American Airlines has business class lounges at New York JFK, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, Miami and Dallas – Fort Worth. They’ve been promising a lounge for their primary transatlantic gateway – Philadelphia – for many years. It’s finally almost here, and should be really worth the wait.
According to staff on the ground there, the lounge is expected to open for this summer’s flights. While a specific opening date hasn’t been announced, there’s increasing confidence that we’ll see it open at least by June.
- Construction was set to begin in 2019 for a 2020 opening but was delayed by the pandemic.
- I wrote exclusively in summer 2023 that the Philadelphia Flagship Lounge project was green lit to return.
- We’ve known that it would come back in 2025.
Philadelphia Flagship And A-West Admirals Club Entrance, Credit: American Airlines
I’m actually glad it’s taken this long. They were going to design the space in the old Flagship lounge template which is ok at best.
DFW Airport Flagship Lounge
Chicago O’Hare Flagship Lounge
Instead, they’ve used the new design template which has made truly special spaces at Washington National (E Concourse), Denver, and Newark.
National Airport E Concourse Admirals Club
Flagship lounges are for customers flying long haul business class or first class on American and its oneworld partners; American Airlines Platinum members and above flying international regardless of class of service; and for oneworld sapphire members and above (from airlines other then American and Alaska) and American Airlines ConciergeKey members even when flying domestically.
Passes for Flagship lounge access are available as choice benefits for achieving various loyalty point thresholds each year, and as an ‘Enhance With Miles’ redemption option. (There’s also an option for elites to redeem miles for Flagship First Dining in Miami and Dallas.)
With the new design template, the Philadelphia Flagship lounge – located between gates A15 and 16 – will depart from all the rest of the American Airlines business class spaces – and will be a more elevated experience.
LAX Flagship Lounge
The A West Admirals Club will similarly be the nicest at the airport, and one of the four nicest in the system along with Newark, Denver, and National Airport E. The only other announced ‘new template’ club is Austin, but that one is no longer even slated to be in the same location in the airport – and the new portion of the terminal where it’ll be located isn’t even built yet.
Opening dates are hard to predict because work has to complete, permits have to be issued. But opening is very close at hand!
PHL *needs* it. And, if this new lounge will be anything like the new Chelsea or Soho lounges at JFK T8, that’s nearly as-good-as Delta One or Polaris, in my opinion. This new Flagship, and the new Flagship Suites on the 789, etc., are what bring me hope for American Airlines. So, no more delays, please. Get it done, son!
Charlotte??
It ain’t open til it’s open but this is exciting news even if I’ll likely never step foot in it (but never say never!). Just keep the rats away!
I mean, I don’t know who flies American for the lounge, it’s simply an airline as a means of transportation these days, not for the experience.
From New York, American’s transatlantic business class tickets are generally the same price IF NOT MORE than United or Delta’s. I will never pay for American when the other two are similar in price.
This one felt like clickbait. Here’s the entire meat of the article…
“According to staff on the ground there, ……a specific opening date hasn’t been announced….”
Everything else is rehash of old stuff.
Hope it opens soon. The AC in PHL I visited in January of this year on return from DOH was drab, dreary and rather disgusting. Decided then to avoid connecting in PHL whenever possible.
@kal Oh bless your soul.
@kal — I’m with @Ross, CLT is the ‘black sheep’ of ‘fortress’ hubs. Enjoy those rocking chairs, because that’s about as good as it gets from there for now. To me, it is absurd how AA (mis)treats Charlotte as if it were the ‘red-haired stepchild.’ And it is actually a relatively-large airport (7th busiest in the US, 9th for total passengers, so not a ‘small’ one). I’d have thought expect others (like Delta or United) would try to swoop in, set up a nice new SkyClub or United Club, and offer more routes and amenities to ‘rescue’ those disgruntled AA captives. But, hey, at least there’s a tiny Centurion that’s seemingly always ‘packed to the brim’. Otherwise, there’s that ancient Admirals Club at B, which is one of my least favorites overall. I haven’t been through since they opened that new ‘The Club CLT’ (2022?) which ‘looks’ nice (and some say is now the ‘best’ for that airport, currently), but then again, in order to actually get access, you practically ‘need’ to pay their $9 fee to ‘pre-book’ (for all intents and purposes, that is a ‘bribe’). So, you betcha, CLT deserves better, and AA should indeed invest in a new AC and an actual Flagship for there, especially so that its long-haul flights to Europe from CLT are actually ‘premium’ from start to finish. But, let’s be real: CLT probably won’t get much better anytime soon. It’s silly because there’s ample money flowing through that region. Truly, a missed opportunity for all.
As a PHL based flyer, I would never say “I’m actually glad it’s taken this long”. Even if the lounge ends up being nicer as a result, this AA Hub has only had one real Admirals Club in operation since 2017.