Which lounge can I get into? Here's the app that helps you when you travel

Our goal here at TFC is to help travelers get the most out of 100% taking advantage of the benefits available to them. One of the questions that passes most often through our social channels and beyond is the following:

"Tomorrow I leave Fiumicino, transit to Paris and arrive in New York, what lounge can I use?"

A seemingly simple question, except that there are so many variables: with what airline, in what class, with what status, and some cards you have in your wallet. The sum of these factors then generates a number of potential options at each individual airport.

Sure, you can refer to the company app, the credit card app, or the Priority Pass app, but that means having to jump from app to app, and getting lost in the individual rules. And that's where LoungeBuddy's app comes in, for free, to answer our readers' question in one screen.

What is LoungeBuddy

First, the bad news: LoungeBuddy is a mobile app. available exclusively to iPhone users. Unfortunately, if you have an Android device, you cannot take advantage of it, so you better not continue reading this article lest you get hurt. The second bad news is that this app is owned by American Express, so you will not be able to enter other credit cards to find out which lounges are accessible by cards other than Platinum and Centurion.

This app has two functions: List the various lounges in an airport and indicate for each what the entry requirements are based on status, company, and credit cards held.

The second function is to Allow the user to book entry to lounges fees that offer this service. Access can be booked up to two months before the date of the visit, but also, of course, at the last minute if there is room.

How LoungeBuddy works

After downloading and installing the application, you will be able to create your own user, conveniently also via AppleID.

It will then be sufficient to enter all your possible access methods into the app:

• Status in various loyalty programs
• Possession of one or more cards/subscriptions
• Centurion or Platinum credit card

Once this information is entered, it will be sufficient to search for the desired airport and a list of all the lounges available in the various terminals of the airport will appear, as well as directions on how the user can, or cannot, access the individual lounges.

The interesting feature is that the app allows you to create your own trips.

You set departure and arrival airport and travel class, and the system will immediately provide a list of lounges available and possibly accessible by the traveler.

Loungebuddy and ITA Airways

For members of the Volare program, ITA Airways' frequent flyer., there is some confusion in the names and lounge accesses, but hopefully it is just a matter of time. Also while waiting for the ITA Airways' new American Express credit cards..

Searching ITA finds nothing, or rather a mix of Alitalia and Volare program statuses. Ditto for lounge access for the Italian airline, the info is not there yet.

In conclusion

It is a free app that should be in every traveler's Iphone. Simple to use, it does the job it was created for perfectly. By using it, not only will you no longer have to ask others for help, but more importantly, you will never choose the wrong lounge. For example, you will never go to Air India's lounge at JFK's T4, which is accessible via Priority Pass, but you will aim for Virgin Atlantic's beautiful ClubHouse or American Express' Centurion Lounge.

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