In this post, I’d like to take a look at American Flagship Lounges, which are the carrier’s premium international lounges. Separately, I’ve written about American Admirals Clubs and American Flagship First Dining, which are American’s two other types of lounge concepts.
Continue reading: Guide To American Flagship Lounges: Access, Locations, And More
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Should note that CLT will be getting a Flagship lounge.
For JFK, Chelsea and Soho are better than Greenwich, but, of course, not everyone gets access, and also, when Chelsea and Soho close, they revert to Greenwich (think after-midnight flights on CX, QR, JL, etc.)
Now I wait for a Flagship lounge in PHX. Probably will be waiting the rest of my life…
@Ben - We used to get access flying on a business class ticket to/from Mexico City but I guess those days are over with?
Was in the DFW Flagship this weekend and was massively disappointed. The MIA lounge has been deteriorating but the DFW lounge was markedly worse.
Overcrowded at the 7-9pm peak--AA, BA and QF passengers all crammed in.
Only available seats were at the tables in the cafeteria area, but most had dirty plates on the tables. Later found one which was clearly an overspill as it just faced onto the walkway.
Food selection was limited, overly complex and unappetising. At least Miami has an OK cheese and cracker selection. The freshly prepared section in DFW was also closed-- with a sign "reopening at 6am tomorrow" like that is any use anybody in the lounge. But it may not have been a big loss as the one in Miami which used to freshly prepare guacamole has been replaced with somebody pouring tomato sauce on pasta.
Staff were super friendly, chatting to everyone. Maybe should have been clearing the dirty plates. A trolley full of dirty dishes sat in front of me for 20 mins.
The Bollinger self-pour is definitely a step-up. Perhaps that is where all the budget has gone.
Might make me stop complaining about BA's LHR First lounge.
Seems you can access now on all international flights without the Carib exclusions. Not sure when they updated that and neither did ChatGPT.
British airways open a lounge @ MÍA concourse E much much much better than AA Flagship lounge
Yowzers!
Isn't that what first commenters say when they don't really have anything to say?
It is really nice you can access them when flying biz class international on a partner airline. I was surprised to learn that.
I'd say the most fascinating 'game' is leveraging non-US carrier (BA, QF, etc.) Sapphire and Emerald status, which can get you into AA Flagship lounges, even on a mere US domestic Economy ticket. I think this is why some of the bloggers really promote obtaining QR or RJ just for Sapphire so they can pull this loophole. Then again, we're still beholden to the whims of the lounge check-in staff; so, remember to be nice to them so they don't 'decide' the lounge is 'too full at the moment.'
Oh, how 'fun' it is to start at Chelsea or Soho, but, then, because your flight departs closer to 1AM or 2AM, you have to migrate to Greenwich after 11PM-ish. It's... a bit of a let-down.
At 11pm, the nice thing about Greenwich is that there's like 20-30 bottles of easily accessible Piper H champagne sitting in the chiller and waiting for you to drink. Sometimes Soho will have a couple bottles in a bucket, but often it's a wait for the bar, although there's usually better stuff (I think I had Pommery the other week, but can't 100% recall). So Greenwich can be a bit more, uh, "dangerous" from 11pm-1am. Piper H is drinkable stuff.
The one time I departed LAX on an AA international flight (probably not happening again, hello QF, CX, JL) it was from TBIT, and I suspect that's often the case. The Flagship lounge in T4 wouldn't need to be as large as might be expected because the [QF-managed] OW business, and QF First lounges, depending on class of travel and OW status, would be more convenient.
If they still have the flagship lounge at JFK you most certainly can sneak in using the exit stairwell during busy times.
@Ben, the American website has different times for Flagship Dining in Miami: "Daily: 1 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. Last seating at 9:30 p.m."
In 2015 I switched from Delta to American as my primary airline and alliance in part because American had business class lounges and Delta didn't. Now Flagship lounges fall well short of the standard set by D1 amd Polaris. But that is because those lounges are essentially first class lounges not business class. As a result Delta and United restrict access for some of their business class passengers. By giving all of its business class passengers access to Flagship lounges and private dining, American is offering a better value proposition.