The Club MDW — Local services in Lake Township

September 2024 marked a milestone in Chicago's aviation history with the opening of The Club MDW, the first premium lounge in Midway International Airport's 96-year existence. This $5 million, 3,300 square foot facility near Gate B1 represents a significant investment by Airport Dimensions and ACDBE partner Hyde Park Hospitality in a secondary airport long devoid of premium amenities.

The lounge successfully captures Chicago's architectural heritage through art deco and midcentury modern design elements. White marble surfaces, gold accents, and locally sourced photography create an understated elegance that contrasts with the terminal's utilitarian atmosphere. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer expansive tarmac views, flooding the space with natural light and creating an illusion of spaciousness despite the cramped footprint.

Notable is the facility's role as strategic innovation in Southwest Airlines' ecosystem. With Southwest carrying over 90% of Midway's passengers but offering no proprietary lounges, The Club MDW fills a conspicuous service gap for Southwest's business travelers accustomed to democratic boarding procedures and limited premium options.

The lounge's operational constraints are significant. With capacity for just 76-96 guests, waitlists are inevitable during peak periods. The WaitWhile digital queue management system offers a technological solution to this physical limitation. Food offerings, while featuring local Chicago purveyors, are more limited than at comparable lounges in larger airports. The absence of acoustically isolated areas for napping or focused work represents a missed opportunity to serve business travelers on layovers or early arrivals.

At $50/day pass, the lounge occupies an interesting position between accessibility and exclusivity. Priority Pass members gain complimentary entry, creating a critical B2B revenue stream but potentially diluting the premium experience during busy periods. With Airport Dimensions operating 66 lounges worldwide and maintaining close ties to Priority Pass (both owned by Collinson Group), The Club MDW benefits from network effects and operational expertise that independent lounges cannot match.

The opening coincides with broader industry trends toward airport premiumization, yet arrives amid growing pains in the lounge sector. Major carriers including Delta have implemented access restrictions as credit card partnerships expanded lounge eligibility, creating overcrowding. Meanwhile, credit card issuers like Capital One, Chase, and American Express are developing proprietary lounge networks, potentially threatening the Priority Pass model upon which The Club MDW heavily depends.

For business strategists, The Club MDW offers a case study in first-mover advantage within constrained environments. Its monopoly position at Midway provides significant pricing power and partnership opportunities, though expansion potential remains limited by space constraints. The critical challenge will be balancing capacity utilization with premium experience delivery as consumer expectations evolve.

Travelers should temper expectations. While superior to waiting at the gate, The Club MDW offers a baseline premium experience rather than a destination amenity. The $50 entry fee feels steep given the limited food selection and absence of premium features like shower facilities or sleep pods. Priority Pass members receive better value, though capacity restrictions may limit spontaneous visits during busy periods.

The fundamental question for Airport Dimensions remains whether modest improvements to the traveler experience, multiplied across millions of passengers annually, can sustain a profitable business model amid increasingly sophisticated competition from airlines and financial institutions. The answer will determine not just The Club MDW's future, but the viability of independent airport...

Disappointing Decline at Midway's Club Lounge

We were genuinely excited to return to the Club Lounge at Midway, having had a great experience when it first opened. Unfortunately, our recent visits—one in the evening and another early morning—left us very disappointed.

On our visit about a month ago around 7:30 p.m. (with the lounge open until 10:00 p.m.), we were told there was a 45–50 minute wait. We were a party of two, with at least four other passengers waiting ahead of us—two of whom had already been waiting 45 minutes. Strangely, even as other groups left, no one was being admitted. It felt like the receptionist was intentionally holding the line rather than managing capacity. She repeatedly checked our boarding pass to say, you hsve plenty of time to board. We got tired of waiting and told the receptionist to take our name off the waiting list. It wasn’t until then, that we were finally allowed in.

Once inside, we were shocked to see many empty tables for singles and pairs. Even worse, the food area was nearly depleted. Only a vegetarian pasta was left, and by 8:00 p.m., there were no dinner rolls, no cookies, no desserts, and barely any salad. We asked if anything could be replenished, even just some dessert, and were told everything had run out—two hours before closing.

To make matters worse, only one of the two restrooms was available, while the other was blocked off “for cleaning.” However, we were there for a full hour and never saw any staff enter or exit for maintenance. With a crowd of guests, this led to unnecessary waits just to use the bathroom.

Our second visit was on August 3rd, 2025, at 5:00 a.m. The lounge opens at 4:00 a.m., but by 5:00, the coffee machine was still out of beans, and napkin bins were empty. Breakfast options were limited to pre-made egg patties with Polish sausage and pancakes. When I asked about other protein options (like boiled or scrambled eggs), I was told, “This is how they come.” There were few small yogurt cups with granola and five blueberries per cup—barely four spoonfuls in total. The fresh fruit bowl was almost empty. It was more than 20 minutes before someone attended to it.

Again, only one bathroom was in use. The other was marked “out of order” or “under repair,” which seems to be a regular issue now.

As a frequent flyer out of Midway, this is disappointing—especially from a lounge under the Priority Pass brand. What used to be a nice perk now feels neglected and poorly managed. I truly hope this lounge receives the attention and overhaul it clearly needs. I'll continue flying through Midway and watching for improvements, but until then, I can’t recommend...

There is a reason that this lounge has a three-star rating. I've been to this lounge two or three times. It's small and the food is average, but that's not the issue.

My one suggestion to management is that they remind the people who work at the reception desk that they are dealing with people who pay for a service. Their customers are either Priority Pass members (who pay for annual access) or people paying $60 for the privilege of entry to the lounge. They should be treated with respect, not spoken to as though their presence is an annoyance to the employees. There are numerous reviews that mention staff attitudes and it seems as though nothing is done to improve the situation.

Today, the lounge was on a wait so I added my self to the wait-list using my phone. I then went to ask the receptionist how long the wait was and she told me to wait outside before I could even ask. I did ask from a distance and she told me. She did the same thing to the person in front of me.

When we got in about 10 minutes later, we were seated near the entrance. I watched as two separate travelers were told that they would not accept the Priority Pass card or number and they had to download the app. In both cases they had issues doing that and were ultimately turned away. I was told that I had to download the app on my first visit or I would not be permitted to enter. Fortunately, I was able to get through the process. The Club MDW and Priority Pass are both owned by Collinson International. Clearly they have the ability to look up a number if they choose to, but they won't. That being said, the bartender and other employees were nice.

Very disappointing that management continues to allow poor customer service to...