American Express is known for its popular network of Centurion Lounges. Crowding has been a major issue with these lounges over the years (well, and most credit card lounges), so we’ve seen all kinds of access restrictions added. Along those lines, Amex has just revealed plans to add another two restrictions, as flagged by TPG.
Continue reading: Amex Centurion Lounges Add Two New Access Restrictions As Of July 2026
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The new five hour limit for transit passengers will hit me, including on itineraries where I have booked sub-5 hour transits. How so in the latter cases? Sometimes airlines cancel the flight I booked and rebook me on the next available flight which then makes the rebooked transits into 7+ hours.
Print two copies of your original boarding pass. Keep one copy and provide that at the lounge entrance. Maybe it works.
Who cares. I think I went to a Centurion lounge two times in 2025 and it was because the better lounges were full. They need to start limiting the number of times Joe Platinum can get in unless he spends $75k or something.
In 2024, about 1 in 80 flights were cancelled in the US. Let's say that 50% of the time, it will happen after your first flight takes off but before you get to the lounge in your connecting airport. In THAT scenario, let's say 50% of the time it extends your layover to materially more than 5 hours.
Every time you access a CL on a typical connection, there's a 1 in 320 chance this policy will impact you due to a flight cancellation. How terrible!
Boo. Hiss. Devaluation, while raising fees, and not solving anything. Will still be crowded at peak times, regardless. That said, looking forward to whenever they finally open the new one at EWR Terminal A.
Enforcement of this is gonna be interesting. Some locations and specific agents will be rigid, regardless, while others really won't care, especially depending on conditions inside.
At JFK T4, for instance, I once tried to check-in 3 hours and 1 minute before departure, and the agent made me standard there, looking at her watch, waiting the remaining 60-seconds, as a display of authority, even though the lounge was near-empty.
Rules are rules, but also, rules are human constructs that don't always make good sense.
Perhaps you should consider stop booking such long connections and finding a more efficient carrier that has a more consistent service.
With life being so short, I do not understand why so many of you waste it on this insane non-activity of lounging around at an airport. It's as if home lives are so incredibly bad, that everything possible is done to be away from them.
Ben, when you mentioned about in the past you and your guest can be on different flights at different times so your guest may stay longer than you but I think officially it was not allowed. I remember at the Seattle AMEX lounge, the agent mentioned that the guest had to leave with you and cannot stay if the member was not present at the lounge. Though, not sure how they would want to enforce that with every scenario but I guess with this new rule coming soon it will be a moot point.
You puked out 66 words to tell people that their interests, preferences, or layover lengths don't comport with your personal preferences for how you spend your time? Is that something you do to make you feel better about yourself? Because if it is, you're doing it wrong.
Stick to your knitting, because your condescension isn't helping anyone except for, maybe, you.
Eh. I know why they're doing what they're doing, but this is solving the wrong problem. The right solution is more lounge space so there isn't an unbelievably scarce resource.
I have to wait in line regularly within my 3 hour window at LAX (because of demand and no real priority pass presence) and SFO (since they're in a smaller temporary lounge.) Add to that, you now have to take a bus in LAX to reach terminals 6-8 for the next two years, and now the 3 hour window becomes a really narrow option. Every problem would be solved by more space, but they just put more and more restrictions to ensure it's less possible to visit the lounges.
I never have this problem with airline specific lounges, so I'm likely to downgrade to Green this renewal cycle.
This won’t solve the problem. They should consider prioritizing access based on spend. Or add another tier between platinum and black card.
Another nail in the coffin.
I live in a small town with not many flights per day, and often have longer than 5 hours layover. I really don't get this rule as airline schedules are not our fault.
@1990, did it ever occur to you that the system won't allow you to be checked in more than three hours before your flight or that they may have to override the system or otherwise do something complicated to let you in early? Did you ask or do you always just assume everyone is being a jerk?
Since 2020, the lounges have been unusable. I'd like to see AMEX move the annual fee to $8,500 to price 75% out. Turn the lounges into a true destination circa The Wing or Pier in HK.
Some reasonable reasons are:
1) I can't be in the air during the first available connection.
2) Time sensitive work needs to be completed and the possibility of wifi not working is real
3) Smaller cities often limited schedules, and going from small city - hub - small city might mean a 6 - 8 hour layover is the best there is.
Under the old rules, with all of the above, I'm spending the same time working either in a hotel room or lounge, so doesn't really matter when the connection is, but with these new changes, it now it affects my work.