Lounge Access When Flying Southwest: Chase Sapphire Lounge PHX

One of the drawbacks of flying Southwest is that they do not operate their own airport lounges.  However, there are many Priority Pass lounges that are accessible when flying Southwest.  In this series I am highlighting which lounges you will be able to access while flying Southwest and what to expect from these lounges.  

This lounge is convenient for flying Southwest out of Phoenix, particularly from the newer D gates. From some of the C gates it can be a bit of a walk, but all terminal 4 gates are connected airside. The easiest way to access the lounge is with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which includes two guests. Here are all of the options to gain access via chase.com:

Chase Sapphire Reserve, J.P. Morgan Reserve and The Ritz-Carlton^TM Credit Card primary cardmembers and authorized users have lounge access with their complimentary Priority Pass^TM membership.

Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve cardmembers may bring up to two guests per visit for free, and additional guests for $27. There’s no additional charge for children under two. Ritz-Carlton cardmembers may bring unlimited guests at no charge. If you don’t have one of these Chase-issued credit cards but you have a Priority Pass membership, you receive one complimentary visit to a Sapphire Lounge by The Club per calendar year. 

When I was last in the Phoenix airport I checked on the wait time and it was well over an hour. On the Saturday afternoon of our recent visit, we managed to get in within 5 minutes, and by the time we left around 5:45pm it was less than 50% full. Given the very limited seating capacity, I do think this is going to be the big challenge going forward particularly for connecting flights. If you can’t get in within 10-15 minutes, it is probably not going to be worth it, especially if you are flying in and out of the C gates which are about an 8-10 minute walk away.

My impressions

This lounge had a nice range of food options and higher end drink offerings compared to a typical Priority Pass lounge. We were excited to try the cauliflower dish from the Airstream trailer station. It was pretty good but a little watery. The Sapphire noodles were spicy but very tasty as a vegetarian option. The pork sliders and quinoa salad were also quite good. We tried three different cocktails and the sparkling wine and all were very good. See below for photos of the menus, self serve food, and Airstream food station.

One interesting thing about this lounge is that the seating was assigned by a host. We were happy with the table we were assigned but I suspect if the lounge is not full you could ask to be seated elsewhere if you preferred to be at the bar vs away from the bar, ensure you had access to outlets for charging, etc. They definitely did a good job maximizing the number of seats given the very small footprint of the lounge and the open-air concept with large windows makes it feel larger than it really is.

The service level was also very high. There were plenty of staff who were both friendly and attentive. There is one restroom inside the lounge.

TL;DR: The Chase Sapphire Lounge in Phoenix is a great option in Terminal 4, especially if you are flying out of the D gates on Southwest. Food and drink options are strong with the main drawback being the small size making it a long wait at peak times.