Five tips for your stay in a ‘silent’ airport lounge
Airport lounges which don’t have boarding announcements are a delight, until you lose track of time and scramble for your flight!
By David Flynn, April 20 2023
While most airport lounges buzz with boarding announcements – something which I actually find quite enjoyable, as flights to far-flung destinations are called and travellers set out on their journey– every now and again you encounter a 'silent lounge'.
That’s the jargon for a lounge where no flight announcements are made.
The upside is blissful silence, without the constant barrage of boarding calls and notification of delayed flights
The downside: it’s 100% your responsibility to be at the boarding gate on time. You can’t rely on that “final boarding call” or even somebody paging you by name to proceed immediately to gate such-and-such.
Here are five simple tips to avoid being that person frantically dashing through the airport to make their flight.
1. On your first visit to a new lounge, ask at the service desk if they make boarding calls. It doesn't get any easier than that.
2. Also ask how long it will take to get from the lounge to the boarding gate for your flight. Allow extra time if you've got to wheel a trolley bag through the crowds and if there is an additional layer of security at the boarding gate, such as at Singapore.
3. Now that you know how long it’ll take to get to the gate, set an alarm on your smartphone for the appropriate time to leave the lounge.
4. As an added precaution, download the app for the airline or airport and use the lounge’s WiFi network to sign up for boarding alerts as well as keeping tabs on changes to the gate or departure time.
5. A more low-tech approach is to sit near one of the video monitors which list each departure and keep an eye on it as your flight time gets closer.
Cathay Pacific - Asia Miles
08 Jan 2018
Total posts 4
Love lounging with sight of flight info monitor!
25 Aug 2017
Total posts 19
SOO nearly miss a flight from Johannesburg to Sydney several years ago, whilst talking to other guests (over a glass of red wine) and the monitors not within easy sight only adds to an already stressful time - this was before mobile phone updates.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
01 Apr 2017
Total posts 27
The apps of paid services like Tripit and Flighty often provide updates of delays and gate changes faster than then screens in the airlines own lounges.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1469
Like number 5 - nothing can be simpler and more robust.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer - Chairmans Lounge
01 Sep 2011
Total posts 418
The security screening at each gate in Singapore is the one negative of that airport.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1469
It is true, but in return you came into transit zone quicker and easier than any other airport that I know. For me I gain more than I lose.
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