In June 2019 it was formally announced that an Amex Centurion Lounge and Escape Lounge would be opening in Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Well, there’s a positive update on that front — both lounges are formally open as of today, Monday, January 6, 2020.
The lounges have a combined total of just over 9,500 square feet, and feature a shared entrance with separate reception areas, lounge spaces, and amenities for each location. Each lounge takes up roughly half the space, so each will be just under 5,000 square feet, which is on the small side.
Centurion Lounge & Escape Lounge entrance
In this post:
Centurion Lounge Phoenix details
The Amex Centurion Lounge Phoenix is now open, and features the following amenities:
- Complimentary food, including Mexican cuisine curated by Chef Doug Robson, the executive chef and co-owner of Phoenix’s top Mexican restaurants, Gallo Blanco and Otro Cafe; menu items will include eggs and chorizo, tortilla soup, pollo asado with a tamarind glaze, roasted cauliflower with harissa and a masala galam yogurt sauce, and more
- A complimentary full bar with custom cocktails created by renowned mixologist Jim Meehan and wine selections handpicked by renowned wine authority Anthony Giglio
- Floor-to-ceiling windows with expansive internal and external views
- Essentials for business and leisure travelers alike, including dedicated workspaces, power outlets, private phone areas, comfortable seating, and access to high-speed Wi-Fi
This lounge will add to Amex’s growing list of Centurion Lounge locations. As of now Amex’s US Centurion Lounge locations include Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
On top of that, lounges are being developed in Los Angeles, New York JFK, and Denver.
Amex Centurion Lounge Phoenix
Amex Centurion Lounge Phoenix
Amex Centurion Lounge Phoenix
Centurion Lounge Phoenix hours & location
The Centurion Lounge Phoenix is open daily from 5:30AM until 10PM. The lounge is located in Terminal 4, across from gate B22 on the upper level.
Terminal 4 in Phoenix is used by American, Air Canada, British Airways, Condor, Eurowings, Southwest, Volaris, and WestJet.
Centurion Lounge Phoenix access requirements
Centurion Lounges are open to those with The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review). They can bring up to two guests, and can purchase access for additional guests at the cost of $50 each.
Access is allowed up to three hours before departure. The exception is if you’re on a connecting itinerary, in which case you can access the lounge earlier than that, assuming you can show proof of your connection.
Escape Lounge Phoenix details
The Escape Lounge Phoenix is now open, and features the following amenities:
- Local chef-curated menu featuring premium food options and seasonal changes (food is similar to what you’ll find in the Centurion Lounge)
- Unique Phoenix-inspired cocktails courtesy of head mixologist Sarah McElroy
- Local wines, beers and spirits, coffee, and espresso
- Silent digital library, with noise cancelling Bose headphones and free access to over 7,000 publications from over 120+ countries courtesy of PressReader
- Children activity packs, including Escape Lounge’s Kids Crew puzzles, coloring book and crayons
Escape Lounge Phoenix
Escape Lounge Phoenix
Escape Lounge Phoenix hours & location
The Escape Lounge Phoenix is open daily from 5AM until 8PM. The lounge is located in Terminal 4, across from gate B22 on the upper level.
Escape Lounge Phoenix access requirements
Escape Lounges are open to those with The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review). They can bring up to two guests.
Alternatively you can purchase access for $45 at the door, or for $40 in advance.
I imagine they may also partner with some airlines to offer access to premium passengers. It’s not yet known if the lounge will also belong to Priority Pass.
Bottom line
Phoenix Airport was desperately in need of more lounge space, so this is an exciting development. However, given that the lounges are under 10,000 square feet combined, you can expect that they’ll likely get really crowded.
In general I’ve found Escape Lounges to be nicer than you’d expect for contract lounges, and based on the renderings and descriptions of the two lounges, it sure seems like there’s not that much of a difference between them.
Anyone plan on checking out the new Amex Centurion Lounge and/or Escape Lounge in Phoenix soon?
"BTW, the Delta lounge in the redone Terminal 3 is really nice.Much better than the AA lounges I’ve been in out here."
Very low bar there....:-)
I’ll be there Tuesday from about 2-4:30. Very excited to see how it compares to the other Cents.
Interesting to note that the Escape Lounge has a different business hours than the Centurion. And seriously, 8PM closing time for the Escape Lounge?
When the Airport put out the terms of the new clubs, one of them had to be open to the public. Hence the escape lounge. Been to the temp lounge a few times no crowding at all.
Yum! Local wines. The Valley of the Sun has got to be America’s hottest appellation at the moment.
Not liking this new trend of reposting but keeping the old comment section. If you're going to recycle or "update" a previous post, please update the comment section and start fresh. Comments ftom 7 months ago have no relevance today.
Hey Lucky, do you know if/when ORD will get a centurion lounge and/or have a prediction? It’s starting to stick out like a sore thumb as an empty spot in their network
Target date to open both lounges is in October. Temporary lounge until then.
The Club at PHX closed in mid-late April to begin renovations... there are expectations that some or all of the new lounges will open this autumn though that seems highly optimistic to me.
