"It doesn't matter what airline you're flying on, or what class of service you're flying under," says Terry Evans, President and CEO of Priority Pass, which has relationships with independent airport

	If you're not part of the club, on   a space-available basis, airline   clubs will sell you day passes.   But there are other ways to   access airport lounges, such as   independent airport lounge networks

clubs as well as with a number of the prestige lounges operated by Delta, Northwest, TWA, US Airways, and America West. "We have lounges in virtually every major airport in the world." Priority Pass members like Jordan breeze into airport clubs for access to all the comforts every stressed traveler in the gate area yearns for: complimentary beverages (and sometimes alcoholic drinks) and light snacks, comfortable and quiet seating, easy access to data ports and power sources, friendly and unharried staff to help with rebooking and seat confirmation, and a range of other amenities such as shower suites.

If you use one airline and its partners almost exclusively, it makes sense to pay the fee for their club membership. You may even reach an elite mileage status and get in free. But for the frequent flyer who neither logs a lot of miles on one airline in particular nor takes most of his jaunts in first or business class, independent airport lounge networks like Priority Pass offer another way of accessing the comforts of the Crown Room. In addition to Priority Pass – which has 200,000 cardholders worldwide, but only about 10,000 U.S. members – both American Express and Diners Club offer airport-lounge programs to their cardholders.

Fork out the $300 USD annual fee for a Platinum American Express card, and you get access to AMEX's network of airline clubs (Continental, Northwest, and TWA) combined with some international private clubs. If some of the Platinum card's other bennies appeal to you, then this might be a good deal – particularly if you're primarily a domestic flyer. But club access at overseas airports is more limited with American Express Platinum than with Priority Pass. There's no available lounge at London's Heathrow, for example (although there is one at Gatwick), or at either of Italy's major international airports, Fiumicino and Malpensa. Another hitch: AMEX's rules state that "complimentary access is specifically for the airport club that corresponds to the airline ticket," so for example, if you're flying through Atlanta on Delta, which is not in the Platinum card lounge network, you can't use your card to get into the Continental lounge at Hartsfield Airport.

The Diners Club Card also offers an airport lounge program, with a combination of airline and private clubs, as part of its $80 USD annual fee. Don't expect much benefit domestically: the only U.S. lounges available to Diners Club cardholders are three at the Miami airport and one in Newark. But world travelers may be impressed by Diners extensive network of international lounges – they're the ones to sign up with if you anticipate some down time in the Ljubljana airport. Overseas Diners Club lounges can be pretty plush, says Greg Walska, a D.C.-based traveler who holds both Priority Pass and Diners Club memberships. "They're operated truly as VIP facilities. The food, the amenities, the beverages, and the services they offer are a cut above."

These options look like just the beginning of a growing trend toward independent lounges and cross-airline club access. Last November, the British Airport Authority launched its own private lounge in Terminal 3 at Heathrow. For a per-usage fee of 25 GBP, any passenger can access The Island, which boasts luxury shower suites, a clothes valet and shoe cleaning service, newspapers and satellite TV, and workstations with Internet access and business facilities.

Another option for the business traveler who is willing to forego the free orange juice: one of the burgeoning numbers of airport-operated business centers like Laptop Lane (Aerzone), which offer a quiet, secure place to plug in a laptop and modem, as well as access to tools like printers and fax machines. Laptop Lane charges $5.00 for the first minute of usage and .65 per minute after that, or $43.35 for an hour's use. The fee includes domestic long-distance, faxing, and black and white printing.

For detailed information on airline operated clubs, including partners, fees, benefits and lounge locations worldwide, visit our Airport Clubs and Lounges page.

How do your opinions about airport clubs stack up against those of other flyers? Check out At the Airport in our Frequent Flyer Reader Poll Results.