Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a timely person.
Even in higher-stakes situations like flights, my time blindness is hard to overcome. (I’ve definitely gotten to the airport 45 minutes before takeoff on at least one occasion before.)
So when I showed up at LaGuardia Airport last week, three and a half hours early for my flight home to Chicago, it was a first-time experience for me. However, it wasn’t entirely out of character — because another thing about me is that I love a good deal.
In this case, the good deal was getting my money’s worth at the new Capital One Landing that opened in February.
Here’s how I got access to it, and how I made the most of the experience.
My credit card gives me lounge access
The Capital One Venture X is my first-ever credit card that includes airport lounge access.
With its $395 annual fee, it gives me access to Capital One’s seven airport lounges (two of which are designed as sit-down restaurant-style culinary concepts, which Capital One calls “Landings,” including the one I visited) as well as Priority Pass lounges worldwide.
Unfortunately for me, there is no Capital One lounge in Chicago, where I live, so I was elated when I saw that the Capital One Landing at LaGuardia had opened ahead of my trip to New York.
Previously, Venture X holders used to be able to bring up to two guests into Capital One lounges for free, and authorized users on Venture X cards also could get complimentary entry to the lounges. That changed in February 2026. Now, authorized users like my husband must pay a $125 fee annually to get complimentary access to the lounges, or I could pay a guest fee of $45 for him each time.
Before leaving for our New York trip, my husband and I discussed and decided that it felt worth it to pay the $125 annual fee for him. After all, we reasoned, we’re bound to spend at least $20 a person on food at the airport anyway, so this will pay itself off after three round-trip flights. And since we have several trips planned for the next year, it’s more cost-effective than paying for a guest pass for him each time.
I showed up earlier than I probably ever have in my life
We’re allowed to enter the lounge up to three hours prior to takeoff, and I wanted to make sure we got there as early as possible.
Maximizing time was especially important since we were flying out of a different terminal (Terminal C) than the one the lounge was in (Terminal B). There’s no way to transit between terminals after security, so we had to make sure to give ourselves enough time to exit the terminal, take the shuttle bus over to Terminal C, and go through security again.
My flight was at 6:45 p.m., so my goal was to be at the airport by a little after 3 p.m., to give us time to get through security and to the Landing before 3:45 p.m. Through the Capital One app, I was also able to make a reservation for 3:45 p.m., out of an abundance of caution, in case the lounge was extremely busy and filled up that day.
We got in an Uber at 2:40 p.m., got to the airport by 3 p.m., and were through security by 3:12 p.m. It was particularly quick because it was a quiet afternoon, and we both have TSA PreCheck access through Global Entry (another benefit of the Venture X card).
By 3:15 p.m., we were already at the Capital One Landing, located just beyond the food court after security.
Since we were already there, we decided to try our luck and ask if it was possible to enter sooner (again, as a chronically late person, a rare occurrence for me).
Unfortunately, the check-in machine wouldn’t allow for it, so we left and found some seats in the food court in front of a giant TV showing the US Open, where my husband asked me, almost out of instinct, “Want a snack?”
“No,” I reminded him. “The lounge has snacks!” We had to save ourselves for the free food — or I should say, “free” food — that our annual fees had afforded us.
The food was tasty
Earlier that day, I’d sought input from my colleague and aviation expert Taylor Rains, who recommended arriving hungry, trying out the various ways to order food, and remembering to tip the bar staff if we order drinks.
Once we checked in at the lounge — which wasn’t very busy after all — we were brought to a table, where the staff member reminded us that everything there was complimentary and explained the two ways we could order food: We could get tapas-style cold plates from the bar or order hot food using the QR code on the table. For beverages, there were also a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks that could be ordered for table service, as well as a coffee bar.
My husband and I each took multiple trips up to the bar for food, as well as put in several rounds of table service hot dishes.
From the bar, my favorites were the cured meats, vinegar-cured anchovies, and mango and coconut sticky rice. I found the salt-cured anchovies too salty for my taste.
The real treat, though, was the table service hot food. Out of the various small dishes we tried, my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the steak with mojo verde sauce and shrimp — and not just because we couldn’t believe we could get steak and shrimp for free — as well as a guava mocktail called the “Flamingo Shuttle.”
The space was nice and felt like a café or restaurant
The vibe of the Landing overall felt almost like a restaurant. We were brought to a table rather than just walking in and choosing one to put our stuff down at, as is the case with most of the other airport lounges we’ve been to.
The table we were seated at was relatively close to the bar and was in front of giant floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the planes on the tarmac.
There was also a rather restaurant-esque style of service embedded in the experience. When getting food from the bar, instead of being a buffet-style where we’d help ourselves, all of the food was tucked away behind glass display cases, and members of staff would put the food onto plates and hand them to us.
My husband and I both agreed we would’ve preferred a self-serve format for the bar area, both so we wouldn’t need to inconvenience a staff member with needing to select the food for us, and also so we’d have more agency in getting the portions we wanted for ourselves, instead of needing to awkwardly ask for more.
The bathrooms of the lounge were all-gender, single-stall bathrooms. There were five of them, and the one I used was clean, spacious, and simple, with a box of tissues and a bottle of lotion available.
There’s one thing I’d do differently next time
After nearly an hour of enjoying the food and surroundings of the Landing, I thought I had a good sense of everything it had to offer.
However, after exiting the bathroom, I realized there was an entire other dining room that I hadn’t seen, tucked away past the bathrooms. In addition to a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, a large portion of the ceiling itself was also made of glass, which made for a beautiful greenhouse vibe.
Knowing what I know now, the next time we fly through LaGuardia and come to the Capital One Landing, I’ll be sure to ask to be seated in that area, if possible.
We left feeling very full, happy, and relaxed
Having access to this airport lounge ended up serving multiple purposes for my husband and me: It pushed me to avoid my chronically late tendencies and actually get to the airport extremely early, saved us from spending $40 on mediocre airport fast food, and allowed us to indulge our love for buffets by trying the various dishes and drinks available without an additional cost.
After about two hours, we left extremely content and in a great mood, ready to head over to Terminal C, go through security again, and take a nap on our two-hour flight back to Chicago.
And remembering the advice from my colleague Taylor, we made sure to leave a tip with the bartenders on the way out.
Do you have a story to share about airport lounges? Contact this reporter at janezhang@businessinsider.com.
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