American Airlines’ Concierge Key members are once again being invited to experience Flagship First Dining, after these lounges were closed for around 18 months.
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What is American Flagship First Dining?
In 2017 American introduced the Flagship First Dining concept. These are essentially lounges within lounges. American has Flagship Lounges in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, and has Flagship First Dining in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York.
American has recently started the process of reopening Flagship Lounges following the pandemic. So far the locations (including Flagship First Dining) in Miami and New York are once again open.
Flagship First Dining is a tranquil space that offers a restaurant style dining experience. Frankly I pinch myself every time I use one of these, because they just don’t feel like something you’d expect from a US airline.
These lounges are exclusive, in the sense that they’re ordinarily only open to those traveling in three cabin first class. American’s only planes with three cabin first class are 20 Boeing 777-300ERs (ordinarily used for long haul flights) and 17 Airbus A321s (usually flown on premium transcon routes, like New York to Los Angeles).
Since these facilities were introduced I said that I’d be surprised if they lasted in their current form, given how underutilized they were. While I can see how this could be somewhat worthwhile in New York and Los Angeles for transcon customers, it surprised me that American offered Flagship First Dining in Miami, where the airline had just a few flights a day with first class.
That doesn’t even account for the long term impact that the pandemic has had on premium international business travel.
Concierge Key members get Flagship First Dining
As reported by @xJonNYC, American is bringing back a feature that we first saw pre-pandemic. It seems that American’s invitation only Concierge Key members are being emailed invitations to enjoy Flagship First Dining. Concierge Key members are reporting receiving two of these invitations, valid through April 30, 2022.
Each pass is valid in conjunction with a same day ticket, and you can bring in your immediate family or two guests with you. Concierge Key members already receive Flagship Lounge access on all itineraries, so this is a nice extension of that.
While this isn’t a permanent benefit, it seems like it is unofficially an ongoing perk. This seems like a great way for American to reward its most valuable passengers.
Personally I think the next logical move would be to extend Flagship First Dining to Concierge Key members when traveling on paid international business class tickets, or something along those lines. Pre-pandemic we also saw American run a test to sell Flagship First Dining access to Executive Platinum and Concierge Key members traveling on long haul flights.
Bottom line
American Airlines seems to be sending Concierge Key members invitations to enjoy Flagship First Dining twice, valid through April 30, 2022. With Flagship First Dining reopening at two airports and limited premium demand, it makes sense that American is at least better utilizing this space.
If you’re an American Concierge Key member, have you taken advantage of this perk in the past?
This policy leaves me scratching my head. To add a dimension: BA grants CKs access to the Concorde Room at least at LHR T5. BA GGLs however do not receive Flagship Dining Room access...
I’ve been a concierge key for 6 years. 100-150K USD annual spend on AA. I’ve seen flagship dining certificates in my account over the years but never partook. Well tonight, I was starving as I arrived in the lounge for my 2 hour layover in Miami prior to my long-haul to Santiago Chile. A $5,000 ticket.
Well I was advised that Santiago “didn’t qualify” for flagship dining. Seriously? Denying a CK on the priciest...
I’ve been a concierge key for 6 years. 100-150K USD annual spend on AA. I’ve seen flagship dining certificates in my account over the years but never partook. Well tonight, I was starving as I arrived in the lounge for my 2 hour layover in Miami prior to my long-haul to Santiago Chile. A $5,000 ticket.
Well I was advised that Santiago “didn’t qualify” for flagship dining. Seriously? Denying a CK on the priciest available ticket aboard a 10 hour overnight long-haul? Nice, American.
Wow. Some bitter folks here who clearly aren't- and will never be- Keys.
For what we spend, this is another welcome perk which I'll use.
I used it when dining was open before as well. It was lovely.
Lame. It annoys me to know end that tiktok superstars get better perks than me, a 10+year explatter.
I appreciate AA making an investment in its very high spend members. As a multi-year Key spending $100K+ on AA (not AirPass or corporate membership), I would hope for a better set of experiences than the general, non-invite tiers. I also rose through the tiers from Gold - Executive Platinum for 15 years before my 6 years as a CK, so I have personal perspective on all of it. That being said, the general tiers have definitely been devalued over the past few years.
I received Lifetime CK status after buying a first class RTW ticket in 2017. It's singlehandedly the best travel investment I have ever made. Glad to see a few extra perks thrown my way.
PS: This is BS.
AA never sold lifetime CK for something as low as a RTW F ticket.
These Concierge Key people get too much. Now all 100 of them with their guests in the Flagship First Lounges. It’s not even their money they spend with American anyways it’s their corporations. The concierge key program should be eliminated. Enhancing the rest of the AADVANTAGE program would offset this.
