After spending four days in Buenos Aires, a day in UNESCO-listed Colonia del Sacramento, and our final two in Montevideo (Day 1, Day 2), our father-daughter trip to South America came to a close. We were flying American Airlines business class for the second time. This time it wouldn’t be on a 777 (Review), but an older 767. But the aircraft aside, flying business class meant that we received lounge access at MVD airport. Rather than operate their own lounge, American Airlines contracts with the Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo.
Even if we weren’t flying business class, we could have accessed the Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo using my Priority Pass membership. This is the only departures lounge at the airport, and it is nice that it is part of the network.
However, before heading to the lounge, we took a look around Montevideo Carrasco Airport. It was very quiet when we arrived. Check in with the American Airlines agents was a breeze. We headed up to the mezzanine level to have a look at the airport and surrounding area. It’s a cool place to hang out.
At one end are some displays of Uruguay’s former flag carrier: PLUNA. I had no idea Uruguay had an airline. Kinda sad that they no longer operate. This looks like one of the two DC-10s they briefly had in their fleet.
My curiosity satisfied, we headed through security to the Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo where we would spend a couple hours before our American Airlines business class flight.
Location and Hours
The Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo is located near the end of the terminal to the north/right after you pass through security. You can’t miss the desk. Montevideo airport is quite small. If I’d been using my Priority Pass membership to access the lounge, there would have been all that rigmarole. But I just handed the attendant our printed lounge passes and in we went.
The space is nicer than I anticipated. For an airport as small as Montevideo, it is actually quite a nice lounge. The main section of seating is primarily couches and armchairs will small tables. The glass partitions help break up the space.
Further back near the food is a dining section. Not that you can’t have food in the other section. It just feels more like a dining section. Given the traffic through the room, it wasn’t especially popular.
Finally, the very back section seemed to function as the business area. At least this is where I saw most people with laptops working. Outlets were kind few and far between, so I’m not sure how well any of them worked.
If you’re in need of a nap, there is also a nap room with a few daybeds.
The Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo also has a fairly large kids room. By the time we left, there were quite a number of kids using it. The presence of kids rooms means that lounges are intended for kids, not just adults.
There is one additional space to the lounge, but it is a members-only area, offering additional food and beverage options. I sure hope it’s good, since the annual unlimited membership plan costs $1,320 USD for access to MVD and Punta del Este airports.
Food and Drink
The food and drink options are fairly limited at the Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo. Honestly, they are still better than most domestic lounges I’ve been to. The offerings included pastries, some cold cuts, and simple sandwiches.
There are also a handful of salad options, as well as fresh fruit cups. Oddly, the spirits are located here while the wine is placed at the other end of the lounge. There is obviously tea and coffee as well.
There are soft drinks consisting of Coke, Coke, Sprite Zero, Coke, and Coke. Oh, and Coke. I hope you like Coke.
I started with a coffee, before leaving the lounge for a bit to shoot some photos of the airport and few aircraft currently at MVD. It’s a sleepy little place for a country capital, so I quickly exhausted the few aircraft of which I could take a decent photo.
Later, I grabbed a salad. I didn’t want to eat too much before our flight to Miami, as they’d obviously be serving a meal on the plane as well. It’s always a game: would I rather eat on the ground or in the air?
The wine is located at the other end of the lounge,near the entrance. At first glance I thought the wine bar was supposed to be staffed. But it is self-serve. There were three options, two red and one white, including a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc. I tried the third one. The varietal escapes me now. It was unfamiliar and altogether too bitter for my taste.
My daughter enjoyed watching the show they had playing in the kids room, so I ended up relaxing for a while, catching up on some writing, and planning how to get from Miami Airport to Miami Beach once we landed.
Services and Capacity
The Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo has its own WiFi. There is free WiFi in the Terminal as well, but the signal for the WiFi in the lounge is better and the speed is decent. I was able to do general web surfing easily. Didn’t try any streaming, though.
The lounge was nearly empty when we arrived around 5:15 PM, but soon quite full by around 6:00 PM. The departures screen only showed two upcoming flights, one of which was ours, so this surprised me. It made me wonder how many were members and how many were business passengers and/or Priority Pass cardholders.
The space ended up getting pretty noisy, but this was mainly thanks to two different passengers watching TV or videos on their phones. I will never understand how people can watch or play something on their devices *without* headphones in a public or semi-public space. One guy watched a string of energetic fútbol videos on his phone, oblivious to the dozen or so people around him.
Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo: Overall Thoughts
I was surprised by how nice Montevideo’s one lounge is. Whether you are flying business class or have a Priority Pass membership, it’s easy to access when departing Uruguay. I’d rank the Aeropuertos VIP Club Montevideo as one of the nicer lounges I have visited in the Priority Pass network.