Chicago, please! Dearth of decent lounges outside of T1 at O'Hare.
Interesting that AMEX hasn't built a Centurion Lounge at any of the DL-dominated Hubs, but has built or is building plenty at AA and UA-dominated hubs. They must not feel the need to build any Centurion Lounges at Delta cities because of the Skyclub benefit. Kind of a bummer for us DL-flyers.
That is good news. I just moved back to Scottsdale. And geez is this place getting over built. I was out here from 2003-2011 and saw houses sky rocketed and then collapse (50-70% drops). Now they are building everywhere, just sold nearly 100 Ritz Carlton residences at a min of $1M each.
Another collapse should be coming since I don't think the economy has really changed out here. Not much high tech or other high...
That is good news. I just moved back to Scottsdale. And geez is this place getting over built. I was out here from 2003-2011 and saw houses sky rocketed and then collapse (50-70% drops). Now they are building everywhere, just sold nearly 100 Ritz Carlton residences at a min of $1M each.
Another collapse should be coming since I don't think the economy has really changed out here. Not much high tech or other high income jobs, just a lot of tourism, real estate folks (who were like 25% or more of the people I met until 2008 and then most had no jobs), and some wealthy retirees.
BTW, the Delta lounge in the redone Terminal 3 is really nice.Much better than the AA lounges I've been in out here.
@Louis - the lounge spaces being remodeled into these lounges are in the “high B” gates in terminal 4, the far northeast corner of the terminal. If you look on maps they will be in the same place as the old Club at PHX. That concourse is the only one set up for international arrivals (customs and passport control is in the basement). So that’s where BA, Condor, Air Canada, Volaris, and West Jet operate...
@Louis - the lounge spaces being remodeled into these lounges are in the “high B” gates in terminal 4, the far northeast corner of the terminal. If you look on maps they will be in the same place as the old Club at PHX. That concourse is the only one set up for international arrivals (customs and passport control is in the basement). So that’s where BA, Condor, Air Canada, Volaris, and West Jet operate from.
It’s currently a weird space up there, with a couple offices and locked doors, plus a room I always peek into that appears to be setup for training - it is full of functional ticket counters and podiums, but not a public space.
Last I heard, the entire upstairs area there was going to be redone, so it won’t keep its current configuration. But it’s also seems like it would be bigger than 10,000 square feet too...
The Escape Lounge will almost certainly close (in whole or in part) in the late afternoons and convert to a contract lounge for premium passengers on BA and Condor, the way the old Club at PHX lounge used to.
The Centurion Lounge will likely just operate the same way the others do.
As a Priority Pass member who lives in Phoenix, it’s too bad there isn’t another PP option anywhere else at the airport....
The Escape Lounge will almost certainly close (in whole or in part) in the late afternoons and convert to a contract lounge for premium passengers on BA and Condor, the way the old Club at PHX lounge used to.
The Centurion Lounge will likely just operate the same way the others do.
As a Priority Pass member who lives in Phoenix, it’s too bad there isn’t another PP option anywhere else at the airport. But the Club at PHX was getting so overcrowded in the last year, it was almost always a waiting list situation to get in.
I'm surprised the Centurion lounge will offer showers. As I remember, the bathrooms for the former Club lounge were outside the entrance and not connected at all.
I'll be disappointed if the Escape lounge isn't PP. There are no other PP options in that PHX terminal.
Where exactly are the lounges located ( near what gates)?
My suspicion is that Escape will be there via Loungebuddy (maybe PP but I'm not confident) until 3:30 PM, and BA will contract it out for their evening flights (the way they treated The Club at PHX).
Constructions delay's aside, any idea of the timing? 2019 is still pretty broad, although that window is is becoming smaller. My Admirals Club membership expires at the end of July. I guess I will need to renew 1 last time. Once the new "must fly AA" rules kick in for Admirals Club (November?), it certainly becomes somewhat less useful.
I thought Denver was coming “summer 2019.” Well, it’s June 2019 and last I heard no lounge at DEN.
I don’t believe any of the other Escape lounges are open to Priority Pass. They are limited to Amex Platinum, special airline relationships and self-pay.
I'm guessing the reason for the split is to provide airlines a lounge option. BA used the old Club or whatever it was that was in this same space (but smaller). I'm guessing for Amex to use it they needed to provide the airlines an option and that's why the two (as they will be in the same space)
I'd like to see BA partner with AmEx on this one so BA F pax (and maybe J?) have access to one of them. In no way is free food and drink credit at the Admirals Club remotely a first class experience.
There’s a temporary lounge open now with limited drink and food options.
I actually wouldn't be that surprised to see the Escape lounge limit access to priority pass during peak times and mostly function as overflow for the Centurion. Thus, if the Centurion hits capacity, they notify the Escape lounge and the only people allowed into the Escape are Centurion redirects.
Can't come soon enough - not sure how many more $12 Blanco Taco margaritas I can get away with expensing!
Isn’t there also a Centurion lounge being built in Charlotte? Didn’t see you list that but thought I remember reading that a few months ago.
Already reading reports of overcrowding. ;-)