Capital One signed an agreement to build a lounge in Charlotte. It will be on the mezzanine level of the Concourse A expansion. At ~ 14,000 square feet it will be Capital One’s largest lounge to date. New York JFK is 13,500 square feet.
We don’t know much about the specific offerings at the lounge beyond “expansive tarmac views, locally inspired menus, a full-service coffee bar, and dedicated workspaces.”
Rendering Credit: Capital One
Rendering Credit: Capital One
Capital One currently has lounges at:
- Dallas – Fort Worth
- Denver
- Las Vegas
- New York JFK
- Washington Dulles
- Washington National (“Landing”)
And a Capital One Landing is expected to open soon at New York LaGuardia.
What we know so far about Charlotte is simply a concessions lease. There’s no timing available yet. They’ll work on concept and schematics, airport approvals (design standards, security, mechanical/engineering/plumbing tie-ins), permitting, and buildout. That won’t happen quickly. Phase II of the airport’s Concourse A Expansion opened in September 2024. Delta’s Sky Club is 14,000 square feet on the mezzanine there.
While some might hope to see this lounge before the end of 2027, and Charlotte should be an easier building environment than LAX or New York JFK, we could also be looking at 2028.
I’m excited to see the development, though, and it means the experience in Charlotte is going to get a lot better. American is building a new Admirals Club and Flagship lounge, and they’ve opened their Grab ‘n Go market (“Provisions”). There’s a The Club and a couple of Minute Suites as well as a Centurion lounge. But nothing there today is particularly attractive today. In fact, I avoid Charlotte connections when possible. But I much look forward to seeing Capital One there.
WHAT?? That was out of left field! How dreadfully exciting!!
I avoid Charlotte at all possible too; had a few connecting flight thru there in the past couple of years and OMG, it was like walking thru a time warp…they haven’t updated that terminal since, what, the 1960s?? Narrow and over-crowded halls, poor signage….stay away at all costs!
I HATE connecting in Charlotte. The new Delta lounge is great and, at quiet times, the Centurion Lounge is nice but overall that place is heaving.
@Doc423 CLT made a decision a long time ago not to invest in iconic airport design, choosing instead to focus on functional and minimal investment to keep landing fees lower. This was critical to their explosive hub growth under US and then AA. What we see today is the effect of all of that. An overcrowded, obsolete, inefficient airport. The new A concourses are nice, the rest of the joint is a toilet.
Finally, someone’s trying to rub CLT the right way!
@ATX Jetsetter — At least they got those rocking chairs, though, amirite?!
This is good news, but Concourse A is a fair hike from C, D and especially E. It’s too bad it’s not more centrally located, such as in the central atrium.
Aw, I meant to say “leff” field but got autocorrected.
I’m sure it’ll be several years, but nice to see Capital One “keeping the train moving” as previously nothing was officially announced to look forward to after the LGA Landing opens. I’m no fan of CLT either but if one must transfer though, it’s nice that’ll be there (eventually).
Fingers crossed for a LGA Landing preview soon, Gary!
@L737 — Zing!
@1990 – Ha-haa yes to your point, glad CLT is getting some attention
The location is going to make this irrelevant for connections except during IRROPS when they’re stuck.
The existing Concourse A expansion—where the SkyClub and The Club CLT are along with most of the cats and dogs—is already a hike from the Atrium at the centre of the airport and might as well be in a different state than the sprawling Concourse E where AA regionals come in. (The Centurion lounge where C, D and E meet is in a much more relevant location for most pax.)
There was some talk of the new Concourse A phase (or possibly a future phase) including a new headhouse facility for local CLT pax to check in and clear security; if so, this might be useful for them.
Parker
it wasn’t CLT’s decision to not invest in facilities but the decisions of AA that was not – and still is not willing to invest in the major expansions that are necessary to host a hub as large as AA operates.
The reason is obvious. DL’s hub in ATL is just a couple hundred miles away and while hardly stunningly beautiful, it works fairly well for the amount of passengers and flights that DL pushes through it.
It isn’t a surprise that Parker while still at US wanted to acquire DL when DL was in chapter 11 – because ATL is the only real megahub in the SE.
CF has run a number of good articles about AA’s restructuring of its DFW operations. The best thing that could happen is for AA to do the same at CLT; weather is not as problematic as at DFW but CLT is far more challenging from a passenger experience than DFW.
@L737 — Don’t neglect the CLT!
Same goes for Bollon Airport in Australia… and Busan, South Korea…
As CLT is now my home airport, looking forward to this but A is a hike from pretty much everywhere but A/B.
Great idea, rotten location. Something much more central is needed.
No offense meant, but North Carolina is kind of boring culinary wise imho so I’m curious as to what Cap1 is going to come up with for a local touch. Maybe they’ll have a BBQ-monger. Yum.
Any guesses on the chocolate flavor? Peanut & Honey?
@1990 — [Bahrain International Airport]!
On second thought, peanuts ain’t it. Maybe Honey & Sea Salt?
@L737 — BAH!!
@L737
I’m not sure about North Carolina being kind of boring culinary wise. Having lived there for almost a decade, one of the few goods things I have to say for the place is that I found the food to be very good—and reasonably priced.* Like Austin, Charlotte and Raleigh seem to get a lot of high quality nice restaurants but at much more reasonable prices than big cities.
By far the most distinctive North Carolina cuisine is of course the (two varieties of) barbecue, but barbecue is of course the distinctive cuisine in Texas too, and both NC and TX have a more distinct regional cuisine than CO, NV or VA, where C1 also has lounges.
(*Exception: I find Raleigh-Durham better than Charlotte for when you’re craving a specific ethnic cuisine, but it often requires specific local knowledge, eg, that it’s x obscure shopping center that still does dim sum with the carts or that near the intersection of y and z is the cluster of Nepalese places. Charlotte is much tougher; until a few years ago, Charlotte’s best—and one of its only—Korean restaurants was a Korean-run Chinese takeout with a secret Korean menu provided on request.)