American Airlines doesn’t just have a new business class Flagship lounge in Philadelphia, they have a refreshed Admirals Club, too, in their spiffy new design template.
Located in terminal A West between gates 15 and 16, it shares an entrance with the Flagship lounge. There’s even a space behind the reception desk that connects the two and that can be locked/unlocked on either side to create overflow seating for one or the other.
Walking up to the lounge entrance there’s a sign on the terminal level that says they aren’t accepting day passes. This currently applies to both the Flagship and Admirals Clubs, but they can be talked into it in non-busy periods with a little bit of polite pushback.
You don’t actually need to stop at the desk. The Flagship lounge is to your left and the Admiral’s Club to your right. This is American’s first lounge with “e-gates” that will check your eligibility to enter based on your boarding pass. That saves labor (fewer staff) but also reduces bottlenecks getting in.
You’ll still need to visit, of course, if you aren’t accessing based on the itinerary (such as an international trip and status, or business class international) or lounge membership or status tied to the frequent flyer number in your reservation.
For instance you might have an Admiral’s Club membership tied to your AAdvantage account, but you’re flying on American with an Alaska Airlines-issued award ticket and your Alaska Mileage Plan number in the booking. The e-gates won’t know to grant you access.
I actually visited the lounge twice over a couple of weeks – the second time after 5 p.m. where crowds were at peak. There weren’t many seats, but there were a few seats. You had to dodge and weave around people and bags to move around the lounge. On my early visit to the Flagship side the week before the soda machine was spitting out carbonated water rather than soda, and that was my experience on the Admirals Club side on that second visit. And the wifi in the Admirals Club was practically unusable from the strain of everyone in the club at the same time online.
However the space is beautiful and it would be very comfortable when not packed.
And – a surprising highlight – the cole slaw was amazing! I never expected to find proper New York deli-style cole slaw in an Admiral’s Club. It wasn’t quite as good as the best cole slaw. It could have used a bit more horseradish. But it was legit!
Here’s the buffet.
There’s a phone room and a business services area. Those are nice to haves, I suppose, but in a packed lounge I’m not sure how many people will get the private box, or how much work will get done in this corner.
The kids room, on the other hand, was ironically maybe the most peaceful spot in the lounge. There were no kids there or anyone inside the Admiral’s Club on either visit.
There is a door marked ‘private’ that was unlocked on the Admirals Club side that anyone could have entered through. It takes you to the ‘swing space’ behind the check-in desks that can be used as an extension for either Flagship or the Admiral’s Club. It was connected to Flagship while I was there, but anyone could have gone between the two at-will.
You’ll exit, by the way, through those same automatic gates. Most people don’t walk up close enough to get them to open, and have to be told to walk closer.
Ultimately, American Airlines now has (4) really nice Admirals Clubs: Washington National E Concourse, Newark, Denver, and Philadelphia A West. However, this club just isn’t large enough. They should have made the whole thing Flagship (since the Flagship side can’t support passenger volume before the evening transatlantics) and kept the A East Admirals Club open. Perhaps they’ll ultimately renovate that space and we’ll have both a nice Flagship lounge and a large enough, nice Admirals Club in Philadephia as well.
Just took a trip on Flagship from PHL-LHR and then I am literally in ORD after a CDG-ORD business class flight back. Upfront, on flagship, despite paying $13k for two tickets one way, was not worth it. The food was terrible- we both got the ‘fillet mignon’ and while it’s hard to get it medium rare, at least they could use better grade steak… As ours… At best! Was USDA Select which most grocery stores (except Walmart!) do not sell. The quality of the meat was terrible, I’d rather have their braised short rib which at least you can chew. It was that bad.
Meanwhile, our CDG-ORD flight was delightful in regular BC. And the fish entree was not only the best fish dish I have had on an airplane, it was in my top 3 fish dishes EVER, it was that good. And Donna (purser on this flight) was awesome.
So tale of Two Cities! Quite literally.
Jon
There is something so in the matrix about airport lounges.
One reason for the crowding is how bad the B-C lounge is (especially with the kitchen under construction right now). Renovate that one and passengers won’t have to choose between superior and inferior experiences (and crowd the former).
How early in the morning did you visit the flagship lounge. Was hoping to visit on my long layover at about 9am on a Saturday and pay for a single visit but worried would be a wash if they won’t be accepting single pass purchase. The only best use for the Amex plat credit.
You know, even the incredibly large DeltaOne lounge at JFK was packed to the brim on July 3, yet it didn’t detract much from the fun; I’ve had similar ‘overcrowded’ experiences at the EWR Polaris, and it was still a ‘treat.’ Judging any of these, including the new Flagship in PHL, when they are ‘full,’ still results in a superior experience to any regular lounge or no lounge at all. Let’s not take these for granted, folks!
Typical planning in the new millennium: build something nice but don’t bother to size it to demand, thus making what could have been a differentiator a disappointment.
Gary,
Can you (and the rest of us) define “crowded” ?
Is it every single seat taken?
Is it being able to get a seat with nobody to your left and nobody to your right?
What, exactly, should AA do as far as a percentage goal to shoot for when building out spaces and capacity? 50%? 75? 97%?
(I have numbers in my head. I’m curious to read yours)
Who cares. Philly is for complete and total losers.
I hope American didn’t design these lounges the way United did at Terminal A. United has glass walls facing the terminal below, however, the glass walls don’t go to the ceiling. Acoustically they are wide open to the terminal so the lounge sounds like you are sitting in the middle of the terminal floor hearing the endless noise and TSA announcements. It is the worst lounge I’ve ever been in.
I was there yesterday afternoon. Too small of a space, crowded (basically had a family sitting right next to me), food so, so. The regular DCA E Club is far more impressive. Ditto the regular SFO and ORD ACs. It’s basically the BOS AC with self pour booze and bit better food.
Now what was really nice was the ride in the Escalade to my connection. That was sweet.
I was there a couple of days ago on a business class seat from NCE to PHL. Absolutely every seat was taken. Went to go in the Admirals Club in which almost every seat was taken. Visited three times in the last week. Always crowded and the food is nothing special.
This is how I’d expect things to function if AA built a Flagship at CLT, so thanks PHL for being the guinea pig on this one. lol
There’s always the filthy packed amex lounge at PHL.
PHL, excepting one newer terminal, feels old, dirty and is unpleasant. If leaving East Coast the two AA/BA lounges are superior at JFK. Plus, flying from ORD or DFW is better than PHL.
I see that they are re-doing the Miami Flagship Lounge – and that is great but how about a Flagship Lounge at CLT – there are certainly enough transatlantic flights from CLT.
Does the Philly Admirals Club still have the mice and rats? Their unsanitary practices earned the lounge a “F” from city health department. Top 3 worst airport in America.