As I first reported in late August, American Airlines will renovate its D concourse Admirals Club at D.C.’s National airport beginning in early 2026.
American Airlines is renovating its popular Admirals Club® lounge in Concourse D of Reagan National Airport (DCA). The renovated lounge will span more than 10,000 square feet, adding approximately 50% more seating and giving customers more room to recharge and relax ahead of their journey.
Credit: American Airlines
Credit: American Airlines
What I wrote four months ago – so many readers are well ahead of American’s announcement:
We’re currently expecting a new-style Admirals Club in Austin, announced in November 2021, but the location of that lounge in the airport has changed and construction has not yet started.
And word on the street is that there are plans to close and renovate the Admirals Club on the D concourse at Washington National airport (the old US Airways club with ratty furniture, likely to take a year, while eventually freshening up but not renovating the legacy American Airlines lounge on the C concourse).
This is fantastic news for American to make public, albeit a bit late. That’s because the new lounge aesthetic really is fantastic. Their E (regional jet) concourse lounge at the airport is arguably my favorite standard airline club in the United States (although the Philadelphia Club has better food).
The D.C. E concourse Admirals Club has a very special protocol room behind the check-in desk.
Delta’s Sky Club food has declined somewhat since the airline introduced Delta One business class lounges, and the Sky Clubs no longer have to serve as spaces for the carrier’s premium customers at some hubs. And United’s lounge food isn’t great. Nonetheless both United and Delta do a better job with club food than American does.
Still, I remember when there was virtually no food at all in lounges – known as home to the ‘Snack Tower of Sadness’.
Lounge food is certainly upgraded since those days. And we’re getting Lavazza coffee rolled out. American has a grab ‘n go lounge in Charlotte that’ll be a template for growth elsewhere. And they’re planning business class Flagship lounges in Charlotte and a new one in Miami. So the lounge game at American is on the upswing.
What’s special, beyond the new lounge aesthetic, is American’s Flagship First Dining, still open in Dallas and Miami (and rumored to have a planned return coming to LAX).
That’s an experience unmatched by any other airline in the United States, and available to upper tier elites as a mileage redemption. It’ll almost certainly be offered bundled with Flagship Business Plus fares going forward, as American eliminates Flagship First class. Sadly the joint American-British Airways Chelsea lounge at New York JFK pales in comparison to the old Flagship First Dining there. Their business class lounges, of course, do not match United’s or Delta’s offerings.
It’s the faux-fireplace that does it for me, every time.
Good!
What this article touches on is that the JPLs at JFK could probably do with a little bit of attention. Greenwich is… I mean, the Piper H champagne bar is nice, but it could be a bit better, and some of the newer AA lounges are certainly nicer in comparison.
I’m sure it’s complicated as BA/AA presumably need to agree on everything, and kind of wish AA would just run the JFK lounges just as BA runs the LHR ones. At least in this era of AA actually having a decent lounge revamp program – something AA probably doesn’t get enough credit for.
I’ve noticed the last couple weeks across about 6 or 7 different Admirals Clubs in ORD, DFW, CLT, and JFK that the coffee urns have a sticker saying “CHANGE PLEASE” (usually it is red) across the brand on the front. Is that the new coffee brand? Or some sort of internal tag that is showing publicly through much of the system? I find it humorous either way.
Lounges really impress people who haven’t used them dozens of times. They are a way to win infrequent travelers, in my opinion. I just want to get to the gate and board my flight.