Warning: that $65 airport lounge pass saved me more than it cost in Denver
Everyone says airport lounge passes are a waste for budget travelers, but I paid $65 for a one-time pass at Denver last winter and it paid for itself before my flight even left. I ate a real meal, filled my water bottles, and used the wifi to rebook a delayed connection that would have cost me a $200 airport hotel room. The catch is it only works if you have a long layover, so a 45 minute stop makes it pointless. Has anyone found a cheaper way to handle a 5 hour layover without just camping at the gate?
A 5 hour layover at Denver is rough because the concourses are spread way out and the trains eat up time. What worked for me was checking if my credit card has a Priority Pass membership, since a lot of them include a few free visits a year and you might already have one without knowing it. If not, the food court near gate B has booths with outlets and it's way quieter than the gate areas, plus you can stretch a cheap meal into an hour or two. Also worth looking at whether the airline will give you a meal voucher when the delay is their fault, since they handed me a $15 card once just for asking at the desk. Beats sitting on the floor by the charging station for sure.