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If you’ve flown out of the Terminal 5 at Chicago ORD with lounge access, you’ve experienced the same disappointment most other travelers have…the lounge scene absolutely sucks. They are old, tired, and pale in comparison to the American and United lounges that you’ll visit when flying out of the other terminals internationally. The AA and UA lounges are great, but that has changed with the new LOT lounge. Let’s take a look at this small, but great new lounge.
Lounge location and access
The LOT lounge is located in terminal 5 right after duty free and to the left. We were able to access the LOT business class lounge since we were flying business class on Austrian Airlines but here is an overview of all the various rules for accessing the lounge.
Access Rules
- You can access the lounge up to four hours before your flight, unless you’re connecting in Chicago.
- You can’t bring guests, except in some cases.
- You can use miles to enter the lounge.
- You can bring a child under two years old for free.
- Minors can enter with an adult who has the right to enter.
Who can access the lounge?
- Passengers with HON Circle (Miles & More) cards can bring one guest and family.
- Passengers with SENATOR (Miles & More) and other Star Alliance GOLD cards can bring one guest.
- Passengers in Business Class in transfer to domestic flights can access the lounge if they have a boarding pass for a domestic flight in economy class.
- Passengers on charter flights in LOT Business Class can bring one guest
Facilities and Amenities
The lounge offers a variety of seating options, high-speed Wi-Fi, charging stations, and private workstations. It’s basically one big open area.
There is a dedicated area for dining with a buffet offering international cuisine and a selection of beverages, including premium wines and spirits. In all honesty… I wasn’t too bothered by the food and waited to eat aboard our Austrian flight.
The bar area
Showers
There is a single shower/family bathroom.
Overall
This is an attractive lounge with good WIFI a decent buffet and fast internet that offers up a way to have a shower. It wasn’t too crowded while we were in the lounge compared with the old BA lounge and Air France lounge, both of which are super small, chock full of people, and feel super old. This is by far the best lounge in terminal 5.
Is this lounge as good as the AA Flagship or United Polaris lounges in the other terminals…in a way yes, it feels fresh, very nice, but a much, much smaller version. The UA lounge has a great dining area; however, the few times I’ve visited there has been a wait to get seated so I ended up using the buffet that was quite similar to this one.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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