Minnesota deserves to be in the news for a lot more than politics. It’s an outdoorsman’s paradise, is filled with friendly, seemingly happy people (though, yes, I’m aware of the double meaning of “Minnesota nice”), and has an official state drink. And that state drink is milk, which tells you way more about Minnesotans than I ever could in an infographic, factoids pullout, or a hundred more words.
When I found out that a recent trip to California would also mean a 3-hour layover in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), I didn’t mind that much and, in true Minnesota fashion, decided not to put up a fuss. After all, the airport was not only where I purchased one of my favorite state-themed T-shirts (“Bat-Moose”), it was also home to an Escape Lounge.
Here’s what my wife, our young son, and I liked, disliked, and were quietly passive-aggressive about at the Escape Lounge at MSP.
1. It Was Easy To Find and Reasonably Convenient for Transfers
Though MSP is generally considered a large airport, its layout — described variously as a hub and spokes, a square, or (my favorite) Fionna the Human‘s bunny hat as rendered in Minecraft (that’s my observation; I’m the one who calls it that) — makes it seem much smaller than you’d think it’d be.
The Escape Lounge is on the mezzanine, right near the entrance to Concourse E, putting it basically just off one corner of the square of the airport and right at the juncture of the first of the C, D, and E gates. If you come across the old-school pilot Snoopy statue in Terminal 1, it’s basically exactly in the direction where Snoopy’s headed — Snoopy likes his free lounge food.
What the Escape Lounge’s location meant for us was that we could spend a little extra time in the lounge without having to hustle to our departure gate, which was relatively close by. That proximity is key to fully enjoying any lounge on a tight connection or when you haven’t willingly set aside an extra 2 hours for airport time.
So for us, it was great. If the next leg of your flight is in the higher G or F gates? Not so much.
2. It Wasn’t Easy To Find Empty Seats for All of Us
Getting into the lounge was a breeze. I used my Platinum Card® from American Express to get us all in, which the rather aloof guy at the front desk glanced at and took only a minute to process before he waved us in. I could’ve also used a Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (when flying Delta) if I had one.
The tired-looking mom who was trying to get in with her young daughter with her Priority Pass card at the same time as us didn’t fare nearly as well, though — you have to prebook a lounge stay (for a fee) and bring your card with you to get in with Priority Pass.
But few people seemed to have had the same issue, judging by how packed the place was. We couldn’t find 3 seats together at first and had to take a recently abandoned pair of chairs with slide-away tray tables that happened to be near a semicircular lounge chair without an accompanying side table.
Luckily, by the time I’d scavenged food for our son, a family had just left a 3-seat pod with a coffee table by the window. We raced toward it in a mad rush, initially leaving our things behind and commanding our second-grader to discard notions of safety and throw himself into an empty chair to claim it before another family with the same thought got there first.
Anyway, the Escape Lounge could use more seats overall, though space in the smallish lounge is admittedly already tight.
3. The General Aesthetic Seemed To Be a Medical Clinic Waiting Room
We’ve been seeing more and more lounges that go all out on design flourishes, realizing that wowing and wooing potential guests is key to getting attention, retaining customers, and making cardholders feel like they’re getting more value for their annual fees.
Then there are the lounges that go straight to the beige pages in the catalog of lounge accouterments and say, “Eh, that’s good enough.”
The design of the Escape Lounge at MSP was, eh, good enough, as if the combined aesthetic sensibilities of the Midwest’s most financially prudent dentists and medical technicians gathered at the airport Radisson’s second-cheapest conference room and held a postprandial vote on palettes using only colors that began with the letter “B”: Beige floor tiles, brown upholstery, burgundy — no wait, that’s just that woman’s jacket, the chair’s actually just more brown. But you get the idea: There was more character in the waiting room of the place where you get your colonoscopies done.
4. There Wasn’t a Ton of Food
The food and drinks in the Escape Lounge were arranged in an unusual way, probably because the lounge itself wasn’t laid out in a way that flowed naturally. There was the somewhat narrow hallway where you entered and checked in, which also bisected a dining hall on the left with the salad buffet and hot foods, and mostly pod-style seating on the right, where a crammed nook held the coffee machine and a seemingly abbreviated spread of pastries and chocolate-chip cookies.
Perhaps because it was so breakfast- and dessert-oriented, the pastries in this section where we sat were never replenished during our visit. Even for a carb-obsessed grade-schooler, there wasn’t much here to get excited about, and the Danishes and uninspiring chocolate-chip cookies (which were on about the same level as a nautical-pun-themed brand) went pretty much untouched on his plate.
The salad bar was standard, with no exciting toppings or varieties of greens. No one seemed enthusiastic about it, and most of the people I saw patronizing it looked like middle-aged dads reluctantly carrying out orders from their primary-care physicians under the watchful gaze of their families. (At this point, if you get this many references to doctors’ waiting rooms in a review, you know where this whole thing is generally going, right?)
There weren’t many choices for the rest, either, including 3 hot dishes, 3 cereal dispensers (all brown), and 2 minifridges with soda pops and seltzers. I noticed that the staff replenished the trays of hot food during our stay in the Escape Lounge, unlike the neglected cookies and pastries in the other section.
5. The Limited Food Was Tasty and Filling
It was around dinnertime, we’d just gotten off a flight from Southern California, and I was determined not to pay 1 red penny for food in an airport restaurant or store. Though the rest of my family made do with the relatively slim pickings of the pastries and salad bar, I immediately homed in on the protein, chicken marsala, with only plain white rice on hand to soak up the gravy.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. But the chicken marsala really hit in a way that I’d needed. The meat was tender and not overcooked, the mushrooms were actually recognizable and noticeable in the sauce, and none of it was underseasoned. And I stayed true to my goal and didn’t have to spend a dime on outside food before our departure flight.
6. Everything Needs a Refresh
Even if it’s just ordering more stuff from that catalog of most boring and stain-camouflaging waiting-room furniture, the Escape Lounge at MSP doesn’t just need more places to put butts; it needs more seats because some of the old ones are falling apart.
I didn’t notice it at first, but my son immediately clocked that the chair he was in most of the time wasn’t just bordering on uncomfortable; it was literally starting to come apart at the seams. The fabric had been rent from its wooden frame, and this had been going on long enough that the stuffing around that edge had worn away, leaving that part of the chair an unsightly mess that was unpleasant to lean back against.
Fortunately, this was higher up on the seat, so not necessarily a problem for a grade-schooler, but an adult with broad shoulders might’ve noticed and objected. The lounge, it should be noted, opened in late 2015. I wouldn’t have been shocked to learn that this particular chair was around to witness the opening.
7. It Has No Bathrooms
Yup, you read that right. You have to use the restrooms in the public spaces of the airport terminal to do your business.
Final Thoughts
The Escape Lounge at MSP turned out to be just what we needed from a 3-hour layover in Minneapolis, but it wouldn’t have been comfortable enough, well-stocked enough, or visually pleasing enough for much longer than the hour or 2 we spent there, and we left a little earlier than we needed to instead roam the rest of the airport and get to our gate with time to spare.
The next time I come through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, I will probably try the new Delta Sky Club in Terminal G, which is known for its runway views and is accessible with the Amex Platinum card for same-day Delta flights, even if it means a longer hike to my connection.