Airport lounges: the last perk of air travel?

One of the remaining luxuries of air travel is to use the reserved lounges before getting on a long flight. We've been using the Gold lounge at the international airport in Delhi, where we usually connect for international flights. The lounge is open for anyone holding a gold MasterCard and is free, although you do have to show them your card and let them make a record of the card number. There are free snacks and drinks inside, access to Internet and best of all, clean loos! Since the check in and security takes so much longer now, one ends up spending anywhere from 2-3 hours at the airport just waiting to get on the plane and having access to a lounge can be a real bonus.