Over the past 15 months or so, American has greatly improved their premium lounge experience. American has opened Flagship Lounges in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, which are open to those traveling in international business class, premium transcon business class, as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members.
Continue reading: American’s “Secret” Flagship Lounge Keeps Getting Better
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The worst burger in the last two years that I ate was in the JFK Bridge part of the Flagship Lounge. The other food was poor too - lukewarm flatbread that wasn't fully cooked, etc. Yet others rave about it, I guess I'll have to try it again.
I don't get that way next time, but I was going to try Bobby Vans. Has anyone try the burger?
So as OW Emerald (non AA) I should have access to the Flagship Bridge even when only flying domestic eco, right?
I visit there junte, but I see others have the choose, and the most go to the regular flaghship lounge not the bridge, see other that enter the bridge and go to eat on the other.
I eat the margherita flatbread( have the picture if you want).
Saying it’s not busy “despite it being a Friday night” isn’t saying much given how Friday evenings compare to much heavier travel times throughout the week... especially for frequent flyers and business travelers
Sometimes, I'm proactively offered access to the lounge when I check in at the desk here at JFK. They sometimes show me to the right and pull the rope aside, without me mentioning a thing.
@ Jetset -- For travel to/from Europe (which is primarily who would be using this lounge, since it's primarily for international premium travelers), Fridays and Sundays are peak travel dates. Midweek dates aren't.
@Charles What are you talking about? Last time I checked, Brooklyn is pretty close to JFK. Brooklyn Brewing is smaller than Deschutes, Bells, Founders, and Stone, and slightly larger than Dogfish Head. What's not craft about that?
@ jj -- Yes, and they can even use Flagship First Dining, which is even better.
@Lucky, When flying on a connecting flight from MIA to LHR via JFK, can I access the flagship Lounges in Miami and JFK
What's the rationale behind making this secret? It seems it defeats the point of providing excellent service if most of your passengers don't even know it's there!
I've been an Admirals Club for a couple years now but have never had the pleasure of visiting a Flagship Lounge. Next week, I'm flying a LAX-JFK TRANSCON in First Class and am looking forward to checking it out.
It's really puzzling why they would keep it a secret. If they're already incurring the cost of running the place, they might as well increase the number of people who can enjoy this special experience. At least they might give explicit invitations at the entrance of the lounge in general. Puzzling.
I liked the United Polaris Dining even better than Flagship First... United Polaris lounges have been flat out impressing me. At this point, Delta is a low-cost carrier for international service. United and American have turned Delta into what is by-far the worst airline in the US for premium services.
@beachfan I am Ckey and ALWAYS to the burger in the loungue. Unfortunetly its out from the menu during summer. But I managed last time to get into the first class dining to have the burger.
I am a huge restaurant and burger fan and prefer the burger than the first and business class food.
I hope they bring it back as they promissed last time a checked.
Where do you like burger? I may try your places
Thanks to your post earlier, I always turn to the right upon check-in. The menu seems identical for a while (a year+) with four options on the food menu. When I saw the title I thought they decided to turn the 'Bridge' into OWE lounge..
The Bridge wouldn't be so secret if the agents at check in told people about it, which they should. I've peaked in there a couple of times and its been empty. The staff at the entrance doesn't explain it well. It sounded funky. They should be getting a little more business now.
Yesterday, I went to this room, but I had to tell the angry woman in the office to let me tell him that I was right and he let me go when I told him it was wrong, but unfortunately my experience was not so positive you described, so I will not fly with them.
I use this lounge with some regularity. I've noticed lately that it isn't uncommon for the agent at the front desk to proactively point out to me (as a OW Emerald) that I can use the main lounge or the separate section. Nevertheless it's rarely busy in there.
Eric is awesome! He knows my wife and I know and when he sees us come through he gets our usual drinks orders together. We had a spate where we were using the lounge almost every week at the beginning of the year and now he asks us where we've been if we've not been through in a month or so. Super guy!
We used the bridge about 2 weeks ago before flying to EZE. For my kids (8 and 10) the tacos and the tuna were the perfect dinner before the flight and they definitely enjoyed that more than the AA plane food :). Server was excellent. Friendly, fast and on point. Kudos to AA for putting this together.
Tried the flagship 1st dining at JFK in April. There was only 1 other couple in th editing room. I had the burger, which was good, but I found the service to be very slow. I had to approach the bartender to request a refill on my wine, and it took nearly 40 minutes to get the burger!
That Tuna would have been cooked for all of 5 minutes, why did it take them an hour to bring it out? Did they have to catch it first?
Or, at what times do / don't they serve meals up there?
Agreed: Absolutely loved the tacos - so much better than anything on the menu in FFD! Sort of disappointed, though, that they pulled the Bollinger from the floor, and replaced it with a budget sparkler, only to then shift Bollinger to FFD replacing the much nicer vintage Heidsieck. Unless your a champagne snob, I guess it's all good news, nevertheless!
Just in the Bridge - extremely quiet and pleasant. In terms of the food, I wasn't really a fan of the tuna, but the tacos were one of the best things I've eaten in a while.
Hi Lucky: I am flying out of JFK on cathay business. Would that allow access?
thanks,
I am sitting in the bridge right now and the se Text is gone and it is now just part of the lounge. Monica begins the bar has worked here for 16 years and simply a delight. The wine and food selection looks great and just had those Korean short rib tacos which are superb. Large and bright space and one of the better lounge spaces. Thumbs up