This is why normie lounges have become insufferable lately. People to whom paying for business class is expensive are taking up space and making noise in the once peaceful lounges, because companies like Priority Pass are throwing lounge access at anyone. Thankfully some airports and airlines are investing in first class lounges, which are a little bit better at least.
For getting a foreign credit card , have a look at wealth management banking options in Mauritius, if you haven't already. They're often happy to issue EUR/USD credit cards with flexible limits and reasonable fees once you deposit around 10-100,000 EUR/USD. Pretty flexible. Loyalty schemes︀ usually aren't as attractive as many of the cards mentioned here but there aren't a︁ lot of realistic options for non-residents.
For that route, I'd just take︄ a train (first class). Sure, it's around 2.5,3 hours but that's from city center to︅ city center. No wasting time going to airport and going through airport security and so︆ on.
