Most people are not aware of a hidden gem at airports. Airline lounges! They seem pricey but when you add up the value and which plan you buy, they pay themselves off quickly.
I tend to evaluate which type of membership to buy. This month I have bought the 30 day membership for American Airlines Admiral’s Club. The 30 day cost is only $100.00. My current routing is SEA-BOS(overnight)-MIA-SJU and then a return of SJU-MIA-BOS-DFW-SEA. That is a total of 5 lay over’s and if you count sitting in SJU airport for 1.5 hours before the flight it equals 6. Now let’s look at the value the Lounge provides.
The strong pressure for me to buy the membership was the overnight flight which to me requires an immediate shower before my next flight. I feel so gross after an overnight flight! For me the shower after a night flight is priceless. But for this purpose let’s add a value. Let’s just say $25.00. Then let’s add up the amount of coffee, soda, water, and snacks that I eat each time I lay over. Well I know that coffee at the airport is around $3.00 per glass. So 6x$3.00 = $18.00 but as you all know, I cannot stop at just one cup of coffee. So let’s double that. $18.00 x 2 = $36.00. Now the snacks. Well let’s just throw in $10.00. So far we are at a total of $71.00 value. But we are not going to stop there. I have another flight in a couple weeks where I have two night flights two nights in a row. So we are immediately at $50.00. My next routing is; SEA-ORD-BOS-ORD-LAX-ORD-BOS-JFK-SEA. That is 7 lay over’s at 7 X $3.00 x 2 = $42 plus, throw in $10.00 for snacks = $52. $52 + $71 = $123.00. I think I got my monies worth.
So my suggestion is don’t limit yourself. If you have a night flight, consider a club membership. If you are not interested in a 30 day membership then buy a onetime membership which is usually around $50.00 per visit per person. The Shower is well worth it. (However, not all lounges have showers. Verify they have showers before buying a membership.)
JetBoyErik 
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