Tag Archives for flagship first dining.
American Airlines has the most exclusive lounges in the country. Few people realize though that there are certificates that AAdvantage elites can redeem miles for to gain access to these lounges. And it’s actually a pretty good deal, especially when traveling with family.
The old Flagship First Dining space is now part of the Greenwich lounge, re-opened as the Tasting Room to take advantage of the bar there.
I recently had the chance to visit American Airlines Flagship First Dining DFW. It’s quiet and private, the food is excellent, but the space is dark and there were service lapses. Still, American Airlines Flagship First Dining is an incredible experience.
There is “nothing planned” for re-opening LAX Flagship First Dining, but American is very close to re-opening the main Charlotte Admirals Club.
Step inside American Airlines Flagship First Dining at New York JFK and you’ll forget for a moment that this is an airline’s lounge. You’d even forget you’re at the airport, except for the floor to ceiling glass views over the tarmac. The space is serene. The service is excellent. And they’re serving food you’d be happy to eat in a nice restaurant.
It’s even better than when it first opened, and reasonably draws comparisons to first class offerings from Lufthansa in Frankfurt and Air France in Paris.
American Airlines has re-opened its Flagship business class lounges at New York JFK, Miami and Los Angeles. Flagship First Dining for long haul first class passengers has reopened at JFK and Miami. However the lounges in Dallas and Chicago remain closed.
Fortunately American Airlines is now talking up a target for their re-opening.
These first class dining facilities are really nice experiences. They’re exclusive, never crowded, with sit down restaurant service and private bars. The food is generally quite good, and the drink service is too.
While Flagship lounges are open to oneworld airline partner premium cabin passengers and mid-tier elites and higher, Flagship First Dining is mostly available only to American’s own first class passengers. But there are exceptions.
American Airlines is re-opening its Flagship international business class lounges and most of its Flagship First Dining this fall, starting with Miami. They’re also re-opening all of their Admirals Clubs except Honolulu this summer. And they’re going to introduce a new way for premium passengers to access Flagship.
That’s wonderful because these lounges were fantastic. United’s Polaris lounges were probably a step above American’s Flagship lounges, but Flagship lounges were open to many more people and nicer than anything American had ever done before. American’s Flagship First Dining product was nicer than anything any U.S. airline has done in recent years, period.
The future of American Airlines premium lounges is in question. Their international business class Flagship lounges have been closed for 9 months, and won’t re-open until international business class demand returns.
Inside three of American’s Flagship lounges are Flagship First Dining facilities, sit down dining rooms with cooked-to-order menus and private bars for first class passengers. They served Krug champagne, but the Krug is being sold off at a discount in nearby Admirals Clubs.
American Airlines Concierge Key and Executive Platinum customers entering the Dallas Fort-Worth Flagship lounge have an option to buy access to the more exclusive Flagship First Dining room when traveling long haul international or on eligible transcon flights for $150 per person. This is a test scheduled to last three months.
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 »
