Visit to a Plaza Premium Lounge

I recently got WestJet Gold Status, so I couldn’t wait until my flight to Winnipeg to test out some of the benefits. The one I was looking forward to the most was visiting the Pearson Plaza Premium Lounge. Unfortunately, WestJet doesn’t have any of their own lounges, like Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounges. Although, my gold status allows to visit their partner lounges (which are located in all of the major cities in Canada).

My flight to Winnipeg was bright and early, but I made sure to get there with some time to spare so I could check out the airport lounge. The lounge that was closest to my departing gate was the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 3. I presented my boarding pass, which stated that I was a gold member and was permitted into the lounge at no cost.

The lounge had plenty of comfortable chairs, outlets, and most importantly – food. I usually don’t eat breakfast, but I wanted to take advantage of my lounge pass and try out some of the food. They had a wide array of hot food (including sausages, eggs, and potato pancakes), toast, pastries, fruit, and yogurt. It was fairly standard breakfast food – similar to what you get in a breakfast buffet at any chain buffet.

I did hear that a lot of lounges have free alcohol, but it wasn’t offered during my visit. Perhaps because it was too early? Although, I would have been interested in a pre-flight mimosa. My flight back to Toronto is later in the day, so I’m interested to see if I’m able to grab a glass of wine before my flight at the Winnipeg Plaza Premium Lounge.

One thing to note about airport lounges (or at least the one I visited), is that you don’t hear any of the announcements. Be sure to keep an eye on the clock and be at your gate when your flight is boarding.

Spending some time in the airport lounge definitely made for a much more relaxing travel experience. If you don’t have access through your frequent flyer program, you can also purchase a pass to a Plaza Premium Lounge. Although, it likely wouldn’t be worth it unless your flight was majorly delayed or you had a long stopover.

If you’re looking for information on how to get lounge access, check out my post on how I got WestJet gold status for free.