Waiting in airports for your flight to depart comes a close second to watching paint dry. Although at least that allows you to kick back in a comfy chair, pour yourself a cold one and admire your DIY handiwork.

As much fun as travelling is, airports can be diabolical places; inhabited by row upon row of seats evidently designed by someone with a grudge against travellers and twisted sense of humour.

But all is not lost. Behind the hallowed doors of the Business Class Lounge lies a world where travellers are treated with the attention they deserve, a world of free drinks, comfortable chairs and entertainment on tap.

Here are three Business Class lounges worth blagging your way into, and one not worth the bother.

Blag it

Cathay Pacific – Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong
I love Asian airlines. From the food to the service to the uniformly gorgeous air hostesses, Asian carriers are the best in the world at making time spent in the air as pleasant as possible. And the same goes for time spent on the ground at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport.

Built on reclaimed land 30-kilometres west of the 'fragrant harbour', this Norman Foster-designed airport is a work of art in itself. Soaring steel trusses support a roof that could swallow the whole of OR Tambo in a single mouthful and, unlike Joburg's infamous terminal, is showered with natural light and fresh air. Even in peak periods the place feels deserted.

Once you've breezed through customs and immigration and stocked up on some duty-free goods it becomes a little more like any other terminal, just more beautiful.

Unless, that is, you have managed to blag your way into the Cathay Pacific lounge. As the home airport of Cathay Pacific, one of Asia's largest carriers, the lounge is superb. Soft lighting, private areas to work or relax in, business centre, showers and the Long Bar offering everything from Moët to single malt. There's even a noodle bar for you to grab that last taste of Asia, or try a few delicious dim sum.

Industry website rates www.loungeguide.com rates The Wing as "genuinely outstanding… a 'must visit' lounge."

British Airways' Terminal 5, Heathrow, London
Despite their best efforts, the dream opening of Terminal 5 – British Airways' gorgeous new terminal at London's ghastly Heathrow airport – turned into a nightmare as the baggage system went haywire and thousands of passengers had their flights delayed or cancelled.

The mayhem has all long been sorted out though, and passengers are now enjoying one of the most modern terminals on the planet. British Airways is the only airline to use T5, with other carriers condemned to the subterranean burrows of Heathrow's Terminals 1-4.

You'll be able to gaze out on those other terminals from the outstanding 'Galleries' lounges. T5's six lounges and Elemis travel spa make up the biggest airport lounge complex in the world. Business Class (or Club World, as BA calls it) passengers can expect to enjoy the Chef's Theatre kitchen, a deli and coffee lounge, private cinema, fine wines and complimentary wi-fi.

Expect Heathrow as you've never seen it before. Visit www.terminal5.ba.com/en/lounges to find out more.

El Calafate, Argentina
OK, this one is perhaps a little off the beaten track, but when it comes to unique experiences the gateway to the Glaciers National Park is hard to beat.

El Calafate is a little like Beaufort West with icebergs. Tucked in the Patagonian steppe there's not much here to offer tourists… except one of the world's most magnificent glaciers, that is. The Perito Moreno glacier is one the planet's few advancing glaciers, and the spectacle of 60-metre pillars of ice carving into Lago Argentino below draws thousands of visitors from across the globe each year.

The only problem comes when you want to leave. The Argentines go on strike at the drop of a hat and if, like I was, you get stuck in what could fairly be described as an airport in the middle of nowhere, you'll want to have somewhere comfy to hang out. And the Aerolineas lounge is it. Facilities are limited to some comfortable couches and a bar serving cold beer, but when they're washed down with a vista of icebergs floating by the end of the runway on a lake of turquoise glacier-melt… why, you won't care if that plane never arrives.

Don't bother: And here's one lounge not worth the blag…

SAA Baobab Lounge, OR Tambo International Airport, Gauteng
Evidently the logic goes like this. SAA is the national carrier. OR Tambo International is the country's flagship airport. Therefore, the airline's VIP customers should be hosted in a lounge buried in the basement with no natural light and facilities best described as acceptable. What were they thinking!

In fairness the other lounges didn't fare much better, with a similar subterranean position, but come on! Even the economy passengers on the surface paying R16 for a coffee get to see some sunlight and a view of the runway! Let's hope the construction underway offers loungers something a little more spectacular.

Are we missing something? Have you got a lounge worth a blag, or not worth the bother? Click "add a comment" below to have your say…