Delayed flights aren’t the worst when you’re pitched up in an airport lounge. Rather than drinking lukewarm coffee and desperately scrambling for the last working plug, you get to sit back, relax and get stuck into all-you-can-eat snacks and drinks.
Skytrax has just revealed the results of its 2026 World Airline Awards – aka the ‘Oscars of the aviation industry’ – and one category highlighted the world’s very best independent airport lounges.
The awards are based on votes cast by travellers from around the world over the past year, judging lounges on everything from the quality of facilities to the warmth of staff hospitality. Taking the crown this year is the Chase Sapphire Lounge at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
Spread across two floors and more than 20,000 square feet in LaGuardia’s Terminal B, the lounge goes well beyond a typical waiting room. There’s lush greenery and gold-finished decor to set the tone, while a children’s playroom leads into a retro arcade and private phone booths. If you need a bit of a pamper before the plane aircon goes ham at your skin, facial treatment rooms sit next to relaxation spaces, and the food and drink are local, with bites from NYC institution Joseph Leonard and coffee from Joe Coffee, alongside cocktails from a full circular bar.
Second place, and the best in Europe, goes to the Plaza Premium Lounge at Rome Fiumicino Airport, in Terminal 3. Built around an Italian ‘La Dolce Vita’ theme, the lounge uses travertine stone, oak and bronze finishes, with hot Italian dishes made fresh daily and an atrium-style layout designed to make you feel zen within the airport chaos.
Third place goes to the Chase Sapphire Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport, praised by travellers for its varied food menu where you can order via QR code straight to your table, a staffed bar and multiple seating zones for working, eating or just zoning out. However, it has been reported that the Chase Sapphire Lounge closed in January and reopened under a new name of Kyra Lounge, just in case you ask any airport staff for directions.
Europe put in a solid overall showing too, with four lounges making the top 20. Beyond Rome’s second place, the only other European lounge to crack the top 10 is another Plaza Premium outpost, this time at London Heathrow’s Terminal 4, in fourth. Further down the list, Vienna Lounge at Vienna International Airport took 12th, iGA Lounge at Istanbul Airport landed 17th, and Airport Lounge World at Munich’s Terminal 1 rounded out the European contingent at 18th.
Plaza Premium Group had a particularly strong year overall, with three lounges in the top 20 (Rome, London and Dubai); enough to also earn it the title of World’s Best Airport Lounge Group for the tenth year running.
The world’s 20 best airport lounges in 2026
- Chase Sapphire Lounge, LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
- Plaza Premium, Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO)
- Chase Sapphire Lounge, Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
- Plaza Premium, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) T4
- Capital One, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- American Express Centurion, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- Coral Cosmo Lounge, Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)
- The Pearl, Bahrain International Airport (BAH)
- Primeclass Lounge, Muscat International Airport (MCT)
- Plaza Premium, Dubai International (DXB)
- American Express Centurion, LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
- Vienna Lounge, Vienna International Airport (VIE)
- Capital One, Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
- Chase Sapphire Lounge, Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
- 080 Lounge, Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR) T2
- Plaza Premium First, Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
- iGA Lounge, Istanbul Airport (IST)
- Airport Lounge World, Munich Airport (MUC) T1
- American Express Centurion, Haneda Airport (HND)
- Strata Lounge, Auckland Airport (AKL)
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