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At new lounges, fliers wait in style

Airlines seek to raise revenue with premium service

Dr. Clemens Scholz (left) and Stefan Kuerbis of World of Medicine chatted recently in the business class area of British Airways lounge. Many airlines are remodeling their lounges to appeal to passengers who pay top dollar for tickets. Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff

You don’t see many high-powered executives at the airport sitting cross-legged on the floor next to a power outlet while they work on their laptops.

Most premium passengers head straight to the airlines’ business and first class lounges to help themselves to complimentary smoked salmon with crème fraiche and white wine in chilled glasses. There are state-of-the-art cappuccino machines on the counter, orchids blooming on tables, and cushy work stations to charge electronics. Celebrities like Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler and actress Salma Hayek have been seen relaxing in the lounges’ private rooms.

As airlines seek ways to generate revenue, many of them are remodeling their lounges to appeal to passengers who pay top dollar for tickets. At Logan International Airport, five airlines - British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, American Airlines, Air France, and Lufthansa - have remodeled their clubhouses in the past four years. Aer Lingus is about to start a $1 million renovation on its Terminal E lounge, and when United Airlines and Continental Airlines complete their merger, the carrier is expected to build a new lounge in Terminal B.

Lounges are seen as essential to attracting elite passengers, who don’t want to settle for Panda Express at the food court. Together with improvements to first and business class cabins, upscale lounges help convince these customers - who account for up to 20 percent of airline passengers on long-haul routes but generate up to 50 percent of ticket revenue - to keep coming back.

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Many US carriers also view the lounges as a way to generate additional revenues. They have opened the once-exclusive clubhouses - formerly reserved for first and business class passengers and uber frequent fliers - to anyone willing to pay.

American Airlines’ new $6 million lounge in Terminal B is open to any passenger who pays a yearly membership fee of up to $500 or shells out $50 for a day pass. The new club, with bright lighting and a wall of windows looking out onto the airfield, is a vast improvement over the dark, colonial feel of the old club, which hadn’t been renovated in 20 years.

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Inside, patrons can help themselves to cookies and fruit, take a shower, or plunk their kids in front of a computer game,but they still have to pay $15.99 for a lobster roll.

“US airlines view these as much more commercial business units where the focus is on profit,’’ said Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst with Atmosphere Research Group. “Foreign-flag airlines maintain a more exclusive approach.’’

Most of the remodeling at Logan has taken place in Terminal E, the international terminal, where the clubs are largely reserved for elite fliers. The German airline Lufthansa opened its sleek $2.5 million lounge at Logan in September, part of a $210 million investment in lounges around the world between 2006 and 2015. Next up: Dubai, New Delhi, Frankfurt, Berlin, and possibly Newark.

Lufthansa’s first and business class lounges at Logan reflect German tastes, with minimalist design and photos of forests and a jet flying over the Alps taking up an entire wall. Every fall around Oktoberfest, passengers drink more beer - which, like everything in the lounge, is free - Lufthansa officials said.

“Premium customers are important to our business since their revenue overproportionally contributes to the end result,’’ Thomas Gesing, who oversees lounge services for Lufthansa, wrote in an e-mail.

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Stephen Fenwick, chief executive of the shipping company DHL Express Americas, flies about three times a month on business, mostly internationally, and relies on the lounges to eat, rest, and work.

“I wouldn’t call it a perk, I’d call it a requirement,’’ said Fenwick, who was typing on his laptop in the Logan Lufthansa lounge on his way to Frankfurt. “It just creates a good impression of the airline.’’

Fenwick, who logs tens of thousands of air miles a year, said he is partial to the clubby atmosphere of Singapore Airlines’ lounges and the modern design of Cathay Pacific Airways. Neither airline files to Logan. The amenities at the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at Heathrow Airport - with a spa, salon, Jacuzzi, and limo service to the terminal - are legendary among elite travelers.

At the stylish $2 million Virgin Atlantic lounge in Boston, passengers are greeted by metal beaded curtains, red lounge chairs, and wedges of brie and quiche.

“We view the lounges as big brand builders,’’ said Chris Rossi, senior vice president of Virgin Atlantic’s North America operations, noting that “upper class’’ passengers traveling between Boston and London pay up to $10,000 for a last-minute ticket. “How do we put our best foot forward for the high-value traffic?’’

In most lounges, passengers help themselves to sandwiches, hot entrees, and desserts.

But in British Airways’ first class lounge at Logan, patrons sit at tables adorned with white tablecloths and roses, dining on New York strip sirloin and poached pears with vanilla anglaise - all included in the price of the ticket.

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In British Airways’ adjoining business class lounge, the main draw is the buffet, which recently included seafood salad, ham, roasted squash, and sea bass, among other offerings.

“It’s all you can eat,’’ said Joseph Xenakis, airport manager at Logan for British Airways, “so they tend to stock up.’’


Katie Johnston can be reached at kjohnston@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ktkjohnston.