Category Archives for Lounges.
A report suggests that American Express will be building out a new Centurion lounge at Washington’s National airport. It also notes significant planned expansion at both San Francisco and Seattle, which matches what I already know.
The future of American Airlines premium lounges is in question. Their international business class Flagship lounges have been closed for 9 months, and won’t re-open until international business class demand returns.
Inside three of American’s Flagship lounges are Flagship First Dining facilities, sit down dining rooms with cooked-to-order menus and private bars for first class passengers. They served Krug champagne, but the Krug is being sold off at a discount in nearby Admirals Clubs.
Thai Airways has opened a refurbished Royal Orchid business class lounge in Bangkok. It’s an international departures lounge on level 3 of the Suvarnabhumi airport E concourse. It’s a strange time to be making capital investments and opening a lounge when the airline is not generally selling international flights leaving the country.
A couple of weeks ago I called on Centurion lounges to open or at least for American Express to speak to its plans for re-opening. They’ve now done so. American Express tells me that on October 5 they will re-open their Philadelphia and Seattle lounges “with more locations to follow.” They’ve also detailed plans for 5 new and expanded lounges.
The argument that food and beverage is key to the Centurion lounge experience, but is hindered by Covid precautions, is a cop out. Far from being another reason to keep lounges closed, fewer passengers makes it easier to deliver individual portions. Airlines and independent lounges are re-opening. American Express needs to speak to a timeline for bringing Centurion lounges back on line.
I’ve been consistently hearing from American Airlines employees that several Admirals Clubs are expected to open in June. I’ve heard about major hub clubs, and the dates being offered are late in the month.
Asked about what I’ve been hearing, an American Airlines spokesperson offered “We hope to have more information to share this week.”
With Las Vegas preparing to re-open, American Express is making a bet on the future of travel and the gaming resort city. They’ve announced this morning that they’re expanding their Las Vegas airport Centurion lounge by approximately 50%. The lounge, once it re-opens, will stay open throughout most of the construction periods with only brief closures.
Clubs remain closed not just for social distancing reasons, but to control costs. They’re only going to make clubs available when there’s a revenue proposition to do so. And international travel demand, and especially international premium cabin demand (which relies heavily on business travel), is expected to come back last.
American Express is closing all Centurion Lounge locations starting Saturday, March 21. Here’s detail on the move.
Due to low passenger volumes and suspended flights, American is closing 11 lounges so far. I expect that number to grow.
There are various state laws that are affecting service in Admirals Clubs. Perhaps the most extreme place you can social distance inside of an airport is in American’s Flagship First Dining. But they’ve had to close it at New York JFK because ‘restaurants’ are required to be closed. Some won’t let you take food with you, others won’t let you eat the food they give you there. And in some places alcohol cannot be served.
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 »
