Category Archives for Lounges.
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.
Over the summer I told you about indications of improved business class check-in and a business class lounge planned for LAX. Now there’s leaks out of the Port Authority of New York New Jersey about a planned Delta One lounge at New York JFK. Delta appears to be matching Untied and American with a dedicated business class lounge product.
The Ethiopian Airlines lounge at the carrier’s home airport in Addis Ababa has some basic rules. You cannot bring outside food in the lounge (for cleanliness) and you cannot take food out of the lounge (for cost). Don’t put your feet up on the furniture and – sadly this needs to be said – don’t lie down on the floor.
What’s unique is that they’ll penalize your frequent flyer account for breaking these rules.. It’s 2000 miles for a first offense, 5000 miles for a second offense, and dropping your elite status down to Silver for 6 months as a third offense.
Before the pandemic I wrote about how Charlotte desperately needed another American Airlines Admirals Club – or two. American had scaled to 900 flights a day at DFW – and opened a 5th club. Charlotte was up to 700 flights and had just two clubs. And the terminal itself is more crowded than Dallas.
Starting in January Charlotte is going to be down to a single Admirals Club as the main one closes for maintenance and American stands up a ‘passenger service center’ to help with ticketing.
Earlier this 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 4 lounges in the pipeline.
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 »
