terminal, but it’s almost always overcrowded and isn’t much better than the IASS lounge you reviewed here.
Thanks – I did mention that the Plumeria Lounge had left Priority Pass in the article, but I didn’t know that the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club was now part of Priority Pass. I’ve updated the article to reflect that.
I would add power outlets to the list of considerations for lounge quality. Ideally, a lounge would have a working, non-wobbly power outlet convenient to every seat.