Review: AA & BA Chelsea Lounge New York (JFK)

Whilst I was disappointed when this lounge opened, I have to admit it's grown on me. The lack of natural light is a big miss, but the bar area is absolutely gorgeous, and the rotating premium champagnes can be very good (Dom Perignon on my last visit). I haven't found it to be too crowded even in the evening peak.

The wine selection seems out of an Olive Garden…

BA lounges have BA staff who can help with rebookings etc. Similarly, AA lounges have AA staff. What about these new JFK lounges that are supposed to be a collaboration between AA and BA? Are there dedicated desks for both airlines in the lobby to handle rebookings?

@ Daniel from Finland -- There are indeed. There are several American agents in the lounge at reception, and then prior to British Airways flights there are also British Airways agents.

Great review, and a very impressive and un-American lounge!

However, I would say that I probably like the Soho lounge better. The à la carte menu here seems impressive and the food looks good, but am I the only one who feels that a lounge with only à la carte food is not the best option? I'd like there to be a buffet as well, because that means I can pick what I want and how much I want – maybe just a small snack, or perhaps a bowl full of blueberries, if that's what I want at the time.

This is why I am not a big fan of the QF F LAX lounge, either. I miss the buffet.

That's great! I am dreaming of Finnair adding their own agent there, too, but I know it's just a dream 🙂

I thought Chelsea had fish and chips. It looks like from the 2 reviews only Soho has them.

I think there almost isn't a single British person who thinks this is better than the former BA JFK Concorde Room. Just like, e.g., Al Safwa, this is a lounge that looks nice in photos but is just not a nice place to spend time. Take a look at the thread on the BA Flyertalk sub-forum - just goes to show how different American expectations are of what counts as 'premium', I guess.

Wow glad to see that same horrible coffee maker made its way from the Flagship Lounge. The barista made cappuccinos at the Polaris Lounge are pretty hard to beat

Can you elaborate on how you got access? I likely missed a few details from a previous post.. I know you are flying BA first but I thought it was out of Newark? Did you return to JFK for the lounges?

If I recall Ben's posts correctly he was booked on BA F from JFK and visited the lounges, and then BA changed the operating aircraft for that flight, and he changed his flight to depart from EWR instead. Cue rapid Uber from JFK to EWR.

Spent some time in Chelsea a few weeks after it opened and I agree the food looked great but ultimately was somewhat underwhelming. Definitely not as good as the food in Flagship First Dining.

They did at least have LP Grand Siecle as the rotating premium champagne.

The service and the food are disappointing. Been here three times and the service is consistently been off not because the employees are bad they are just overworked. More staff needed. NO natural light and a horrible champagne selection makes me question why this is a first class lounge. Flagship dining was better and this is not on par with the quantas first class lounge LAX. It’s a shame because they had a opportunity to deliver the best one world lounge in North America but all in all so far this is a disappointment.

Couldn’t agree more, I was sad when the Concorde Room closed and I am yet to experience the new offerings so have to reserve judgement, but Bens observations so far point towards a below par offering in the food and drink areas.

I had the opportunity to visit the lounge earlier this year. The staff was attentive and I thoroughly enjoyed my choices (prawn cocktail and braised lamb) the lounge experience was not exactly a memorable one - felt like spa dining in the basement of an upscale hotel. My recommendation is if you want quiet time (though my stay was from noon to early afternoon, so not sure how busy it would get during evening peak hours) and enjoy the food being served to you, eat at Chelsea, then move over to Soho lounge nextdoor.

Ben, did you end up getting water splashes on your shirt when you washed your hands? Those bathroom faucets spouts are so high off tiny sinks, add to the fact I had to put my hands close to the faucet that half of the water ended up outside the sink.

Thank you. Yep I reread it and you're right, a very rapid swap for him. It looks like the full story is going to be in the review post.

I knew there would be avocado toast!! 🙂

Again - it is disappointing that American Airlines domestic elites will have very limited access to this club. American is removing first class from its metal over the next year, right? And elite access on certain routes is only available to Concierge Key members for this particular club. It's pretty poor, for example, that an Executive Platinum elite on a six hour domestic long haul flight from JFK to SEA will only have access to American's regular Admirals Club at JFK. IMO, such a customer should at least have access to the Soho Lounge, if not the Chelsea lounge as well.

