LuganoPirate – your suggestion of the fully refundable ticket as a means of access reminds me of the gentleman in China who, last year I think, regularly bought such tickets in order to dine in the First Class Lounge. Fully sated, he then cashed in his ticket and departed the airport. He was banned by the airline.
With unlimited Priority Pass lounge access you could apply the same concept to benefit from that. Buy a cheap same-day return ticket to anywhere and spend 3 hours in the lounge before departure filling up on booze and food. Then fly to destination and repeat in another lounge on the way back. With flights on Ryanair for as low as £8.99 one-way that would make a good day out for less than £20. Any duty-free items you can pick up on the way would be a bonus on top.
For those sufficiently desperate and appropriately placed, the pain can be minimised. There are plenty of very short routes – eg easyJet’s 20-minute hop from Belfast to the Isle of Man, and for those in the south Gatwick-Jersey, also by easyJet. All offer PP lounges…
