American Express opened its second U.S. Centurion airport lounge this month. Dallas Fort Worth is the second location after Las Vegas. There are more lounges to come, including San Francisco. I visited the Dallas facility on a recent connection, and absolutely loved it. It’s the best U.S. airport lounge I have been to. Here’s my review of the facility. Here’s my review of the food and drink situation. And now here’s the scoop on their complimentary spa and their shower facilities. Exhale Spa The Exhale Spa is a small room in the lounge. Only one treatment specialist was working while I was there, he was doing 15 minute massages, facials and other treatments wouldn’t be an option that day. They have you fill out a consent form, it’s a clothes-on massage and I was the…
Lounge Report
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The American Express Centurion Lounge in Dallas: Good Food and Great Drink
American Express opened its second U.S. Centurion airport lounge this month. Dallas Fort Worth is the second location after Las Vegas. There are more lounges to come, including San Francisco. I visited the Dallas facility on a recent connection, and absolutely loved it. I wrote about the facility itself yesterday. It’s the best U.S. airport lounge I have been to. Here’s now the scoop on their food and beverage offerings. First, know that they’re serious about their cocktails here, the waitress helping me in the restaurant shared her favorites and impressed on me the processes involved in mixing their drinks. Cocktails are by Jim Meehan and wines are curated by Anthony Giglio. These aren’t the rail drinks in the major airline lounges, or the premium drinks I get by showing my non-US elite card and…
Is the American Express Centurion Lounge in Dallas the Best Airport Lounge in the United States?
American Express opened its second U.S. Centurion airport lounge this month. Dallas Fort Worth is the second location after Las Vegas. There are more lounges to come, including San Francisco. I visited the Dallas facility on a recent connection, and absolutely loved it. It’s the best U.S. airport lounge I have been to. I would make the claim that it’s the best U.S. airport lounge, period, but I haven’t been to the Amex lounge in Las Vegas and I haven’t been to the Virgin Clubhouses at New York JFK or San Francisco (I’ve been to the Virgin lounge at Washington Dulles). I can say that it’s a better facility than the United Global First lounge in San Francisco (generally regarded as United’s best) and the American Airlines Flagship lounges in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New…
Saudia Business Class Trip Report: Saudia Lounge, Riyadh
Pakistani Correspondent continues her guest post describing the experience flying Saudia business class, which she redeemed using American Express Membership Rewards points transferred to Delta. Here’s her previous installment: New York JFK – Jeddah Saudia Lounge, Jeddah and Jeddah-Lahore CIP Lounge in Lahore, Pakistan Lahore – Riyadh And now P.C. continues with her visit to the Saudia lounge in Riyadh Welcome to Kind Khalid International Airport, Riyadh. As soon as my inbound plane got to the gate, people starting lighting up: Riyadh is a smoke-friendly airport. There were no signs about transit passengers or lounges or gates. Nevertheless, it was much easier finding the Saudia lounge and the airport had more to offer than Jeddah did. It had an odd coffee shop (which offered Wifi), and a few jewelry stores in the duty free area.…
Saudia Business Class Trip Report: Is the CIP Lounge in Lahore, Pakistan the Worst in the World?
Pakistani Correspondent continues her guest post describing the experience flying Saudia business class, which she redeemed using American Express Membership Rewards points transferred to Delta. Here’s her previous installment: New York JFK – Jeddah Saudia Lounge, Jeddah and Jeddah-Lahore And now P.C. continues with the CIP lounge in Lahore: Lahore airport was very chaotic, crowded and possibly a place in hell. The ticketing agent was not helpful, and did not help me pick my seats (which I couldn’t reserve online either). I was also charged an extra airport fee which had “just gone in effect” but was not informed of this charge by Delta or Saudia. Luckily, I had some local currency because the payment was cash only and no official receipt was provided. Apparently, these new aviation taxes are only for Pakistani airports and…
Saudia Business Class Trip Report: Saudia’s Jeddah Lounge and Jeddah-Lahore
Pakistani Correspondent continues her guest post describing the experience flying Saudia business class, which she redeemed using American Express Membership Rewards points transferred to Delta. Here’s her previous installment: New York JFK – Jeddah And now P.C. continues with the Saudia lounge in Jeddah and arriving in Lahore, Pakistan. Welcome to King AbdulAziz International Airport, Jeddah. The airport is fairly small but the signs for the Saudia lounge were misleading. Also, as an unacompanied female, I was not allowed to remain in transit for more than 18 hours but this wouldn’t be a problem because my onward flight was supposed to leave long before that. Eventually, I found the lounge on my own because no one wanted to talk to me and kept redirecting me to talk to someone else, or asked if I was…
Miami’s “Secret” American Airlines Club With Premium Liquor and a Nice Buffet
Miami used to have an American Airlines “Flagship Lounge” — an international first class lounge also open to American’s 100,000 mile flyers traveling internationally and also their oneworld partner top tier elite members. That one closed for renovations, never to re-open. The nice thing about Flagship Lounges, other than tending to be quieter and less busy than Admiral’s Clubs, is that they offer self-serve liquor and usually a decent buffet. I’ve been very fortunate to be a British Airways Gold member, granting me access to the New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles Flagship lounges whenever I pass through on American even just flying domestically. I became a British Airways Gold when BA acquired british midland. I was a long time bmi Gold, even though I never flew that airline — they were an easy Star…
The Singapore Airlines San Francisco Lounge is More US Than Asia
The Singapore Airlines check-in procedure provides a better experience than their San Francisco lounge does. Walking up to the first class check-in counter, a Singapore Airlines agent approached me to walk me the rest of the way to the counter. Unnecessary, but certainly first class service. It’s the only touch of first class on the ground that’s offered, as you’re sent off on your way to the lounge which is upstairs and down a long barren corridor. It’s not a tiny lounge but it really isn’t big enough to host Star Alliance elites and premium cabin passengers headed to Singapore, there are just too many eligible passengers for the size of the lounge and the place gets busy. There’s seating, but it’s not spacious or peaceful. I imagine it’s really packed when San Francisco –…
Singapore Airlines First Class Passengers Can’t Use the Bathroom in Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines does an outstanding job in the air (though service is usually phenomenal long haul it does vary and can be quite mixed flying short haul). Their food is very good as well. But Singapore Airlines does not match the quality of its inflight product with its ground services. Even most of its lounges in Singapore are just ‘fine’. Lounges outside of Singapore? Not nearly so impressive. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Hong Kong. Singapore Airlines has a fairly large presence in Hong Kong with 7 daily roundtrips between Hong Kong and Singapore. One of their flights heads onward to San Francisco. San Francisco – Hong Kong – Singapore and return flights are dubbed SQ1 and SQ2. This flight has seasonally been served by an A380 with ‘Suites class’. And yet… the…
The Best View from Any Airline Lounge, Anywhere: Review of the Premier Lounge – Denpesar, Bali
The best planespotting is probably from the fence off the beach at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Martin. Close behind would be sitting down at the outside tables at the In ‘n Out Burger at the edge of LAX. The best view from any terminal has to be the airport in Bora Bora. Like many of the airports in the Maldives you approach by boat. But instead of sailing to the island which houses an airport, the Bora Bora airport is simply its own small island (motu). And the waters are indeed stunning. But here I’m interested in the very best view from an actual airline lounge. And I’d venture to say that honor may go to the Premier Lounge at the Denpasar Bali airport. It won’t be around…
