Radical Changes Coming To American Flagship Lounges

Honestly this EXP is a bit concerned/bothered by this. While I am glad to see additional FLs added at MIA, PHL and DFW I am very skeptical that they will add enough space/be large enough to accommodate the influx of J passengers. I fully expect these new/improved FLs to be overcrowded.

I should add the the majority of my access to the FLs is based on being an EXP on international longhaul in Y. I am rarely in J and never in international F.

I just wish it could cover international longhaul first via a connecting flight, on the one ticket, even if it's not same day.

They also announce a new lounge opening up at MCO which I'm quite excited about due to the lack of lounges at a fairly large airport

Hopefully when Aer Club becomes a thing, I can use my top tier Aer Lingus status to get into Flagship Lounges!

Will adding J passengers to the FL mean that OW Sapphire have access to it? In theory it becomes a business class lounge, no?

Great News for me in 2017. All my flying is AA international J but to this point I've only made it to Platinum level. This along with the new EQM rules in effect later this year will finally get me in, one way or another.

Speaking of the enhanced meals on the 773 to Sydney, that test has been a complete success and is most likely being rolled out to all 773 flights. Even though F was the biggest change, coach also had changes with larger entrees and better quality breads. I believe HKG will be the next flight to see the change but these roll-outs will take some time as they are heavily focused on customization to the destination.

I assume they'll be using the old Envoy Lounge space at PHL which is now part of the A-West terminal club. That part of the lounge is in fine shape still, complete with self-serve fridges and counter space for drinks and food since the old Envoy Lounge concept was in many ways similar to the flagship lounges. In fact, many (including me) considered it to be the best US-based airline business class lounge in the country (one of the few bright spots when travelling on US Airways). Don't see why they couldn't just reopen it right away pretty much as is.

So is the flagship meal only available for first class or business class also?

For what it's worth, the new lounge design (as seen in the low-A gates in PHX) is surprisingly gorgeous (using Lucky's favorite term), is far better than the more gray design that US rolled out last year at the PHX low-B gates lounge. The design mixes the seating up more (some high back seats for privacy for example), has lots of power everywhere in the lounge, and just an all around better use of space.

As long as non-AA OWE don't lose FL access or food options as a result when flying on AA domestric, I'd consider this to be a win. One option BA and AA should consider would be reciprocal dining access for AA CK members and BA Premier and GGL members when traveling, though I doubt that would happen.

For me, dining is the wrong thing to focus on. When I get off a long haul flight, I need to freshen up. That means shower at a minimum (which, believe it or not, some of their so-called Flagship lounges do NOT have today), and it would be great if they offer something on top of that (spa, pressing service. One can dream). Really, the last thing I need after being fed like a king on an international first class flight, is more food.

The current footprint at both JFK and LAX are WAAAAY too small already. It is often hard to find a seat and peak times. In order to pull this off successfully AA would have to double or triple the space they already have....and since there is no mention of this in their emails or website I just don't see that happening.

Good to hear the Flagship lounges are getting some love. Does this extend to the Flagship lounge in LHR? That lounge is pretty tired and uninspiring, particularly compared to the BA F Lounge that's only a short walk away.

I'm curious if you see this as a window into American's thinking on their hubs. It is telling to me that they are not doing anything to CLT or PHX. With PHL and MIA (and DCA to an extent) on the east, and DFW, LAX, and ORD covering the midwest/west, it seems like there really isn't much space to continue large-scale hubs at CLT and PHX.

@DC_Flyer, given that they've just finished a refurb of one of the lounges at PHX, I'd say it's more a reflection of them not having much international traffic from CLT or PHX, so there's not any international first class and not enough daily passengers to justify it. That said, both seem to carry a large share of domestic transfer traffic and flights seem full all the time currently.