About The Club

San Jose International Airport (SJC) may have “international” in its name, but it’s still a pretty small airport. Today I want to introduce the airport’s only lounge: The Club at SJC.

The Club lounge accepts PPS cards, and this time I used the PPS membership that comes with Citi Prestige to get in. A quick side note: before this, I had always used my LD’s PPS card to enter lounges, so even though I personally have both Citi Prestige and AMEX Platinum, I had never contacted either issuer to have the card mailed out. Right before this trip, I called the credit card company. Citi customer service transferred me to PPS almost immediately. During the 30 minutes I spent waiting for a PPS representative, I was able to get my Platinum PPS membership number from AMEX customer service via chat, which ended up being quite helpful when speaking with PPS. So this time I registered through the app and entered with a digital account. If you don’t have time to wait for the physical card, this method works too. I never proactively applied for it, but the membership number and password had already been generated shortly after my credit card was approved.

The Club Experience

The Club at SJC is open from 5:00AM-10:00PM (based on what I found online; I forgot to confirm it on site). As soon as you walk in, the lounge feels a bit dated, but it is surprisingly spacious and well equipped. There is one conference room (someone was actually holding a meeting there at the time; $75/hour) and one shower room. The restroom is about the same as the regular airport restrooms. The entire lounge is split into two sections: the left side is more business-oriented, while the right side is more casual. The bar and snack area are both on the right side.

Layout and Facilities

This is the left side.

This is the right side near the bar, with round dining tables available.

This is the back half of the right side. Very spacious.

Bar

The alcohol selection is limited, and each person is restricted to 3 drinks per hour. The first time I visited was in the afternoon, and the bartender was quite talkative and knew the drinks well. This time I went at 10:30 in the morning. The staff member at the bar initially mixed up the drink order, and her pouring technique was pretty awkward. She later voluntarily explained that she was not actually a bartender and had just been temporarily pulled in to help.

Food

When we first arrived, there were only two baskets of bread in the food area. I was wondering whether this lounge had stopped serving food altogether. Then around 10:40, sandwiches and other snacks, along with hot soup, were finally brought out. Once everything was set up, it triggered a wave of people lining up for food — something you do not often see in a lounge.

The standard airport veggie spread: carrots, cherry tomatoes, and celery.

Standard carb options.

The soup was actually pretty good.

Overall Thoughts

This lounge covers the basics well, has plenty of space, and also accepts PPS cards. For SJC, it’s a pretty good place to relax for a bit.

As a side complaint, let me mention the Alaska Lounge at SEA. The three Alaska Lounges at SEA officially split from PP on 9/1/2018, but when I visited on 8/30/2018, there was already a sign at the entrance saying they did not accept PPS. Based on the comments on LoungeBuddy, that had apparently been the case for a while.

Bonus

As a bonus, here’s a review of the IASS Hawaii lounge, the only lounge for HNL (Honolulu International Airport) non-interisland flights that accepts PPS cards (honestly, calling this a “review” feels a little generous...). The layout of HNL is circular: the ring on the second floor is for gates, while much of the ring on the first floor is occupied by other airlines’ lounges (and there are another two on the third floor). In the center there is a small Japanese-style garden, so the view is actually not bad. As the photo shows, this lounge is about the size of a standard hotel room. There is no restroom, no food, and no alcoholic drinks — just coffee and some soft drinks. The service hours are also a bit odd: daily from 7:30AM-1:30PM and 2:00PM-6:00PM, with a half-hour lunch break in between. That said, the staff cleaned very diligently. Whenever someone left, they would immediately come over to tidy up, and the soft drinks and coffee were constantly replenished. The WiFi was extremely weak and I could never get connected, so I ended up using HNL’s free WiFi instead. My suggestion: just stop by and grab a couple of drinks.