One Mile at a Time flags a lounge solicitaton by the Miami airport for a common use facility on the E concourse. This could wind as a bank lounge (Chase, American Express, Capital One) or a third party Priority Pass-type lounge (The Club, Plaza Premium).

• 13,793 square feet
  
• Near gate E7
  
• Must be common use or membership lounge (not airline lounge)

There are several lounge projects on the D and E concourses at the Miami airport. American Airlines just announced plans to (1) take the current business class Flagship lounge and fold it into the gate D30 Admiral’s Club space and (2) build a brand new business class lounge.

• American hasn’t said where this new lounge will be located.
  
• Or whether this will mean the end of Flagship First Dining at Miami (although I would guess that it does).

Credit: American Airlines

One Mile at a Time notes,

I still haven’t actually found a Miami-Dade County document with details of the new Flagship Lounge contract being awarded, so if I’m missing something, please tell me, as I’m mighty curious where it will be located.

I see two possibilities.

• Unused shell space inside Concourse D (there is a mezzanine area between D‑22 – D‑26 that was rough‑finished during the North‑Terminal build‑out). This would keep premium customers near American’s gates and would be a straightforward lease amendment to add square footage to their existing lease.

  British Airways had invested in lounge design near D21 when they expected to use gate D1 as A380-capable, before before moved over to E for American Airlines needs. They’re currently building a lounge in E.

• The mothballed oneworld premium lounge/Admirals Club in Concourse E. American already leased it once.

The fact that we don’t know for certain where this is is because there’s likely only a term sheet for it – if there was a lease or lease amendment it would appear on a public docket, however nothing referencing American and new lounge space has appeared in 2025 files yet. Watching Miami Dade County through end of year should reveal more. Here’s the document from expansion of lounge space that gave us American’s current Flagship lounge.

American needs to go through the Conty because the terminal is not ‘theirs’ – they have a use agreement, and hold preferential right to the vast majority of gates in Terminal D. American was heavily involved in developing the North Terminal and exercises significant control, but does not own it.

In the 90s they began to expand and merge the old concourses for its hub. However, after major delays and cost overruns, they ceded control of the construction back to Miami-Dade County.

The airline doesn’t have to go through an open RFP process for more lounge space, though, the way the new E concourse lounge does. They just work out a lease amendment or new agreement with the county. That’s what they did for the 2015-2016 lounge expansion where Flagship and reallocation of space between it and the Admirals Club, and work on the D15 Club, added nearly 20,000 square feet of club space of its VIP lounges in Concourse D. That’s because the space was part of American’s leased operational area.

What’s also interesting is what can go into the D concourse and what cannot with American’s signoff.

• Amex has a lounge in D, outside of American’s leased space, so American didn’t have to approve it.

• However, CLEAR cannot set up in D without American’s signoff and they won’t allow it.

Under the 2018 Airline Use Agreement and Preferential Gate Use Agreement, American has preferential control of 61 gates and the landside and airside space that feeds them in the North Terminal. Any vendor that needs real estate there must get American’s signoff. Most non‑public space such as ticket counters, queuing areas, and club frontage are either exclusive or preferential use space. American has a veto over “commercial enterprises” added inside its leased boundaries.

CLEAR has a five‑year, non‑exclusive concession with the airport but only for Concourses E, F, G, H & J. Locations can be added only if the airport and “all impacted tenants” agree.

Since American controls every square foot from the ticket lobby through the D‑checkpoint to the jetbridges, they’d have to give consent for a third‑party concession installed in that space.

The airport can’t give them security lane frontage in D on their own – and American refuses. Remember that CLEAR is part-owned by Delta and United.

CLEAR exists at American’s terminals in Los Angeles and Washington National (even before Project Journey, when American had an exclusive pier). But American doesn’t control the real estate there, so CLEAR could be added.