My parents, in their 60s, are obsessed with airport lounge access. It might be the single best travel hack I know.

Wife and I took a trip to Italy from San Francisco recently with my parents. After a fun 14 hour flight and some good luck on finding an available lounge chair in the Delta lounge, we made our way to the gate to catch our 2nd and final leg of 5 hours to Rome. <br><br>While we waited, my dad walked up to the lounge desk in the swanky SkyTeam lounge and asked if they had any available credit card entry spots left. He called them “day passes” and my Italian wasn’t good enough to understand what he asked them.<br><br>Anyways, they let us in. My wife and I were floored. <br><br>Now, we’re nothing special and the four of us get to stay in the business class lounge just because my dad’s credit card has airport lounge access. <br><br>We aren’t special - I work in finance and my dad is a retired government worker in the US. We aren’t rich but we also don’t worry about money much anymore. We aren’t overwhelmed with credit card points, and we don’t do everything to optimize travel. <br><br>I’ve taken ~100 flights in my life and have barely traveled outside North America.<br><br>So we walked in, found a table, and they had lovely Italian food and wines. My mom asked if it was free (she’s clearly never been in one of these before haha) and my dad said “exactly!” They let us in with their credit card. <br><br>We grabbed a glass of wine, some salad and pasta, and just enjoyed the luxury. Inside, we wandered the empty spaces of the lounge where they had separate areas for drinks, snacks, snacks, computers, snacks, and snacks. We found a special guest of the day, a LA Lakers legend, and got a photo with him.<br><br>We made our way back to the gate right before boarding, buzzing from the wine, McDonald’s level carbohydrates of the pasta, and just overall happiness of eating like kings and queens for that hour. <br><br>We sat in economy on the 2nd leg, but we didn’t care. We felt like we had already had our taste of luxury. And to think, my dad’s credit card gave us access to that luxury for free, and I would say it greatly improved our travel experience. <br><br>So here’s the lesson: always, always, always look for lounge access with your credit card. It comes a ton of high end credit cards, which my dad has for some reason. <br><br>Anyways, hope you enjoyed that story and tips. Arrivederci!<br><br>Edit: okay so credit cards are not my thing. My dad’s card is the Bank of America Premium Rewards card, and he pays an ~$95 annual fee. I understand the Chase Sapphire is similar and also good. It’s a cash rewards card. However I’m guessing a ton of other cards offer this too. <br><br>Please do not let people in the comments throw you off. I’m not trying to sell you anything. I’m not trying to make you sign up for anything. I’m just saying to look for it. <br><br>That’s all!