Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Rowan Bridge on today's program.

So over on the counter we have a seafood tower as well as caviar and a bottle of champagne which greets our gas inside of the reserve suites.

I don't know if you can smell this but we have our signature scent that is proprietary to the Centurion Lounge is.

Bigger, bolder, better. There's an arms race

taking place right under your nose, but you're probably not aware of it. Airports have become

the new battleground of credit card issuers as they seek to attract and retain valued customers.

Welcome to the world of the luxury airport lounge and the increasingly extravagant attempt to create customer loyalty.

But who's paying for all of this?

You know, this credit card system creates a really nasty transfer

where it's high credit score well-off people

who get to use the high merchant fee, high reward cards.

And then it's the rest of society that has to bear that cost.

That's all coming up in today's program.

For most people, I suspect your experience of airline travel is much like mine.

You clear security and then you sit around waiting for your flight.

Maybe browse the duty-free or buy something from one of the outlets selling

pricey food and drink. But for those with the right credit card, it can be a very different experience.

Customers have a little bit of downtime while they're in the lounge. They could take advantage of

one of the five facials that are offered by Face House. So it's a quick 30-minute treatment

and it's just another extra

benefit that I can have while I'm on my travel journey. This, to give it its full title, is the Chase

Sapphire Lounge by The Club. Chase being at the bank and credit card issuer behind the developments,

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