American Airlines will open its new business class Flagship lounge in Philadelphia on Thursday along with the new Admirals Club next door.
American Airlines Philadelphia Flagship Lounge, credit: American Airlines
This has been many years in the making. Construction was about to begin in 2019, shortly before the pandemic.
The project was put on ice, and the Philadelphia hub took longer to restart than others – it’s the airline’s primary European gateway while Europe remained closed to most Americans during Covid and American retired many of their transatlantic-capable aircraft delaying their re-entry into many foreign markets.
I was first to reveal two years ago that the lounge was greenlit again. And I’m actually happy we had to wait because in the meantime they’ve adopted a new aesthetic… gone for new lounges is the 2017-era modern hospital. Now the lounges American Airlines is building (Denver, Newark, Washington National E) are genuinely beautiful spaces.
American Airlines Philadelphia Flagship Lounge, credit: American Airlines
Philadelphia will be in this new format. And it will feature an elevated food and beverage offering as well – with food to order as well as buffet an live chef station.
American Airlines Philadelphia Flagship Lounge, credit: American Airlines
Key information and new details:
- These lounges will be located in terminal A-West between gates A15 and A16. The Terminal A-East lounge is closing.
- It’s 12,500 square feet, with additional flex space of 1,364 square feet. The lounge will seat 200. The new design template Admirals Club next door will be 11,000 square feet with 181 seats.
- The Flagship lounge will have 6 showers, while the Admirals Club next door will offer 2. There’s both a full service bar and a self-serve wine bar on the business side (the Admirals Club is tended bar-only). The Admirals Club will have a kids room.
- American will be launching Klur bath products across U.S. lounges this year, starting with Philadelphia. A new scent, “Balance in Bloom” will permeate the space.
- These new lounges will be American’s first with “e-gates” – scan your boarding pass for entry. Airlines around the world have used these for over a decade, and United has been putting them in. Here’s United’s at the C10 club at Chicago O’Hare.
I get that this is more efficient, but I really don’t like it. Think immigration e-gates. Customers stumble and get confused by them. They feel cold and impersonal. The best thing about Admirals Clubs are the staff.
American Airlines Philadelphia Flagship Lounge, credit: American Airlines
Here’s the layout of the lounges:
With my other travels it’s going to be about a month before I can get to Philadelphia to spend time here. (I’m even missing the inaugural of American’s new 787-9P aircraft, sadly.) But I’ve blocked several hours of an intentionally-routed layover through Philadelphia to get a sense for the space.
YAASSS!! Finally. Excellent. Can’t wait.
Imagine the depravity of IQ needed to be confused by a gate that opens with a scan of your boarding pass.
Between the new Chase Lounge and the new AA Lounges PHL is becoming the lounge capital of the country. The AMEX Centurian is now the number 4 lounge at PHL.
After spending a morning in the Chase lounge going back to the Centurian lounge was like going to Denny’s.
Mr. Weiner gets it. Youse Birds not messin’ around, anymore!
A gorgeous shade of lipstick on one hell of a pig. I premise my comments with: I love Philly and I loathe AA.
PHL: it is functionally obsolete and cannot be fixed without billions and billions of dollars. The issues:
– concourses are undersized to number of gates and passenger volume
– single plane arrival-departure sequences make for awful ops in the crowded NE airspace
– no ability to add new runways or even reconfigure existing ramps and driveways to improve current runway configuration
– airport is landlocked between I-95 and Delaware River. No easy expansion paths
– aesthetics and design not reflective of any aspiration brand for PHL or the city
Philly deserves a better airport…and a better airline. The FL is a drop in the bucket.
AA: Everything about AA that occurs outside of this new lounge is why this is a flash in the pan.
@Parker — I would have said the same things about La Guardia until the Port Authority pulled off its incredible rebuild of two main terminals over the past decade; it was worth it. Yet, it seems like PHL is not going that route; instead, they’re adding a few new amenities, like these lounges, which is nice. So, if that’s as good as it gets, it’s not too bad. At least PHL is relatively close to the city, unlike JFK, which can take 45-minute, no traffic, or up to 2 hours from Manhattan in rush-hour. Besides, these days, ATC outta PHL is assisting EWR. Without them, the mid-Atlantic would be toast.
Alas will CLT and PHX ever feel lounge love?
@George N Romey — What, you don’t like that tiny Admirals Club upstairs at PHX? At least it’s got views. And, hey now, CLT has a Centurion and ‘The Club,’ with its pre-paid reservations, right? Yeesh.
Looks nice, I hope the mice enjoy it!
based on the square footage, these are pretty small lounges for a hub of this size.
DL and UA’s have a number of lounges that are 25,000 square feet plus
@1990 you are right. LGA fixed the messed they could. Maybe it’ll just take a politician calling PHL a third world country’s airport to get people to move.
As long as they have a Popeyes and all the airlines I fly maintain a club I’ll survive. But if that Popeyes goes, I’m out.
The most amazing part of this article is Gary using the words “American” and “stunning” as a positive compliment in the same sentence.
That’s “stunning” :-).
@Parker, sorry but you’re a bit off base with some of your comments.
I’m not an AA fan either, and while I love living in Philly I’m not a fan of the airport as it is.
“PHL: it is functionally obsolete and cannot be fixed without billions and billions of dollars.” – Yes, but so what, It can be fixed and there’s actually a plan in place, but AA has to be on board because a lot of the money has to come from them.
“concourses are undersized to number of gates and passenger volume” – I agree with this which is why PHL has an updated master plan “Charrette #3.” In this design, it will replace and consolidate all processing areas located south of the existing arrivals road. The existing Terminal A-West building was found to be up-to-date and therefore retained in this concept, with interior remodeling and minor expansions to match future facilities’ design. From there everything is replaced. It would include a new set of three piers and a large satellite terminal connected to the piers to their north.
“no ability to add new runways or even reconfigure existing ramps and driveways to improve current runway configuration”
Well to start they intend to have a double stacked frontal footage that gives a major land expansion toward I95. There would be a major roadway redesign that would be needed to follow through on the stacking. Garages would be moved to accommodate the frontal move toward I95. The rail would be moved to which would likely require a short shutdown. Purchases of land in Delaware county are going to allow for a far better taxiway system to stop persistent waits due to mandatory runway crossings that should be eliminate. While the runway system with taxiways are still be developed, we know the extra room created by the Delaware County land purchase will dramatically improve the taxiway system and allow for the new freight terminal and other facilities. What we don’t know is if the plan will include the extra runway that the prior plan included that would be facilitated by movement of the tank farm and a couple of other facilities that appear to already be planned to move to other airport location, and building out to a degree into the Delaware River which had already been positively evaluated by the Army Corps of Engineers, though never put out for actual approval. Yet we know it can be done if needed.
So, we’ll see, but it is more than possible and is being planned. The question is funds from AA, PA, FAA. The City is committed according to the funds available elsewhere. If the plan is good enough, I think that we’ll see it and likely completed by the end of the 2030s, but it will be similar in pain to the LaGuardia construction pain as just one terminal, “A” that’s standing now would remain.