The American Express Centurion lounge in Denver is among the larger ones at a little over 14,000 square feet. Still, the gate C46 spot gets pretty crowded. The afternoon I was there recently it took 20 minutes from the time I added myself to the list to the time I was eligible to enter.

The line to get into the lounge once I’d ‘cleared the list’ took easily as long as the wait list did. The couple of agents were just moving slowly, and people had questions. Plus the Amex procedure is cumbersome, since they require producing (3) separate items

• the credit card used for access
  
• boarding pass
  
• and ID (surely they could trust a cardmember with a Platinum card, who made it past TSA with an ID already? This step just strikes me as gauche)

They check your card spend status and then so many guests require payment. That’s when folks start to figure out if maybe they have more than one Platinum card among the group? And they start searching their bags for it. It just takes time to enter a Centurion lounge, sometimes.

My ‘token’ ran out while waiting in line at the lounge, but agents didn’t shrug at that. I was welcomed in no problem eventually.

The lounge has a horseshoe layout with two long hallways, plenty of abundant natural light, varied seating pods, workstations, a family room, and a game room.

The highlight of the lounge – and some people love it, others hate it, my view was a bit more in the middle – is the food. They have actual beef, not something I’ve seen much of in Centurion lounges the past several years as the food budget appears to have been cut back.

There is also a live cook station where they make omelets and pasta. These aren’t expensive items! But anything prepared hot and fresh, even just finishing off pasta, is going to be better than buffet.

Folks like the craft beer bar, and the overall design and atmosphere.

And, of course, is any Centurion lounge really complete without an out of order espresso machine?

While wait times can frustrate, these appear to be less of an issue right at opening as well as midday and late evening.

Is it weird to say I miss the early days of ‘Member Since’ as the wifi password and that they shouldn’t have changed it off of ‘Member Of’?

Access is available up to 3 hours before your scheduled departure; valid for departing or connecting flights only. This is gained via American Express Platinum and Business Platinum cards, Centurion cards and Delta Reserve cards with a same day Delta boarding pass. Guests aren’t complimentary for Platinum customers unless they spend $75,000 on the card each year. Guests are $50 for adults and $30 for minors.