You are conclusory . . . and wrong. I'm a CK and it's MY personal pocket that got me there. I busted my ass for years to have a comfortable retirement. And, now it's time to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Your comment is offensive. You sound like the commenter (likely an entitled millennial) who complained "Why do the people in first class only get the champagne? Why doesn't anyone in economy get...
You are conclusory . . . and wrong. I'm a CK and it's MY personal pocket that got me there. I busted my ass for years to have a comfortable retirement. And, now it's time to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Your comment is offensive. You sound like the commenter (likely an entitled millennial) who complained "Why do the people in first class only get the champagne? Why doesn't anyone in economy get any?". To which someone replied "Because they paid for it."
For other CKs out there, you already get Flagship First dining when traveling internationally in business or first. Check the benefits web page. You also have access to BA's Concorde Room in London -- any flight and any cabin class. But, not the one at JFK, unless flying BA in first.
I received the two passes as well and it is for any flight, not just international and not just premium cabin. The promotion is intended to incentivize you to book premium cabins.
@ Reno Joe
Sorry to offend you.
Flagship First Lounges are not driving more premium business for American.
Do you get CK for life ? How many EQDs did you spend this year ?
How much business have you given to American over the years ballpark ? 30K ? 300K ? 3M ? It’s private.
To WillyT . . . for life . . . whoa! Good job. I would have to believe that it was more that just the one RTW ticket that did it. Historical spending?
To D3kingg, apology accepted. Over $60k per year every year. WillyT's comment is the first that I've heard of lifetime CK. But, if I continue to spend at this level through retirement, I sort of have lifetime CK status anyway.
As for...
To WillyT . . . for life . . . whoa! Good job. I would have to believe that it was more that just the one RTW ticket that did it. Historical spending?
To D3kingg, apology accepted. Over $60k per year every year. WillyT's comment is the first that I've heard of lifetime CK. But, if I continue to spend at this level through retirement, I sort of have lifetime CK status anyway.
As for CK being granted Flagship First dining access . . .
CK is similar to British Airways' Gold Guest List status, which is one (very big) notch above Gold (its equivalent to EP). Qualification is about the same -- getting in the door requires about 3X to 4X revenue of "regular" top tier status.
GGL offers access to BA's Concorde Rooms (at LHR and JFK) irrespective of domestic / international and irrespective of cabin class. And, as mentioned in my prior comment, CK's are now granted access to the Concorde Room at LHR. Given the similarity of GGL and CK and given the progressive integration of BA and AA terminal operations, I proposed to both AA and BA that they grant reciprocal privileges for GGL and CK members. They've taken a half-step.
The point is that if AA extended Flagship First Dining to CK members irrespective of domestic / internation and irrespective of cabin class, it would be consistent with partner BA's treatment of its GGL members. Other airlines have their respective equivalent tiers, although I don't know how Delta, United, etc. handle them.
On a slight tangent, perks and "little things" happen when one is a "regular" at specific hotels . . . as opposed being loyal to a hotel network. To other articles, I have expressed my disdain for hotel network loyalty programs and have recommended "specific property" loyalty. When one is a "regular" at a specific hotel, magic happens. Trust me on this. There's your tip of the day.
In the end, I am grateful for the level of service AA and BA extend to me. While hiccups occur, their intention is to do a good job. I acknowledge, respect, and appreciate it.
@Reno Joe
Become a “regular” at one hotel property. I thought about that all day. Thank you for dropping knowledge on us.
concorde room in for BA F class tickets only
LOL. Let's eliminate first, and enhance coach; and while we're at it, let's do away with Porsche, and focus on the lesser VW brands. As long as we're on that bandwagon, I see no need for Fresh Market; let's focus on enhancing Winn Dixie and Publix.
CK is a great program. Had my 2 deposited yesterday, and look forward to one of the best hamburgers in Miami, along with a glass of Krug, next Friday before I leave on my personally paid first ticket out to San Diego.
I'm Exec Platinum and received 2. Guess I was lucky.
I’m all for eliminating Concierge Key and enhancing the Executive Platinum level.
I'm in favor of demoting EPs to One World Sapphire so they don't crowd the first class lounges.
We have always met with resistance or denial when flying three cabin aircraft (777-300ER) from LAX to MIA and usually have had to argue the point.....so we pretty much gave up as it was embarrassing...lol! But did enjoy it the times that we ate and spent time there.
My main flying MIA-LAX and when flying F on the 77W have never had a problem accessing flagship first dining; when flying in J I have never been denied Flagship Lounge but not invited into Flagship First Dining,
Hoping United takes note here and offers its Global Services members access to the Polaris lounges once they reopen. . . Even 2x annually + 1 guest would be a nice gesture to enjoy on the occasional domestic trip.