Tag Archives for admirals club.
There’s a secret spot in the Austin airport that two travelers found for a sleep – the American Airlines Admirals Club, and you don’t actually have to be a member.
This is a first for me in passengers behaving badly at the airport – loading up bags of snacks from an American Airlines Admirals Club to take away. The food isn’t even good!
When American lounges do get crowded they prioritize customers paying for membership, either directly or with their premium $595 annual fee credit card, and to customers traveling on qualifying business class tickets. They have an obligation to deliver for those customers before offering complimentary access to others.
Would making everyone – paid club members, long haul business class passengers, and complimentary military guests alike – stand outside in the terminal in a line during their layover be better?
On arrival at the airport two days earlier I picked up a sandwich from Tortas Frontera, so I skipped it on this visit. Heading straight to the American Airlines Admirals Club it struck me just how copious the food offerings are… at Delta Sky Clubs, where you’ll find beef, chicken, salads, and sandwiches and many more options as well, all complimentary for guests.
American Airlines sells food in its Admirals Clubs and offers a much more modest spread.
The new Denver lounge is in terminal C between gate 30 and 32. It’s 6,000 square feet with seating for 114 people, and is open 4:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Every piece on the new DC lounge highlights the fireplace feature of the lounge. It helps make the space. However American Airlines has shut off the fireplace in the lounge, staff say, ‘for the environment’.
With an increase in Admirals Club membership fees and premium credit card annual fee American Airlines is investing more in the food in its lounges. The offerings still significantly lag what you’ll find in a Delta Air Lines Sky Club, but they’re better than they used to be.
The airline’s food (whether in lounge or in air) isn’t a reason not to book American, and I suppose that’s what they’re going for.
American has opened its second Admirals Club that follows the elevated design template pioneered at Reagan National. The Newark airport Admirals Club by gates A7 and A8 is 7,050 square feet – not large, but hopefully capacity for 137 seats is large enough given the carrier’s wholly domestic footprint at the airport.
Earlier I wrote about upcoming changes to the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, the premium co-brand card that comes with American Airlines Admirals Club membership. There’s going to be a big new card bonus offer, and changes to American Airlines clubs as well.
A premium offering in Admirals Clubs or several years has been guacamole and chips, but that’s available not because American is willing to make that (very modest) investment but because the credit card that offers club membership is a Mastercard and Mastercard pays for the avocados.
If you want chicken nuggets inside an Admirals Club, they have those! But they’ll charge you for it. Indeed, they’ll overcharge you for it.
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 »
