At the tail end ofour Good Morning Milan, Goodnight Moon trip, I was excited to fly out of Philadelphia Airport (PHL), and check out a couple of lounges that have been on my radar. In this installment, I’ll be reviewing the Chase Sapphire Lounge, and in the next installment, I’ll be reviewing the American Flagship…
Continue reading: Review: Chase Sapphire Lounge Philadelphia Airport (PHL)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@Ben- So if you have multiple PP accounts, based on different credit cards (like one with Amex and one with Capital One), do you get a free visit per account? (so two per year in my example)
@ NomadDC -- The only way they can track you is via your Priority Pass membership, so yes, each membership should come with access once annually.
I love how the arcade room has separate displays for all the Philadelphia sports teams - really appreciate the local touches!
I did not like this place. Buffet was mostly pretty but shitty food (vegan stuffs or gluten-free pancake etc) and made-to-order took too long. Made-to-order bagel was just an individually packed factory-made bagel that could easily placed in buffet/pastry area. Capital one lounge is also filled with pretty-but-shitty-food but at least to-go section has good sandwich / wrap / granola yogurt / fruit that people actually consume inside because buffet section isn't good. This mini-dish thing should go. Amex lounge is the best with basic fulfilling food, no trendy menu or mini-dish, all good-taste.
Are kids (<18) considered complimentary guests? In other words, can I bring my spouse, 2-year-old and 4-year-old to the lounge with one my CSR?
Many of the design elements (particularly the bar area) are similar to the Centurion lounge in Atlanta. Both were designed by Corgan, which apparently has a limited imagination.
I spent 8 hours in this lounge back in August due to a long rolling delay on AA. It was quite a treat in an otherwise unfortunate day. Flight ultimately got cancelled, so I rebooked on the app and stayed in the lounge until closing for dinner, and then made the trek to one of AA's horrible complementary hotels.
When I was there early December the plates were not paper, so probably just a temporary thing.
I was here during Christmas week and enjoyed this lounge.
Food ordered at the table was not great. Had the cornbread and the breakfast bao bun. But with it being "free", it was serviceable. Also the cold brew was not too good either.
Doing everything through their website was nice. Ordering food, scheduling a shower, ect. Bathrooms are also super nice and spacious.
Definitely try to schedule a facial as soon as you enter. The front desk attendant was very sweet and put me on the waitlist and even came to the relaxtion room to ask if I wanted to grab an opening. Now that's service! Not a bad idea to have cash for a tip either.
Have visited this lounge a number of times and have not had paper plates. Hope that was just a temporary issue and not a long term change!
Would have loved to have checked it out, but on December 18 at 4pm we were told there was no availability for our Priority Pass vouchers, just Reserve cardholders.
The PHL Sapphire lounge is nice, although I prefer the Boston one myself.
PHL is my closest major airport. I generally try to avoid it - approximately 80% of my travel happens via EWR, the rest is split between JFK and PHL. I am really looking forward to the Centurion at EWR.
The Sapphire lounge does raise the bar for PHL - the PHL Centurion is a dump, and the BA business lounge is worse. That said, the sheer incompetence of everyone and their brother at PHL more than cancels this out. By way of an example - I was returning from Mexico City last Saturday, and it took the fine gentleman driving the jetway half an hour to connect to the aircraft. Par for the course at PHL.
One of my favorite lounges in the US. It’s airport food so I don’t expect restaurant quality. What I liked was how they laid the space out to facilitate areas with more energy and activity, areas for productivity and areas for relaxation. Felt like they did it right at this club. By far the best airline lounge in PHL.
Will be curious to see how busy it becomes as Chase adds more lounges and more card holders.
I passed through the Boston Sapphire lounge last week and they had partially paper plates (exact same ones). My first time seeing these after passing through that lounge half a dozen times. For one of the desserts it was first paper bowls and then later on they brought out normal bowls. So seems like a temporary issue / they’re struggling with normal plate inventory across the board.
I was there last week and it was an absolute zoo! Loud, poor quality food, little room to sit anywhere, and a kid running through the food area vomiting en route to the bathroom. Next time I'll take the terminal instead.
Do they offer champagne in this lounge ? If so, which one ? You did not mention :-O
A family member (Reserve cardholder) was recently turned away from this PHL lounge on a long layover. The rationale provided was that Reserve Lounges' policy does not expressly allow entry on connections over 3 hours (though agents can use discretion).
The other thing in Philly is unless you walk to AA land in terminals A and B, you don’t have a lot of good food options. There is some good fast food in terminal F. But this lounge is probably the second best overall food from terminal C and over.
Amazing food choices for vegetarians and vegans. Great job Chase!
AMEX lounge management needs to visit this and learn how to make a vegetarian friendly menu. They gloat about their celebrity chefs in their lounges but as a vegetarian I am always screwed in AMEX lounges!
Don't forget the secret menu that can only be ordered in the beer hall! Philly Cheesesteaks, pretzels, and others!
They dont care how long the connection is. You just can't entirely until 3hrs prior to departure. Standard for almost all credit card lounges. Sometimes it's 2hrs. Sometimes if it's not busy, they let you in anyways
They usually have real plates but I've seen paper too. I one heard them say the dish washer broke.
The food is hit out miss going down hill a little. When the lounge first opened I liked most items, especially the beer garden. As they change the menu, it's maybe half.
I've always found the non-alcoholic drink selection limited. The snacks (cookies, muffins). we the etc have always been poor. Still much better than most lounges
I happened to stop by just a few days ago. Missed finding the buffet entirely (so can't comment if they were still using paper plates), but happy to try a few dishes from the QR code menu. The physical layout of a long hallway with multiple significantly differently laid out rooms was interesting and positive. The place was calm and uncrowded Friday afternoon. Happy I used up one of my 2026 entries at this specific lounge location. (Per situation with another commenter, I am hoping/expecting that my three independent Priority Pass Select memberships will get me two more entries this calendar year.)
This lounge is discriminatory. I came in alone. They were very busy/crowded so they were choosing seats for people. I had come across on a transatlantic flight and I had another flight out late in the evening. I like to take catnaps to catch up on sleep since I wasn't going to get home until ~6-7am Europe time.
They said: here is your seat on this backless stool at a high top table. Now I have no physical disabiliities or anything but I definitely couldn't be comfortable for more than 20 minutes or so there. Certainly couldn't sleep. So I asked if I could keep my eye on the easy chairs and couches etc. I didn't mind starting on the high top and moving elsewhere. They said NO. They were emphatic that the comfy chairs were reserved for couples and families. Because I was traveling alone I had to permanently perch on the stool. I asked about future visits. Nope. Destined to perch unless I came with others or when not busy.
I did politely put up a minor fuss and I asked to write a formal complaint about their policy and I offered to wait my turn for a real chair. I was happy to wait a few minutes in the stool and then get something better. They did relent and allow me to sit in a marginally better (but real) chair. It was an S shaped couch with low back and no armrests... but a million times better than a stool.
This is a home airport for me so I am curious what happens next time. I think I prefer lunch/dinner at Centurion. The food there is way better (but more limited selection). I do like Sapphire's breakfast better. It is nice to take a canned drink with me on the plane from Sapphire. Centurion only has open cups and no drinks are allowed to leave. In the end I usually choose the lounge based on where my flight is. Flying out of F? Sapphire it is. A/B/C? Centurion.
Aren't they all different? Every Centurion I have been in has had different food. The ones out west all seem to serve comfort food but PHL and DCA I love the Middle Eastern theme.
No grab and go in DCA for Cap One!
I haven't seen similar menus in all the Sapphire lounges. Philly has a cheesesteak and a soft pretzel... etc.