Review: American Airlines Premium Lounge Miami Airport

Wow. That elevator was scary-amazing. My guess is its vintage 1987ish - an era when everything in Miami was decorated in Miami Vice aqua and/or pink.

If I'm not mistaken, that space is just the old E Admirals Club with basically no service changes beyond self-service booze and some enhanced food...

@ Ben -- Of course the W is better since they have hot babes at the pool. 😉

Anyway, do they really enforce the "Admirals Club members departing the “E” concourse" rule? FCQ and I have used this lounge on long layovers, even when departing on a domestic flight from D gates (or so I think...FCQ says I am wrong). Our access is via AAdmirals Club membership (or Plat AMEX back in the day), and no one has ever challenged our entry (as I recall, apparently following a gin and tonic with hot babe).

Ben- Was your friend actually staying at the W or did you just meet him there?

Am I the only one interested in knowing which beers were offered? I mean, you took pictures of the water bottles, why not the beer?
Oh, and it seems like there are weisswurts in the same basket as the bread......

@ John -- Just met him there.

@ Gene -- Don't think they actually enforce it, was just going off what the rules technically state.

Welcome to Miami! Always confusion. By the was I was at JFK last week. TSA was worse there and Precheck line was stull pretty slow. Also they run very little air conditioning there and the Delta Club is a shithole with barely any ac there either.

I enjoyed this lounge last year for my Spring Fling to London - went thru MIA to be sure & fly in the nose of the BA 747-400. The food and drink was nice. And the shower room was nice. Fly-on!!

Regarding your reference to lounge access for transcon premium passengers, the fare bucket restriction was eliminated when the rules were changed a while back, but eligible routes were also reduced as well. Out of Miami, one must be flying to Los Angeles (no other routes ex-MIA qualify anymore) in business or first to qualify for access based on class of service, but it can be on any fare.

@ John-Paul -- Great point. Fixed, thank you!

Ben- How can you use the pool at the W without staying there?

@ John -- Wasn't really using the pool, just the pool bar. 😉

The new Flagship lounge hasn't been scrapped. It will open at gate D37. No exact timeline yet, but construction restarted.

Also, not sure if you are aware, but one of the Club America lounges is operated by LAN now as a VIP Lounge. Avianca is building and operating a Star Alliance lounge in J; Qatar and British Airways are both opening new lounges in D.

@ Simon -- Have they anytime in the past five years admitted to it stopping? I'm not convinced...

@Nick, I believe you're right. I remember coming here when it was just an admirals club (after not getting into the F lounge AA operated at the time). It was a huge space, so did not seem very crowded! Decent shower facilities too. Good to know they allow Admirals Club members/Citi card holders access. It might make sense to make the (long) walk over from the D concourse on a longer layover in MIA. Food options actually look somewhat decent.

"When someone asked if they could add another ID checker, one of the “three stripers” responded that they were understaffed."

Welcome to the fabulous world of the American Federation of Government Employees Union - TSA being a proud member.

Obviously I'm not paying close attention. I kept wondering why you were talking about Airberlin and why you weren't in the Lufthansa lounge in advance of a flight to Germany! 😉

That's a lot of food pictures!

I hate that the W South Beach is a cat 7 property. Want to stay there but not worth 30k points/night or ~$500/nt.

Hi Lucky,

Here's suggestion/request for when you review lounges. Could you please provide a picture of one of the shower rooms whenever possible? Thanks a lot!

Lucky, were you departing out of E? I have a business/first class flight connecting through MIA from Guatemala City (to SEA - isn't it crazy that doesn't qualify you for access but MIA-LAX does?)... but the AA website claims you can only access this lounge if departing out of E.

I'd much prefer to wait with free serve yourself champagne if it's an option during my 4 hour layover, but I thought I could only access the lounges in D.

OK wait, I found this on MIA site but I'm flying on discount fare (I and A)... think I can get in?:

"Customers traveling on an AA-operated transcontinental full fare First Class (F and Z inventory) or full fare Business Class (J and U inventory) ticket, as well as Admirals Club members departing from Concourse E, may also access the lounge"

@ Danielle -- Yes, airberlin departs from the "E" concourse. I think you should have no problem accessing this lounge, just keep in mind it's a bit of a hike.

I don't think there EVER was a time those elevators were cool or chic. Surprised it was so empty though.

The signage itself is telltale. "Also serving airberlin"? That would be a sign from BEFORE it joined oneworld, no? Seeing as how they managed to update all the US Airways Club signs with the oneworld logos...

@ Charlie -- Hmm, keep in mind that American, British Airways, and Iberia have a transatlantic joint venture. So even though airberlin is in oneworld, it could very well be that the lounge is run by those three airlines, and airberlin just pays on a per passenger basis.

For someone who has reviews of Champagne on their blog, you should know that interchanging the term, "sparkling wine" with it is a SIN! 😉

@ Louis -- Incredibly valid point. Updated!

The access rules in Oct 2011 allowed us to use this lounge during long layovers to and from St.John USVI [Customers traveling on an AA operated transcontinental full fare First Class (F and Z inventory)]. We were on Z fare award tix which included AA transcon First Class from SFO to & from MIA.

The single frustration was having to prove our eligibility both times. The desk agent insisted on calling someone to verify that we could enter, even tho I was carrying copies of the Premium Lounge's website access rules & an email from AA showing confirmation.

For our purposes, the biggest perk was the shower room. We had been camping in St. John for 9 days with cold water showers...that had to be the sweetest, longest, privatist 🙂 hot water shower ever taken.

The self pour bar didn't hurt either. Also, the lounge staff were exceptionally friendly. We were greeted with hugs all around on our return trip.