I love Priority Pass non-lounge options.
In Cleveland I stop at Bar Symon before and after my flight and pickup a to-go bag full of goodies like beer, granola bars, drinks, chips, and fruit for free thanks to my Priority Pass card from credit cards such as Chase Sapphire Reserve®. I get a $28 credit for myself and unlimited guests with my JPMorgan Ritz Carlton issued Priority Pass.
Non-lounge Priority Pass credit was killed off by AMEX last year.
In Israel last June I picked up some free bottles of wine to bring home from TLV’s Schmoozy Bar, which participated in Priority Pass:
Alas, Schmoozy Bar’s last day in business was 12/31. A burger joint is expected to take its place.
That leaves the subpar Dan lounges as the only remaining Priority Pass option in Tel Aviv.
There’s perhaps no more lounge-underserved airport than TLV. Dan lounges seem to have a lock on providing lounge service for airlines that aren’t named El Al, and it shows in their product offering. Hopefully when the airport is expanded, airlines will be able to open up their own lounges. It would be amazing to see United open a Club and Polaris lounge in TLV.
In the meantime here’s hoping that Priority Pass opens another non-lounge option in TLV to replace Schmoozy Bar!
What are your favorite Priority Pass lounge and non-lounge locations?
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45 Comments On "Priority Pass Loses Its Best Tel Aviv “Lounge” Option"
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It seems that PP pass isn’t actually pressured to provide good coverage. JFK has terrible options, for example (2 out of 7 terminals, and the T4 lounge is a joke – tiny and almost impossible to get into during “peak” times, which is essentially all evening.
.
ORD only has in the International terminal. Kind of useless for the vast majority of flyers out of ORD. ATL has in the international terminal and then a couple of minute suites. Same thing. Priority Pass in general is much better outside the US than in the US.
was recently in the lounge in BUD, nice empty place, but so is the whole airport. No benefit there other that free wifi. They had unlimited coke etc, Not much different overall than the lounges in US
How do you get priority pass goodies at Bar Symon both ways? They told me it’s only on outbound flights.
That has not been my experience. Priority Pass rules also state that you can use it on inbound flights in the US.
their terms state
Airside – after Security, go to Concourse C and Bar Symon is located between Gates C4 and C6. To be eligible, Cardholders and guests are required to show an Outbound Departure Boarding Pass with confirmed same-day travel.
however i guess you are saying it is not enforced
That’s been my experience. YMMV.
Very sad! Dan do you think opening a petition to priority pass will help re a new spot?
Certainly can’t hurt to email them your thoughts.
How could Schmoozy’s go out of business with all the Priority Pass Lounge members using it?
So disappointing.
Where do people go for non-lounge options in JFK? Last time I went to Israel I needed to go to the Air India lounge…
That sucks I was planning on being there in an hour I love that place
In Israel last June I picked up some free bottles of wine to bring home from TLV’s Schmoozy Bar, which participated in Priority Pass:
I never heard of Schmoozy bar as part of pp. I missed out
It’s been mentioned several times on this site, DDF, and DD Instagram.
Gotta follow more closely 🙂
Most of the places I check have a clause that it excludes “to go” or “grab and go” orders. I never tried, but I assume that means I would have to eat in to qualify for the credit?
The places I’ve gone to have been happy to pack my things up to go.
For example, Rock and Brews at LAX Terminal 1 has a sign stating Priority Pass credit is for dine-in only and excludes the “grab ‘n go” section
OK?
What are UA’s premium-cabin load factors like for TLV routes?
If they’re pretty full, what does UA gain by adding a lounge? Would it allow them to raise premium fares?
Make a better experience to keep the good paying customers?
the whole Lounge issue in TLV is a disaster, except for the Elal First class lounge you have nothing else but Chummos ,Pretzels and coffee “dan lounge”
Elal business lounge has very good food
Dan, United has a contract lounge only for Polaris customers in the “E” gates corridor. I don’t know if it services #85, but it’s open for Washington, SFO and #91 in the evenings.
That’s the Dan lounge.
Right, but not the one at C or D gates. So it’s quieter, cleaner and newer.
There is a separate lounge in E which is used by BA for the past month or two. This is not the Dan E lounge, but a separate one which is used exclusively by BA when they have flights (not sure about other times). I was let in as BA silver.
Ambiance was good – it was very quiet. Food is a significant improvement over Dan – they had hard cheese, tuna, borekas – and gummy bears!
There is a manned bar with all alcohol. Even soft drinks are not self service.
There are now 3 dan lounges plus another more exclusive one.the only ones that allow priority pass are c and d. The one in e does not allow priority pass but seems to be nicer than the others. Last week I was in d lounge and there were some people spread out sleeping on the couches without shoes or socks it was pretty gross!
Flying united out of tlv they have the additional security right before the gate. They don’t allow bottles. Taking from lounges are a pain now.
I went through with the wine 🙂
With the demise of the the AMEX non-lounge benefit, though, so very few of your readers could actually do this trick. It’s hard to get non-lounge Priority Pass benefit — at least at a price point that makes any sense. I have it through my Altitude Reserve card, but that gets me only 4 visits a year with one companion. Of course, this is what might keep your trick in CLE alive. I remember MIA, where there was crazy free food from non-lounge PP locations for a year or two. And then people like airline workers and flight crews started using the trick. Like everyday. And the rules were tightened as, of course, they should be.
Erm. Many of my readers have a Sapphire Reserve. Not exactly an obscure card!
Between Chase’s 5/24 rule and the Sapphire Reserve’s $450 fee, I will repeat my assertion that this “trick” isn’t going to work for the vast majority of your readers.
5/24 isn’t a big deal as you can convert between any Chase UR cards freely.
$450 is nonsense, as I’m sure you know. The $300 Chase travel credit is a absolute gimme, making it a $150 card, laden with other valuable benefits: https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/chase-ultimate-rewards-premium-hybrid-card/
The burgers bar is the same ownership as Shmoozy. They are just switching models.
I spoke with the owner two weeks ago
Will they accept PP?
Will they sell bottles of wine?
i have a off topic Question. If i book a hertz car with BMG code can they ask me for proof? I tried looking in DansDeals Forums But Couldn’t Find anything
I believe they will still be selling wine. Can ask about priority pass
EWR lounge now has rule kosher food is only for ElAl premium members and not for PP Members…
I am there now and I can confirm it is closed it’s a real shame it has been great getting free things in the past do you know if they will open another place that will give free things or it’s totally over?
shmoozy stopped accepting Priority over succos already.
-1
i was there 2 times after sukkos and i used my pp r u sure u dont have amexs pp
I used pp there a few weeks ago
I was flying out of Yerevan Zvartnots Intl airport in Armenia in the middle of the night and lo and behold they had a Priority Pass lounge that was quite nice. Nice selection of finger food, booze and coffee and best of all a 10 foot padded couch where my wife and I could get a little shut eye. En route to DCA, we stopped in Vienna where there was a small lounge with passable snacks but mainly a place to get a little shut eye on their small couches for 3 hours waiting for a flight to ORD. ORD had no Priority Pass options (but lots of delay changing terminals) and it cost $18 for a glass of wine near the boarding area.
In CLE, Bar Symon requires a boarding pass to use the benefits. When they were just added, this return trick worked. When was the last time you had success on a return flight?