This is a review of the Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder at Vancouver International Airport, Canada. Please see here for a review of the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Domestic.

It was another 3 AM wake up with a 10 minute snooze this morning. I had the house all to myself today as MrsWT73 went down to Atlanta with her work colleagues a day earlier. I left the house at 3:45 AM and took a quick spin through the local 24 hour McD drive through for an Egg McMuffin prior to hitting Highway 99 for a 30 minute drive up to Vancouver International Airport.

The United desks were busy this morning with the first flights of the day leaving for San Francisco, Houston and Denver within 30 minutes of each other. I had completed on line check in via the United App the day before, but I stopped by the kiosk to get a boarding card re-print, if only to get the “INTL” stamp on the card for nostalgia’s sake. Since the legalization of recreational cannabis, there are signs up at all the borders and airports in Canada cautioning about international border lines.

I headed off to security and US pre-clearance. The line this morning was quite substantial as it usually is in the morning. Thanks to Nexus and Global Entry, I was through to the secure side in less than 15 minutes.

Accessing the Plaza Premium Lounge:

After a pass through the duty free, I headed over to the Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder. I was admitted thanks to Priority Pass. Although there was an Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in the Transborder area, I wasn’t thinking of it for some reason with Plaza Premium on my usual Alaska walking route and as a result I didn’t partake. No doubt the effects of waking up at 3 AM!

This place takes pretty much anybody on their list.

Inside the Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder:

This particular Plaza Premium lounge is, unfortunately, the saddest Plaza Premium Lounge out of the 4 at YVR and one of the saddest in the system in Canada. It’s a small place that seats only 60 persons and has had heavy use over it’s life cycle. It started it’s life many many years ago as an Alaska Airlines Boardroom.

The food service area in the lounge is smaller than my kitchen at home. Today, they were serving scrambled eggs and sausage. I ended up having a second round of eggs with scrambled eggs on toast along with an apple juice.

I only had about 20 minutes worth of time before the flight. As a result, I didn’t stick around here too long and packed up early and headed out into the terminal.

The global reach of CNN company is everywhere. It was a bit ironic that I’d be at their broadcasting “headquarters” on this trip.

Overall:

The Plaza Premium Lounge is better than nothing when it comes to having an airport lounge in the Vancouver Transborder Departures Zone. Unfortunately, it is out classed and out spaced in overall size by it’s competitor, the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Transborder which offers much more space and light. It’s always nice to have a Priority Pass option and this lounge fits squarely into that category; a space for a quick stop prior to your flight.

---