Before our flight back to Austin after a long weekend in San Diego, Mrs. ATX, ATX Jr., and I stopped by the Aspire Lounge at San Diego International Airport (SAN). The lounge situation at the airport isn’t great at the moment so, there’s a good chance you’ll end up here.
Aspire Lounge San Diego Location
The Aspire Lounge is located in Terminal 2 at San Diego International Airport. Unfortunately for passengers departing from Terminal 1, the two terminals are not connected airside. After clearing security via the east checkpoint, take an immediate left and follow the corridor connecting Terminal 2 East with Terminal 2 West.
Follow the signage towards Gate 33 and you’ll see the entrance to the lounge on your right. You may want to look closely as there isn’t much in the way of branding near the entrance.
Aspire Lounge San Diego Hours of Operation
The lounge is open between 5:00a and 10:00p daily, covering most departures from the airport.
Aspire Lounge San Diego Entry Requirements
The entry requirements for this lounge were somewhat confusing. Most guests will access the lounge via Priority Pass, which is an available benefit on numerous travel focused credit cards. American Express Platinum and Centurion cardholders can access the lounge, even without their Priority Pass cards along with LoungeKey and DragonPass members.
The lounge also welcomes guests with American Airlines Admirals Club and Alaska Lounge memberships. Walk-in rates are $48 per person with a discounted $35 rate for military members.
As a British Airways Executive Club Gold member, I have access to Admirals Clubs and Alaska Lounges when traveling domestically on OneWorld carriers. However, the Aspire Lounge doesn’t recognize airline status that would typically warrant Admirals Club and Alaska Lounge access but rather recognizes those with membership cards for those lounges.
The Aspire Lounge is also the contract lounge for First and Business Class passengers for multiple airlines, including British Airways and Japan Airlines. While my OneWorld Emerald status didn’t grant us access, I ended up using Priority Pass to access the lounge.
With a line down the concourse when we arrived, an attendant was coming around to see if any of us were British Airways passengers and pulling them to the front. Ultimately, we ended up waiting for roughly 20 minutes before entering the lounge.
Layout
Before diving in to the overall layout of the lounge, I must stop and apologize in advance for the photo quality. With a line out the door, it came as no surprise that the lounge was packed. That made it difficult to get many good photos.
The check-in desk was located in a small hallway and the lounge opened up in an upside down L shape from there. The lounge is one large room without much in the way of dividers or privacy shields. Upon entering the lounge, there is a group of seats off to your left arranged in clusters of two and four.
In the middle of the lounge you’ll find the buffet space.
Additional clusters of seats are located adjacent to the buffet area.
The rear of the lounge is anchored by a large bar area. There are a handful of barstools as well as a walk up space. Most of the rear of the lounge was filled with cafe tables along with a few high top seating areas overlooking the ramp. A long booth is built into the low wall separating the buffet space from the bar.
While the lounge was packed to the gills during our visit the massive floor to ceiling windows still managed to make the space feel light and airy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see out on the ramp during our visit.
Finally, in the back corner of the lounge, there were a few small tables and one long booth against the wall.
The lounge also has a shower at the front of the lounge near the entrance. However, the waitlist was too long to check it out. The restrooms are also located near the front of the lounge.
We ended up getting lucky as I was walking around looking for seats. A couple was preparing to leave and I staked out their spots as they gathered their bags. They couldn’t have been nicer and were very understanding due to the crowding. Our seats were one of the few groups in the lounge that had power plugs built in.
Additional outlets were available in the floor, though they were exposed and not necessarily close to the seats. That didn’t stop people from using them though.
Food and Beverage
The food selection wasn’t anything outrageous and, while it did look fairly picked over, the lounge staff was doing their best to keep things restocked. As outlined above, the crowds were out in force. The buffet is located in the center of the lounge and had a salad bar, along with a selection of vegetables and a charcuterie tray.
Chips, salsa, crackers, and snack mix were also on offer, along with a sad looking tray of brownies. Broccoli cheddar soup was also available in a large warming bowl.
A small Coca-Cola Freestyle machine was also located on the buffet, situated between some snack mix and a bowl of Oreos.
Two coffee machines were located at the far end of the buffet. One of them had a handwritten sign informing us that the milk was out of order.
If you’re a fan of cold brew, you’ll want to visit the cart across from the coffee makers. Dropkick Cold Brew had three kinds of cold brew available for passengers. On a Sunday afternoon the cold brew, and coffee in general, wasn’t that popular.
To the left of the cold brew cart, there is a cart with creamer, sugars, tea, and hot water.
The bar is located at the rear of the lounge and had quite a large selection. However, most of the options fell under the lounges “premium” offerings which meant that they came with a fee. For instance, of all of the available beers, only Coors Light and Miller Lite were free.
Overall, the food selection wasn’t bad but, it wasn’t good either. It certainly didn’t make a crowded, warm lounge any more appealing.
Atmosphere
As you may have already gathered, the atmosphere in the lounge wasn’t great, and that was once we finally got into the lounge. The crowds were suffocating which didn’t come as much of a surprise given the ease, albeit somewhat confusing access requirements for the space.
The Aspire Lounge San Diego needs more than just a coat of paint, the whole space is long overdue for a remodel. We ended up spending just over twenty minutes in the lounge before we decided to head for our gate instead.
While this space was tired and worn, good news is on the horizon. Alaska Airlines is reportedly planning to replace the Aspire Lounge with an Alaska Lounge in the near future. Candidly, that change can’t come soon enough.
Summary
The Aspire Lounge in San Diego International Airport’s Terminal 2 is an extremely crowded and worn space. The staff is friendly and they were working hard throughout our visit however, there weren’t enough of them to deal with the crowding. The food and beverage options weren’t bad and the massive windows let in a ton of light and have great views of the ramp. The lounge was far from relaxing though and, not only would I not recommend arriving early to visit the lounge, I’d skip the lounge altogether and find a place in the terminal to wait.
Seems like mixed data on the Aspire in SAN. Do they offer a glass of wine for free or not?
Thank you. When was this done?
We visited in late September of this year.