Decision to Compare Priority Pass Lounges
Justin and I are Priory Pass members through one of our travel credit cards and we just flew through San Francisco with a long layover between our domestic and international connections. Since we didn’t have our two toddlers with us, we decided it was the perfect time to make a head-to-head comparison of the four Priority Pass accessible lounges. Three of them (Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, Golden Gate Lounge, and China Airlines Lounge) are located in International Terminal A, while the last one (The Club SFO) is located in Terminal 1. We weren’t sure at first if we would be able to visit them all, but come to find out, San Francisco’s wonderful airport is designed in a circular shape that allows you to easily walk between every terminal, including domestic and international, all while only having to clear security once if you entered the airport in San Francisco or not at all if you are connecting in San Francisco. Brilliant! As such, we were able to walk between all these lounges and discovered that the ones in the international terminal are all in the same place while The Club SFO is only a five minute walk away. Unfortunately, we were only granted access to three of the four lounges because the China Airlines Lounge doesn’t let Priority Pass members in past a certain time, but we still felt there was a clear winner out of the four based on reviews for the China Airlines Lounge. Keep reading for all the details!
P.S. Pardon my poor quality phone photos! I usually try to provide higher quality photos for y’all but I felt weird taking out my big camera in the lounges.
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse
Our first stop was the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. Their page says you can access the clubhouse three hours before your flight, but we weren’t aware of that and went about four hours before our flight and the staff at the desk let us in without saying anything. It wasn’t a busy time of day though so I suspect if they’re busy they stick with the three hours before a flight policy. Overall, the lounge was modern and spacious and there was plenty of food, including vegetarian options. We had some potato salad, macaroni salad, and couscous, all of which were fairly tasty. Each table had a QR code where you could order extra food to your table, however, only three of those extra food options were free. There were showers in the bathroom, but we noticed in the menu pulled up by scanning the table QR code that they charge you $15 for shower supplies. That said, the showers aren’t locked, so if you’re traveling with your own shower stuff you can still take a shower. Even if you don’t have shower supplies you can always wash with some hand soap from the bathroom and dry off with your clothes. Been there, done that in a airport before :) Overall impressions:
Pros
Lots of seating and outlets for charging our devices
Desks/counters for working on computers
Free WiFi
Flight tracking board
Plenty of food including vegetarian options
Highchairs for families with young kiddos
Nice view where you can see planes coming and going
Showers that aren’t locked so you can shower with your own supplies
Cons
No drinks fridge so had to ask for each soda at the bar
$15 extra charge for shower supplies if you don’t have your own
Coffee bar is a little lacking - no option to make “fancy” coffees like lattes or cappuccinos
Entry to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse - note the long desk area along the window with outlets by every chair - nice for working on a computer
Plenty of seating while we were there
The food area
A little messy but it was hardy and tasty with multiple vegetarian options
Another workspace and the only highchair out of all the lounges
Showers were accessible in the bathrooms so you could actually shower with your own supplies without having to pay extra like the lounges that have separate locked showers
Slightly lacking coffee bar
Golden Gate Lounge
After about an hour in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, we decided to try our next Priority Pass Lounge and headed to the nearby Golden Gate Lounge. When we presented our pass, the staff member at the desk informed us that Priority Pass members were not allowed entry after 5pm, but that she would let us stay for 30 minutes. There was no mention of this on the Priority Pass lounge website and only a small handmade sign on the desk about this restriction that the staff member pointed to. A bit annoying but it was nice of the staff member to let us in at all. Our first impression was that the entire lounge was rather dingy and lower quality with fairly limited seating. However, the small buffet did include multiple vegetarian options and the sandwich and pasta we tried were surprisingly good. They also had a drinks fridge with a decent amount of options including juices and sugar free sodas. The bathroom was clean but lacked a shower. We only stayed for 20 minutes due to our restriction. Overall impression:
Pros
Staff at the front desk were kind enough to let us in briefly despite the (unknown to us) time restrictions for Priority Pass members
Decent amount of food options including tasty vegetarian options and lots of fresh fruit
Well stocked drinks fridge
Nice little condiment bar to spice up what you get from the buffet
Free WiFi
Cons
Priority Pass members apparently not allowed entry after 5pm
Limited seating
No showers
No flight tracking board
Nothing specific for families
Coffee bar also a little lacking with no “fancy” coffee options and a sign on their nicer coffee machine saying it was out of service
Heading into the Golden Gate Lounge
The lounge was pretty empty when we visited but we were still only allowed to stay for 30 minutes
Food in the Golden Gate Lounge was displayed like a cafeteria but was surprisingly tasty
A nice big drinks fridge
The most fresh produce of any of the lounges
The bathroom was clean but no showers
China Airlines Lounge
After leaving the Golden Gate Lounge, we tried to stop in at the China Airline’s Lounge to be able to give you a full comparison, but discovered a sign outside their lounge saying Priority Pass members were not allowed entrance after 6pm to accommodate their business class passengers. So apparently this is a trend at SFO. While we couldn’t give you a personal review of this lounge, it’s reviews are abysmal (currently at 1.8 star rating out of 256 reviews on Google) so suffice it to say you should probably pick one of the other Priority Pass lounges! The reviews are of course mixed, but a lot of people mention surly staff and mediocre food. They also do not appear to have showers.
The sign on the China Airlines Lounge door
The Club SFO
Last but not least, we headed to The Club SFO. Like Virgin Atlantic, it is supposed to only be accessible three hours before your flight, so we went right at the three hour mark as we’d already determined from pictures and reviews that we’d probably like to spend the longest time in this particular lounge. I’m glad that’s how we planned it, because it was the hands down winner out of the four Priority Pass lounges in SFO. First of all, it was way bigger with tons of seating, tables, and desks. There were even a few private rooms, which is great if you need to do something for work. The food options were excellent (we had a wonderful Thai curry, hummus wrap, salad, and fresh pretzels with dipping sauce) and there is a soda machine, sparkling water machine to fill your water bottles, and two expansive coffee bars including the option to make “fancy” decaf coffees like lattes and cappuccinos. We didn’t have our toddlers on this trip, but they’re always on our minds, so as I walked around checking everything out, I was thrilled to discover both a nursing room and a private family room complete with table, seating for kids, and a TV with family friendly programming. What a thoughtful thing to include in a lounge! Definitely the best lounge to visit with babies/toddlers and we saw many during our time there. Overall impression:
Pros
Spacious and beautifully decorated
Lots of food options including plenty of choices for vegetarians
Soda machine, sparkling water machine, and fancy coffee bars x2
Wellness room (locked while we were there but seems like a nice feature)
Flight tracking boards
Private family room
Private nursing room
Showers
Cons
Showers cost extra $25 (not sure if that’s just to get supplies and they are free if you have your own shower things or if you have to pay that to access them period - at any rate it’s a pretty steep price!)
No highchairs
Beautiful entrance and expansive flight tracking board in the entrance to The Club SFO. There was another big flight tracking board upstairs in the lounge.
Lots of interesting spaces to relax in The Club SFO. We saw someone sleeping on this bench later and staff were okay with it.
Nice styling throughout the lounge
Tables that accommodate large groups
A small section of the food options
Enjoying a curry, hummus wrap, salad, cookie, and lemon bar
The soft pretzels and dipping sauce were especially good!
One of the two fancy coffee bars
The private family room
The nursing room and showers at the end of the hall
Inside the lovely bathroom
Have you been to various Priority Pass lounges in San Francisco? If so, which one was your favorite and why? We and our readers would love to know, especially if you were able to visit the China Airlines Lounge since we weren’t able to. Leave us a comment!