The Swissport Lounge in Chicago O'Hare's Terminal 5 — long labelled the worst airport lounge in the United States — closed on October 31, 2026, and frequent flyers are not mourning it.
What made this place so grim? No windows, a mismatched collection of furniture, and a snack and drink spread so thin that the sensible move was to stay in the terminal instead. The only real reason to visit was unlimited booze. Worse, plenty of premium airlines — Etihad and Qatar Airways among them — regularly sent business class passengers here, purely because there was little else to use. Flying long-haul business and getting directed into a windowless back room is a deflating way to start a trip.
The closure leaves the space's future open. Back in April 2025, Swissport's North America lounges chief said the company had submitted a proposal to the Chicago Department of Aviation for a multi-million-dollar renovation and expansion of the Terminal 5 lounge, but no update on that has surfaced since.
The bigger picture is that Terminal 5's lounge scene has improved dramatically in recent years. Delta opened a much-praised Sky Club in 2022, LOT Polish Airlines unveiled a handsome lounge in 2024 that also serves Star Alliance carriers, and Air France added a bright, naturally lit option in 2025 that welcomes Priority Pass members during select hours. The former Scandinavian Airlines Lounge now operates as the Wingtips Lounge, also accessible with Priority Pass.
One gap remains: O'Hare is the largest airport in the country without a credit card branded lounge, such as an Amex Centurion Lounge. That's partly because American and United dominate their respective terminals, and partly because Terminal 5 — the international concourse — has no airside connections to the others, so any new lounge there would only serve a slice of travellers.
For anyone flying internationally through O'Hare, the practical takeaway is straightforward: skip Swissport's replacement-of-nothing and aim for the Air France lounge if you hold Priority Pass, or the LOT lounge if you're on a Star Alliance carrier. Terminal 5 itself has been upgraded with an expansion in recent years, so the concourse is no longer the letdown it once was either. If a rebuilt Swissport lounge or a new credit card lounge eventually appears, this corner of O'Hare could go from joke to genuinely competitive — but for now, travellers are simply glad the worst option is gone.
Story via One Mile at a Time.