I’m a fairly frequent BA First flyer and for leisure, not business. Despite these new lounges opening to fanfare by the travel trade, all I have read since is damming criticism about the food and disappointment regarding the range and quality of champagne available. BTW a welcoming glass of LPGS is generally served before takeoff on BA First and readily refilled. I enjoyed spending time in the previous Concorde Room at JFK, although access via a smelly food court was a trial and so will remain open minded and hopeful for a positive experience in the Chelsea lounge in a few weeks time.

I recently visited the SOHO lounge and found the entire naming convention incredibly confusing. I always try to view it with the lens of what my parents would think- they’d definitely be confused on many levels as to who gets in where. Stupid move on AA/BA’s past in terms of how they’ve branded these lounges. Business, Emerald and First. I suspect they avoided this approach as Emerald members are technically supposed to access OW first lounges- therefore Emeralds not actually flying first are getting the short end of the stick here.

@Anthony: 100% agree!

It's an airline lounge and not a five star hotel or restaurant!

Fish and chips were available during my visit in late January...they were pretty good too. Service...not so much!

I find Moet to be an appalling offering for a premium Lounge ...... and yes, I am looking at you, Emirates Dubai F Lounge!

That would be true of a Business Class or contract lounge.

However, a First class lounge such as this, which only has passengers flying in F, would be expected to have restaurant-quality food.

The Chelsea lounge has seating for, what, 80 people? There isn’t even space to accommodate all the OWEs on international business class itineraries - this is a stupid suggestion, sorry.

And this is why almost every lounge in the US sucks…

1) If there isn’t enough space, then the space was badly designed or allocated.

2) And if there isn’t enough space in Chelsea, allow more people into Soho

3) And if they won’t so that, dramatically improve and expand the “regular” Admirals Club

The fact of the matter is that domestic AA elites and flyers were given the short end of the stick here. As I posted in the other thread - AA had a chance to gain more market share in NY with these lounges. It looks like they may have failed because AA elites and flyers can’t really access the lounges in a consistent way

@lucky-
It doesnt seem like you asked about the rotating selection of premium champagne. From reading the comments here and elsewhere, besides the 4 moets and ruinart listed, there should have been something off menu. Did you Inquire?

First glass lounge. Poor champagne rubbish coffee and no service. Again, this isn’t first class. Not by a long way…..

The prawn cocktail, while the menu doesn't specify the dressing, it does look more like a UK prawn cocktail (which uses thousand island dressing) than a US one (watery tomato 'cocktail sauce').

Shame that server was playing on their phone instead of being attentive.

Most journos who write about these BA/AA lounges will never give an honest opinion because they don’t want to lose future invitations. Take it from me they are crap especially if you were use to the Concorde lounge. Not even close and a further decline in service and standards. Find a better service carrier.

I was underwhelmed by the service during my visit to the Chelsea lounge. Lacked the polish and tight execution I have experienced at Qantas First (LAX). Felt slow and a little sloppy. AA/BA needs to jump on this fast. The shower arrangements were lacking too. They had three showers but share cleaning services with a neighboring lounge. Had to wait for someone to come back onto the Chelsea side to give me access. The whole shower area was stark, dark, and a little beaten up for a space that was so new.

Just a quick heads up they have a lot of higher end champagne that isn’t listed that they keep behind the bar. They don’t keep it out since they had issues with people getting drunk properly in the lounges. I had champagne tasting last time LPGS, KRUG, Ruinart; all a week ago

Cheapo champagnes, not FCL at all

Ben's review of JFK Flagship First inspired me to use miles for a flight in early 2020 (pre-covid) in F on American's a321T JFK-LAX, just so I could try out the lounge. It was every bit as fantastic as I had hoped. Nothing in this review makes me want to do the same just to visit the Chelsea Lounge.

AA still allows you to book into Flagship Business Plus to get access to this lounge if your flight doesn't have Flagship First. Exhibit A: someone in my family was looking at going to Italy next year, and the plane AA operates from JFK to MXP is a 777-200LR (not the -300ER that has first class on it). They allow you to book Flagship Business Plus for the flight so you can access this lounge.

Hey there I know this post is old. But I thought it was worth a mentioned. In case you wanna update. But at least today at the Lounge they were serving Cristal 2015 which I was very surprised. Too bad it was 5:15 am when I realized this on a 6 am transcon. I did have a story on my Instagram @tetiturbay where you have a pic of it in case you wanna use it. Color me impressed.

Nowadays it is better to hangout in the terminal in a nice restaurant of your choice. Lounges are … well… including and especially Chelsea