Tag Archives for centurion lounge.
Philadelphia’s tiny Centurion Lounge may finally be getting the expansion it desperately needs. A document describing an Amex PHL lounge extending into lower-level space — matching reports that American Express is taking over the British Airways lounge below.
American Express is adding a new Centurion lounge in Boston, a Sidecar dining outpost in Charlotte, and a major expansion of its Centurion lounge at Dallas-Fort Worth. The catch is that Boston cardmembers will be waiting until 2029, years later than originally expected.
More than 150 people joined the wait list for the tiny American Express Centurion Studio in Fort Lauderdale, which tells you almost everything about what airport lounge “premium” means now. The space is small, the food is forgettable, and the only thing truly exclusive about it is how many travelers are still willing to queue for it.
American Express is opening a new lounge at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport that has not been publicly announced, with travelers spotting “American Express Lounge Coming Soon” signage in the terminal. The location is especially notable because it appears to be at Hongqiao rather than Pudong, pointing to a strategy focused on premium short-haul business traffic in China rather than primarly international travelers – or Americans.
American Express hasn’t announced another Sidecar location yet, but a city lease packet effectively does: the next Sidecar sit-down dining lounge is slated for Charlotte, with the agreement up for approval Monday. Unlike the tiny Las Vegas outpost, this plan is for a larger buildout.
The highlight of the lounge – and some people love it, others hate it, my view was a bit more in the middle – is the food. They have actual beef, not something I’ve seen much of in Centurion lounges the past several years as the food budget appears to have been cut back.
The Philadelphia airport has arguably the worst American Express Centurion lounge. It’s small. The food isn’t very good or attractively presented. There’s nothing relaxing about the space.
Most of the time, I wonder what the lines to get into Centurion lounges do to brand affinity – someone gets the card and they finally go to use their benefit and it isn’t a premium experience. Failing health inspections seems worse?
It was 2018 when I wrote that Centurion lounges are so busy, nobody goes there anymore. I rarely stop in, even when I have the time. They’re too busy. The food isn’t as good as it used to be. And other lounges have improved.
They’ve limited guest access and how much time you can spend in a Centurion lounge, but that hasn’t solved the crowding as they sign up more and more cardmembers with the promise of access. But now they’re doing something that could at least make the waits easier.
Washington’s National Airport is finally about to get an American Express Centurion lounge, based on photos showing construction largely complete and furnishing laid out in the space.
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 »
