Airport lounges all too often follow the same tired formula: grab a snack, sip a drink, scroll your phone, repeat. Oh and probably answer an email or five. Portal Lounge at Minneapolis–Saint Paul (MSP) flips that script entirely and finally brings us a hybrid lounge with real activities, but also space to do the later. After a recent visit before my Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle, I’m wondering why more lounges don’t try harder. Portal Lounge could be a blueprint for other lounges.
Portal Lounge is part of the Priority Pass network, open daily from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The small lounge is in terminal 1 just past security in the corner of Concourse D and Concourse C, cattycorner from the entrance to the train station just. The Portal Lounge includes the usual suspects like complimentary alcoholic drinks and both hot and cold buffet options. But that’s not why you come here.
The headline feature is gaming, this is a gamers lounge! Offering real gaming, not some half-baked distraction like a single pinball machine or one or two consoles like we’ve seen in the Qatar Airway lounges. There are more than 20 gaming stations spread throughout the lounge, equipped with Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox consoles. Each station is loaded with a deep library of games, from single-player time killers to multiplayer options if you’re traveling with friends (or feel like making some new ones).
On my visit, I settled in with a Nintendo Switch, ordered a couple of drinks from the self-service kiosks, and casually browsed the food options between games. It’s a surprisingly frictionless setup: no waiting at a bar, no awkward back and forth, just tap, order, and get back to what you were doing.
There is a robot that is suppose to make cocktails, but I think it was already out of service. The bartender was happy to pour me a jim bean and coke. All covered by priority pass.
Really, what’s the secrete sauce with Portal lounge? Portal gives you something to do. Instead of watching the clock, you suddenly find yourself wishing you had a longer layover. It turns pre-flight time into part of the experience rather than dead space. A delay, no problem, I’m getting lost in Super Mario World or Minecraft.
Is it the quietest lounge in the airport? Absolutely not. But that’s also the point either! It’s energetic, interactive, and actually fun. Plus if you hate the noise of gaming, there are plenty of tables in the main part of the lounge, far away from the gaming center.
Overall? 10/10. For travelers who value a bit of activity over another beige lounge experience, Portal Lounge is a standout. The fact that you can access it with Priority Pass just makes it even better.
