American Airlines has the most exclusive lounges in the country. United’s Polaris lounges are available to all of their long haul business class passengers. DeltaOne lounges are also. And they can get crowded as a result, especially before peak transatlantic departures.

The American Airlines Flagship First Class Dining rooms in Dallas and Miami, though, are only available to true Flagship First Class passengers – and American offers Flagship First on very few routes. It’s only available on their fleet of Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A321T aircraft. Both of those are set for retrofit, losing the first class product, as American introduces their new Business Suites.

There’s sit-down restaurant dining and a private bar, and most of all fantastic service and serenity in a world where even DeltaOne business class lounges can be chaotic – and with a line to get in.

Few people realize though that there are certificates that AAdvantage elites can redeem miles for to gain access to these lounges. And it’s actually a pretty good deal, especially when traveling with family.

• American Airlines recently opened up the option for AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members and above to redeem miles for access to Flagship First Dining.

• Upon qualifying for Platinum Pro, you gain the option to redeem for 25,000 miles each and then upon reaching Executive Platinum receive access to passes at 20,000 miles apiece. Eligible members will see the option in their account under ‘Enhance With Miles’ including the price and the number of passes they’re permitted to redeem for.

  

  A Flagship First Dining single visit pass is an choice benefit option at the 400,000, 550,000 and 750,000 Loyalty Point Reward levels. However, members would be better off choosing a 25,000 mile reward at those levels and redeeming just 20,000 miles for this unless they need more than the redemptions for this that ‘Enhance With Miles’ allows.

• Each pass entitles you to access along with “immediate family (spouse, domestic partner and / or children under 18) or up to two guests. Children 2 and older count as a guest.” So three unrelated people can access, or two adults and all of your minor children.

• First Dining is inside the Flagship lounges, so includes Flagship lounge access as well – impressive since a Flagship lounge pass normally runs $150 or 15,000 miles on its own.

A family of four can gain access to Flagship First Dining for as little as 20,000 miles or 5,000 miles apiece. Considering that gains international business class lounge access plus a good sit down restaurant meal, that’s quite a deal. (This is an even better option when spending a long layover in Dallas or Miami on a domestic flight when you wouldn’t otherwise have international business class lounge access.) I don’t think most AAdvantage elite members realize this.

I recently took American Airlines business class to Europe with my family, connecting through Dallas. We had about a four hour layover between our inbound flight from Austin and our long haul connection. It was fewer miles this way and gave us some margin for delays – I didn’t want to risk having to add a connection (e.g. through London) and hoping to find several seats together on a later flight if Austin – Dallas delayed.

So this was a great opportunity to redeem a First Dining certificate and check up on how First Dining is doing.

You enter the Flagship Lounge now together with the Admirals Club by gate D24. The entrance is no longer beside the Capital One lounge. That old entry was just too confusing with Capital One customers queueing for entry, while Flagship Lounge passengers generally could cruise on through. Plus people were constantly getting off the elevator and heading the wrong direction. Now, Flagship and Admirals Club share an entrance.

You wait in line to approach the desk and have your credentials scanned. I handed over our business class boarding passes, but noted that I wanted to redeem a certificate for First Dining in my account. The agent at the desk didn’t know how this worked and had to make a phone call. Then she went though the process, saying she’d never done it before, and needed to scan the certificate in my account more than once.

Finally, she handed over our black Flagship Lounge invitiation card (so that they knew upstairs we had access, rather than just to the Admirals Club). We were also given a First Dining invitation card to show upon entry to there, inside the Flagship Lounge.

So we entered Flagship, turned left and headed down the corridor to First Dining. We entered that room and I gave over our First Dining invitation at the host stand.

The dining room is a great space, but I wish it had a windowline. Instead it just looks out through one-way glass at the interior of the lounge itself. (Miami looks out into the terminal, only New York JFK used to have airfield views.)

Inside there were two passengers at the bar, and two passengers seated at a table in the dining room. Both groups left for their flights shortly thereafter, and we had the enter space to ourselves.

After we were seated, though, an agent came over with the invitation card I’d been given.

• First, she said, it didn’t indicate that it was valid for any guests!
  
• And second, it did not show any pass number on it. The downstairs check-in agent had failed to hand write the pass number on the card when she redeemed my certificate. And they needed me to pull up the certificate on my phone so they could copy it down and investigate further.

This was just weird. Surely, a first class experience would have entailed talking to the agent who’d redeemed the certificate and doing whatever legwork was necessary on their own end. Instead, it was a really awkward interaction, treating me as though I might have been scamming entry.

And why on earth do they really need all of this paper and all of this process, including handwriting certificate numbers? Whatever internal budget allocations this helps them reconcile surely shouldn’t be the passenger’s problem!

That awkwardness was quickly wiped away by a glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle champagne and the opportunity to order whatever you wish from the menu.

The meal began with an amuse bouche.

I ordered the octopus starter which was fantastic.

Bread service included a smoked butter, which I really appreciated. Too many fine dining restaurants completely ignore the opportunity to do something interesting with their butter. The better traditional places might just do a truffle butter. A bit of upscale creativity can be accomplished with a little honey butter. Here they offered a bit of dramatic flourish removing the dome and you see the smoke dissipate at the table.

I did have a bite of my daughter’s burger, and it was a very good burger though I have to say that I think it used to be better. My wife ordered the chicken (she was pleased with it) and I had the halibut.

The Walt Chardonnay wasn’t available, but they had a bottle of Markham which is o.k. and certainly representative of basic Napa oaky, buttery style. I also had a glass of the Salem Pinot Noir, and sipped at a cordial as well. Outside of the premier bubbles they’re largely serving more modest wines, but still better than what you’ll find self-pour in the business class Flagship lounge (or onboard).

My daughter and I each had the chocolate dome dessert.

We enjoyed the hospitality of the space until we left for our gate – no other guests came in while we were there.

Our flight departed before 6 p.m. and perhaps there were more guests later, That tells me though that none of the eligible passengers on the 5:50 p.m. London flight (that actually has first class) likely availed themselves of the opportunity, though perhaps London passengers before the 7:40 pm or 9:35 pm did so. Most likely the passengers who were there when we arrived had come off of a London flight in first class and were connecting, though I did not ask.

Given how empty this was on peak travel day, I really do think that people just do not realize it’s an option. It won’t be for everyone, though with subjective preferences varying and the sheer volume of Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum (and ConciergeKey) members flowing through Dallas and Miami surely some will want to keep this top of mind.

I hadn’t visited the DFW Flagship First Dining since December 2022. I thought the menu was a bit better then, but my meal was still quite and the beverage options were as well.

The best Flagship First Dining used to be the one at New York JFK – it had the best food and the best views. That space is now part of the business class Greenwich lounge shared with British Airways, and first class dining is the Chelsea lounge which isn’t nearly as good – and isn’t eligible for access via one of these passes.