With a decently long layover before our Air France flight to Paris, we had some time to pass at the Minneapolis airport. MSP is a pretty nice airport in itself and probably my favorite US Delta hub. We decided to have some lounge time at he Escape Lounge which is located on the upper or Mezzanine level of the terminal, right at the entrance to Concourse E.

We gained access to the lounge as a part of my Priority Pass membership. But any passenger can access the lounge by purchasing a day pass. If you buy in advance online, the day pass is $40 USD. At the door, it’s $45 USD. On first impressions, the lounge check-in staff was friendly and cheerful. We were quickly checked in and given a quick overview of the lounge.

The Escape Lounge is a very new lounge at less than a year old. Everything from the fixtures to the furniture is in practically brand new condition. It’s a spacious lounge with no shortage of seating options including bar seating, tables with booths, trendy armchairs, and small cafe tables. We had arrived around 6 PM on on a Friday night I would consider this to be a peak travel time. Even during these busy hours, the lounge only had a handful of guests…..at first.

We camped out at one of the very large booth tables which included plenty of seating for four people and even had power ports on the center of the table. I don’t see many airport lounges with booths so It though this was pretty cool. It’s perfect for comfortably working on a laptop. The seating options in the Escape Lounge was one of my favorite parts of this lounge. Overall the decor is tasteful and well thought out. The expansive windows offer great tarmac and plane spotting views.

The food selection is better than your average domestic airline lounge along with a few complimentary alcohol options. The bar is staffed and you can select from complimentary beer, wine, or champagne. There are also premium drinks for purchase. The bartender was very friendly and I had a glass of bubbly which I thought was appropriate, pre-departure for Paris!

For food, there’s a large buffet in the center of the lounge with non-alcoholic, cold beverages and snacks like sandwiches, salads, and chips. A bit hidden behind the check-in desk area, there’s a another snack area with hot beverages like coffee and espresso and sweet treats. I snacked on a few items but the food taste and quality really wasn’t that great. I did like the big chocolate chip cookies however.

The WiFi network was not very fast but the connection was consistent. The main airport WiFi for MSP isn’t available inside the lounge so I couldn’t switch networks when the Escape Lounge WiFi got really slow. Or at least I couldn’t connect from where I was sitting.

Unfortunately, the Escape Lounge does not have restrooms inside the lounge. You have to get a key card from the front desk to go out the side exit to a service hallway. I find it quite frustrating when a lounge doesn’t have it’s own restroom.

About 30 minutes before we left the lounge, a very large group of 30 or more people arrived. They had reserved a portion of the lounge for what almost looked like a family reunion. There was one lady in the group that was particularly rude to the staff. Once the group arrived, the lounge when from peacefully empty to over half full. Large groups are likely not the norm in the lounge so I suspect the Escape Lounge is typically very quiet.

After spending about 90 minutes in the lounge, it was time to head to our gate for boarding. Overall, I was left feeling very mixed about the Escape Lounge at MSP. While I loved the spacious seating, tasteful decor, and great tarmac views, the lack of an in-lounge restroom and lackluster food quality disappointed me. But as a Priority Pass lounge, I’m still likely to return as it’s still a nice comfortable place to relax pre-flight and catch up on some work. But since MSP has some great food options in the terminal, I’ll skip the Escape Lounge food.

Have you visited the Escape Lounge at MSP? What were your impression? Share in the comments below!