Is Columbus, Ohio Getting an American Airlines Admirals Club?

by Gary Leff

The Columbus, Ohio airport – named after astronaut John Glenn – is the largest airport in central Ohio and it’s the second largest airport in the state behind Cleveland. (Cincinnati’s airport, of course, is actually in Kentucky.)

The only club at the airport is the USO Lounge. There’s no American, United, or Delta lounges, and no Priority Pass or other pay-in lounge.

HMSHost, though, is advertising for an Admirals Club bartender.

The airport used to have an America West Club between gates 5 and 7 but it closed in 2003. Before that the space was a TWA Ambassadors’ Club.


American Airlines Admirals Club DFW A Terminal

America West took over US Airways which in turn took over American. America West operated a hub in Columbus in the 1990s which they shut down under current American CEO Doug Parker’s leadership in 2003, eliminating 90% of their flights at the airport.

Unfortunately the Columbus airport doesn’t appear poised for an upgrade, as American Airlines tells me “there are no plans to open an Admirals Club in Columbus.” There’s a saying that the answer to any question posed in the title of an internet post is ‘no’ and that seems to be the case here, unfortunately.

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. mercenAAry Airlines closed out their Admirals Clubs at BDL, GSO, and CCS last October. Presumably to (again) raise their profit margins. It’s likely that all the superb staff working at these clubs have long since departed AA employment. One can only guess at what factors in AA’s decision to open a new club at CMH.

  2. There was (and is) no reason to arrive at GSO longer than 15 minutes before your flight boards. Maybe AA finally realized this?

  3. Apart from the new club in Orlando and the reopened club in Houston, AA has done nothing but close Admirals Club locations over the past ten years. Greensboro, Buffalo, Washington Dulles, Hartford, Kansas City, Seattle, San Jose, Frankfurt, Santo Domingo, San Juan, Caracas, Bogota – all gone. Nashville got their club reopened about ten years ago after a LOT of lobbying.

    Much as I’d like to see some new clubs in stations like Columbus, I’m not convinced AA is done hacking at the existing stable of locations. I wouldn’t be surprised to St Louis, Tampa and Toronto on the chopping block in the next few years…

  4. AA won’t put a lounge at CMH. Won’t make sense for them financially. Let’s at least get a Priority Pass Lounge or Restaurant at CMH. Now that makes more sense and would do very well here.

  5. Ah. The Port Columbus America West Club. I spent many an hour there, usually drinking to make up for the idiocy of choosing to be an HP elite, as I waited for yet another delayed flight.

  6. Does not make financial sense for AA to put s lounge at CMH. Probably not enough traffic to support, but a Priority Pass lounge or restaurant makes perfect sense here.

  7. Although AA just overtook Delta as the 2nd most traveled airline out of CMH, (behind SWA) this wouldn’t even make sense for them as a market. As a frequent flyer out of CMH for 14 years, I would love any one airline to have a club but honestly, it doesn’t make sense for any of them to open one. I can get from my house downtown to CMH in less than 15 minutes. Not a lot of frequent fliers arrive early to the airport since you really don’t need to based on Columbus’s traffic. The way CMH is built, you cannot walk between terminals past security so the likelihood of a Priority Pass type lounge is not strong either.

    And that America West lounge space is long gone. That terminal is now the SWA terminal.

    Maybe when they build the new terminal in the next ten years….

  8. I echo what Jess said as someone who calls Cmh home and am so tired of the surly attendants at the Eddie George grill. I usually roll up to my gate 5 min before boarding. With that being said, I think a small one COULD survive but I don’t see how it makes financial sense. But with the current AA leadership that probably means one will be open within the year. I don’t even know where they would put it in B.

    I have heard actually within the next 5 years or so delta might be planning a skyclub here when/if the Cmh-AMS flight come to fruition (don’t laugh). No clue why they’re looking at that market.

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