Airports are a business! Their sole purpose is to generate income on a captured audience. In an airport, any airport you are in, you are automatically a captured audience. First off, you are usually required to get to the airport between 1 to 3, give or take an hour, hours ahead of your boarding time. Depending on Domestic vs International, you could be chilling for a while before your flight even boards.
However, before you can even get to the gate, you have choices to make. Wait in line – remove belts and shoes, etc, or you can shell out some cash to streamline your airport experience. The airport is a business and if you pay up, the experience is wildly different.
Before I decided to invest in my airport lifestyle, I used to hate the airport. I felt like it was a gilded prison, really. In this space, I was there for a set amount of time, if you follow the prescribed airport arrival policies, and have to give up my $1.29 water or drink it before security checkpoint. I used to aim to be at the boarding gate just minutes before boarding ended. It was like a race. Beat the clock, that would be the win to make it to the plane just in time to board and leave. I also was riddled with anxiety – would I make it this time, or would I miss it. Several times, I would slide in by the skin of my teeth, walk into the airplane out of breath, sweaty from running like a marathon on my last mile. As you can imagine, most times I did not win. I missed so many flights, time, and time again. Worst, I was then stuck living what I was hoping to avoid in the first place, being stuck in the airport for an extended amount of time.
Finally, last year I decided to join the travel card game and signed up for Chase Sapphire Card and American Express Card. These cards all offer TSA precheck credit, Global Precheck credit, Clear credit, and most importantly, Lounge Access. Now the game of the airport has changed. Taken separately, these will marginally improve your airport experience, but leveraged altogether – these are game changers.
Clear is a skip-the-line, access – It helps you go right up to the TSA agent for document and boarding pass review. You essential cut the line and have an agent review your documents ahead of everyone else. This definitely works to expedite getting to the gate and especially during holiday travels when the lines can loop around the airport.
TSA Pre-check – ~$89
Available at most American Airports, streamlines the security process. You do not have to remove your shoes, belts, laptop etc. Lines tend to be shorter and more expedited.
Global Entry ~$100
If you ever travel internationally, this is a must, especially in hubs like Miami, NYC, DC, and Atlanta, where multiple arrival airlines will all be funneled to be reviewed upon entry. Now if you have ever landed in Miami at the same time as multiple other international travelers, you know you can sit in line for hours to be reviewed upon arrival. Global Entry reduces this to minutes. If you have a connecting flight upon landing, you will definitely appreciate Global Entry.
Now that you’ve passed the security checkpoint. What do you do? Go sit at an airport restaurant paying 2xs the price as you would if you were at the same restaurant, say at City Center? Nope! The next business is the Lounge Game.
Checkout my next blog, Lounge Life for the full on debrief on the specifics of lounges.
