Category Archives for Lounges.
American Airlines Admirals Club have had a hit with their made to order guacamole in the afternoons.
Unfortunately it’s not available at my home airport in Austin but I’ve sampled it all around the system. Here it is in Dallas prior to the renovation of the ‘A’ Club there.
They’ve also rolled out made to order avocado toast in several lounges. Someone must have made a bit bet on avocado futures.
Currently Phoenix Airport’s terminal 4 B concourse has a Priority Pass-accessible “The Club” lounge. It opened in 2014 and it quite small, 2985 square feet. It has food and drink, but the furniture is dated and there are no restrooms inside the lounge.
This space — and an additional 7000 square feet — will be turned into a new lounge. The airport’s RFP provides clues as to whose lounge it will be.
Last month I wrote that a new Minute Suites was about to open in Charlotte. I suggested that since the existing Minute Suites locations accept Priority Pass, that this one would too. It would be the first Priority Pass lounge in the Charlotte airport.
However Minute Suites opened but didn’t take Priority Pass. They do tomorrow and they just schooled Priority Pass about it..
There’s an axiom on the internet that the answer to any question in an article title is always “no.”
And that’s just the case here. The Wall Street Journal thinks otherwise but fails to make the case, though there’s certainly more crowding in some lounges that’s difficult to manage.
The case the Journal makes is that the rise of Priority Pass cards distributed with credit cards, especially Chase, have led to a decline in quality of airport lounges. That’s false. The other major claim is they’ve made lounges more crowded, and that’s true with some lounges.
Newark is going to open in a few weeks’ time and Houston will open over the summer. The Los Angeles Polaris lounge is supposed to open later this year. So if they stick to that schedule United should have 5 Polaris lounges open by the end of 2018.
However we’re not going to see any more in 2019. The next batch won’t open until 2020, which considering these were announced nearly two years ago seems insane.
United’s new Polaris lounge opens April 30th near gate G92 at San Francisco’s airport. The facility is 28,000 square feet – the same size as American’s Flagship lounge in Miami and one of the world’s larger lounges – and has 440 seats. They have more power outlets – 492 – than seats.
United Polaris lounges feature both buffet and menu ordering. The San Francisco lounge menu was created by chef Tritia Gestuvo though doesn’t reflect a unified cuisine — there will be congee at breakfast, pappardelle pasta with mushroom ragout in the afternoon, and United’s Polaris Burger. The buffet has a ramen noodle bar in the afternoon.
Way back in November 2015 I suggested that an American Express Centurion lounge would be coming to LAX. All signs were it was about to happen. And then just a few days later the airport told employees in their newsletter that a Centurion Lounge was coming “to the south side terminals (between terminals 6 & 7).”
Two and a half years later the airport is finally ready to move forward — with space no one else wanted in the Tom Bradley terminal.
They were more than generous, perhaps too generous, and out of step with much of the world. So this doesn’t surprise in the least. I just miss the idea that a valued customer is a valued customer each and every time and it seems a last little thread of that dies when this dies.
This is a really cool opportunity. The brand new San Francisco Polaris lounge will be opening April 30th. Before that happens there’s a preview day on Friday, April 27 where the lounge is fully operational. And any MileagePlus member can redeem for a visit.
Three weeks ago I cited Denver city documents that revealed an American Express Centurion lounge would be built at the Denver airport, and that a Plaza Premium Lounge was pending approval as well.
American Express is now sharing renderings of the lounge and some additional details.
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 »
