I spent a fair amount of time in airline club lounges last weekend. That�s not unusual in and of itself, I fly reasonably often for work and, of course, for play. But given that, I surprised myself on Friday morning when, as I was pouring myself a glass of orange juice from the large self-serve breakfast bar while waiting for my toast to toast, it occurred to me how much club lounges have changed.

Many members of my family work in the airline business, so I�ve literally grown up around airports. I first flew when I was six weeks old and have been a frequent flyer ever since. So when I was 15 and time came to do two weeks of compulsory work experience for school, I did what a lot of people did and went to work for a company that I had easiest access to. An airline.

I spent one week being bored getting coffee in an office, and another far more interesting week out at the airport doing everything from checking passengers in to going down on to the tarmac with the freight guys.

And I spent one afternoon in the club lounge. I wasn�t really working, because back then the club lounge was small room with a bar and a kitchen that was almost as small as the galley on a plane. Obviously I wasn�t allowed to work behind the bar, and the kitchen seemed to be there only to heat up the staff lunches because the only food served was peanuts. I�m fairly confident smoking was still allowed.

Now this was a while ago, but less than twenty years.

And in those less than twenty years, the club lounge of the same airline in the same airport has moved twice and expanded in size by at least twenty times. It now has two bars with benches and bar stools, two main buffet areas complete with cafeteria-style seating, several smaller coffee stations, an entirely separate business centre, a news agent, dozens of plasma screen TVs, and huge actual lounge areas. The kitchen, I imagine, is somewhat more sizable than a galley, but is also hidden, so it could be galley-sized and we wouldn�t know.

All of which makes the lounge convenient, if not very exclusive. For exclusivity they have a quieter, swankier separate lounge that you have to be invited to join. And even with the lifetime membership of several members of my family, they still can�t get me membership.

Not that I�m a lounge snob. Far from it. I only joined in the first place because I could get a huge discount on the fees through work, claim them as deductions on my tax, and never have to queue to check-in. These three things together make the lounge appealing, otherwise I probably wouldn�t bother.

But as I am a member the best time of the day to be there is either in the morning, because I can make myself toast with vegemite on a choice of five different kinds of bread and help myself to much diet coke without anybody frowning at me, or at around 4pm when it�s nice to just sit down and have a couple of free beers while waiting for a flight. Which is what I did on Monday afternoon. Had a beer while checking my email and surfing the web. It didn�t even bother me that the flight left half an hour late, because I was in the lounge mellowing out. And while I know I paid for that beer with my fees, having to do that once every two years is much more pleasant that forking over the cash on the spot.

It was pleasant. Relaxing. And a far cry from the tiny dingy smoky little room I went to work in with awed privilege 17 years ago.

(Though I note with consternation each time I go back that the same airline�s club lounge at LAX still very closely resembles the Melbourne lounge circa 1987, minus the smoke. And the kitchen. And the bar. It�s basically a badly decorated room with a self-serve fridge, some newspapers and a TV. With the bathroom off the stairwell at the end of the hall.)