Category Archives for Lounges.
The main Admirals Club in Charlotte is closed for renovations. Some travelers had hopes this would mean improving the club, still in US Airways-style, but it doesn’t. American – which has been somewhat cagey about the work that’s happening – says the updates which will take several months are about bringing the space up to fire code.
Here are permitting details for what renovations will actually be taking place.
The Star Alliance lounge at LAX is no longer limited to business and first class passengers and Star Gold elites on Star Alliance airline flights (and other airline eligible passengers such as Air Tahiti Nui passengers in business class). Instead, you can now pay for access to the lounge.
For many years Chase operated a pop up lounge around at the holidays for United Explorer cardmembers at the Mall at Short Hills, New Jersey. They wanted to be where there customers are.
Coming soon is a network of Chase airport lounges co-branded with Collinson’s The Club, the same company that brings you Priority Pass. But before we see the opening of the first Chase airport lounge, the bank has opened a lounge in the Metaverse..
oneworld lounge access rules provide business class lounge access for business class passengers flying any airline in the alliance. Qantas is using first class lounges as business class lounges, but haven’t renamed those lounges as business lounges so they’re excluded. Hopefully they’ll fully re-open lounges as their international route network restarts – and as partner airlines rebuild their Australia schedules as well.
American Airlines has re-opened its Flagship business class lounges at New York JFK, Miami and Los Angeles. Flagship First Dining for long haul first class passengers has reopened at JFK and Miami. However the lounges in Dallas and Chicago remain closed.
Fortunately American Airlines is now talking up a target for their re-opening.
The re-opening of the Dallas – Fort Worth American Airlines international business class Flagship Lounge keeps getting delayed. Officially there’s no announced re-opening date, though it looked ready to re-open in late fall and there was a push to staff up for it.
In fact, though, the space is open and being used for some passengers.
With only the smaller B concourse club available for passengers to spend time in while waiting for flights, it’s become overrun. While there have been some members talking about a ‘wait list’ to get in, an American Airlines spokesperson explains, “a representative manages the line outside of the Admirals Club. The rep will let guests in as others leave. First come first serve for our members.”
At the start of 2020 the Austin airport was on the verge of getting a new lounge accessible by American Express Platinum cardmembers. But a contracting dispute, the pandemic, and then American Airlines happened.
Last year we learned that Chase is launching its own airport lounge network in collaboration with Airport Dimensions, a Collinson company which brings you Priority Pass and The Club lounges.
We now know about 5 Sapphire Lounge by The Club lounges in the pipeline, including details on the latest in Phoenix.
Delta Air Lines does not currently have upgraded lounges for international business class passengers the way that United and American do (though their Sky Clubs are nicer than United Clubs and Admirals Clubs). However that’s about to change.
In addition to plans for a Delta One business class lounge in Los Angeles and at New York JFK, which I’ve previously reported, there are plans for one in Detroit as well.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
