Airport lounges can, frankly, be rather boring. Many are simply big open spaces with a few comfortable chairs, some computer desks and a buffet of uninspiring food. Why is that?

The problem for airport designers is that quirky dates quickly. It might seem like a good idea to install a piece of modern sculpture suspended in the air above the lounge but give it a couple of years and it will look dated.

Yet quirky lounges and odd lounge features do exist, you just have to know where to look.

One of the most unlikely things you will ever see in an airport lounge has recently appeared inside Number One Heathrow, the newly opened Bmi lounge in terminal 1. It’s a venue as unlike a country kitchen as you will ever find but the carrier has decided to install an Aga to keep things like soup and breakfast bacon. It also has a fully fledged pub inside.

The days when you could light up in airports is long gone but the same is not true elsewhere. Take Germany, which has refrained from introducing the non-smoking legislation that has been sweeping the rest of Europe in recent years, except in a piecemeal fashion. However, there is a ban on smoking in public buildings in Bavaria. As a result, smoking is banned inside Munich Airport. However, there is a loophole involving private clubs that gets around the ban. This means that passengers can use the cigar room at Lufthansa’s recently opened First Class lounge at the airport.

There are also other oddities to meet the weird-seeker in the world’s airport lounges. Take the Kirin beer-dispensing machines in JAL’s lounge at Narita. As far as cool snacks are concerned, what about ’s Gummibears – ready for grabbing by the fistload at Lufthansa's Business lounge in Pier B at Frankfurt.

Washington Dulles has some of the world’s oddest lounges. In 1962, the airport introduced mobile lounges to transport passengers between the terminal and the aircraft gates. These odd vehicles – that look like something out of Space 1999 - are really shuttle buses with a bit more comfort, but only just. There are 19 in operation at the airport but they are soon to be phased out. They are due to be replaced by a terminal-to-plane train service in the next few months.

One of the lounges at Amsterdam Schiphol is targeted at a completely different market from the usual phalanx of road-warriors. Its Babycare lounge has seven circular cabins where babies can sleep in a cot while their parents watch over them. There are also baby baths, changing tables, play areas and microwaves. Best of all it’s free.

Pets get their own lounges too these days. Pet-friendly carrier Pet Airways lets you drop off your pet in lounges at several US airports, including Hawthorne Executive in LA and Midway in Chicago, before they are flown.

Another odd one is the International Transit lounge in at the International Airport Montello. Never heard of it? Both the lounge and the airport are a figment of the local community’s imagination, although there are two long disused runways (or landing strips).

Keeping on the virtual theme, check out the Aerodrome Club at Abbott’s Aerodrome in Second Life, one of the few ways to get past the “velvet rope” without a business class ticket or frequent flyer status.

Yet all of these pale into insignificance against what will officially become the world’s strangest airport lounge in December. That month, Finnair will open the final parts of its new lounge at Helsinki’s Vantaa airport. Visitors to the 1,000 square metre lounge will find not one but four different types of sauna: an Alpine-style spruce sauna, a stone sauna, a steam sauna and a traditional Finnish sauna. Best of all, the traditional Finnish sauna will have a view of the aircraft taxiways. I have visions of business travelers getting too relaxed and suddenly realising their plane is about to depart, chasing down the runway in a towel. Or worse, with nothing on at all.