If you are flying out of Juan Santamaría International Airport this Sunday, Nov. 1, plan on waiting at the gate. All three VIP lounges at Costa Rica’s main airport will be closed that day, and one of them has no date to reopen. The closures start Saturday, Oct. 31, and each lounge is on a different schedule. BAC Credomatic said the special hours are the result of an operational adjustment scheduled by the airport’s management and outside the bank’s control.
Here is how each lounge is affected:
- Lounge BAC closes at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, two hours earlier than usual. It reopens at 4 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2. That is 34 hours without service.
- VIP Santamaría, next to Gate 5, closes for Sunday, Nov. 1, only.
- VIP Lounge Costa Rica, the Mastercard lounge that also operates as the Copa Club, closes Saturday, Oct. 31, until further notice.
That last closure is the one to watch. If you usually get in with a Mastercard card or a Priority Pass membership, you will lose that option for an open-ended period. The lounge’s own notice gives no reopening date, and Priority Pass now lists it as temporarily closed from Oct. 31 until further notice.
Aeris, the company that runs the airport, has not said what the adjustment involves. Asked whether the lounges would change operators, the company said it recognizes the lounges as an important part of the airport experience. It added that any official information will be released through its own channels.
The lounges normally open from 4:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Priority Pass also lists VIP Santamaría as undergoing renovation work, and warns that space may be limited even when it is open. Nothing announced so far affects flight schedules. If you were counting on lounge food or a quiet place to work this weekend, eat before you head to the airport and bring a charged phone and laptop.
Check with your bank or lounge program before you leave home, since access rules differ from one lounge to the next. If you are heading to the United States, you will also need to sign a new passenger form starting Nov. 3. The lounge closures come a week after a power failure disrupted the airport’s control tower. From Monday, the BAC and VIP Santamaría lounges are expected back on normal hours. The Mastercard lounge may stay closed well beyond that.
