American Airlines offers Five Star Service, which is essentially a package that can be purchased at select airports, offering travelers an exclusive ground experience. I don’t want to suggest that it’s any sort of an amazing deal, but it’s a program that many people don’t know about, so I figure that it’s interesting to cover…
In this post:
How American’s Five Star Service works
American Five Star Service is the Fort Worth-based carrier’s premium ground service package that’s available to select passengers. For those willing to pay, American Five Star Service offers customized service and extra amenities, which should make your ground experience seamless. Let’s take a closer look at how this works.
What does American Five Star Service offer?
American Five Star Service is intended primarily for passengers who are either departing or connecting. When you book American Five Star Service, you’ll receive the following perks:
- Access to Flagship First Check-In, which is American’s exclusive international first class check-in facility; at airports without Flagship First Check-In, you’ll get priority check-in
- Access to American Admirals Club locations
- Priority boarding and re-accommodation status
- Car service coordination, so that you’ll be met when you arrive at the airport
- Personalized service throughout the airport, so that you’ll be escorted every step of the way
Note that officially Five Star Service doesn’t include any car or golf cart transfers within the airport, but rather you can expect to be escorted by foot. Your actual experience may vary based on the airport or the exact situation, as it’s not uncommon to be driven in a golf cart. As I’ll cover below, Five Star Select is more likely to get you this service, and that costs extra.
Who is eligible for American Five Star Service?
American Five Star Service is exclusively available to first and business class passengers, so you can’t buy it when traveling in economy or premium economy. It doesn’t matter if you’re traveling internationally or domestically.
You can use this service if traveling on American, including on itineraries that include travel on select oneworld partners. You’ll have to reach out to Five Star Service to ask about specific eligibility with partners, since it’s all based on whether American agents have the ability to provide this kind of service at a particular airport.
How much does American Five Star Service cost?
American Five Star Service costs $350 for the first passenger, and $100 for each additional passenger. Children up to 17 years old can be added for $50 each.
You can also redeem miles toward the experience, at the rate of one cent per mile (which is less than I value AAdvantage miles). So you could book this for 35,000 AAdvantage miles for the first person, 10,000 AAdvantage miles for each additional adult, and 5,000 AAdvantage miles for each additional child.
When you purchase American Five Star Service, you’re paying specifically for the service at one airport. So if you wanted this service at all points of your itinerary, you’d have to pay the fee separately for each airport. You need to book at least 24 hours in advance for US locations, and 48 hours in advance for international locations.
What airports have American Five Star Service?
American Five Star Service is available at 22 airports, including 16 airports in the United States and six airports abroad.
The following 16 airports in the United States offer Five Star Service:
- Austin (AUS)
- Atlanta (ATL)
- Boston (BOS)
- Charlotte (CLT)
- Chicago (ORD)
- Dallas (DFW)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Miami (MIA)
- Nashville (BNA)
- New York (JFK & LGA)
- Newark (EWR)
- Philadelphia (PHL)
- Phoenix (PHX)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Washington (DCA)
The following six airports outside the United States offer Five Star Service:
- Buenos Aires (EZE)
- London (LHR)
- Rio de Janeiro (GIG)
- Sao Paolo (GRU)
- Tokyo (HND & NRT)
How do you book American Five Star Service?
American Five Star Service is bookable by phone, at 877.578.2702. Alternatively, you can book by email by contacting Five Star Service at [email protected].
American’s uber-exclusive Five Star Select
In addition to Five Star Service, American has Five Star Select, which is an even more exclusive service. What’s the incremental value of this?
- You’ll be driven in a vehicle across the apron or in a golf cart through the terminal, when possible
- You’ll get access to American Flagship Lounges, as well as American Flagship First Dining, which is the carrier’s exclusive pre-dining facility, located inside Flagship Lounges; there are only Flagship First Dining facilities in Dallas (DFW) and Miami (MIA)
American Five Star Select costs $650 for the first passenger, and $150 for each additional passenger. Children up to 17 years old can be added to your plan for $75 each. In other words, this costs an extra $300 for the first passenger, an extra $50 for each extra passenger, and an extra $25 for each child.
Is American Five Star Service worth it?
Admittedly everyone values their time and minor incremental convenience differently, though personally I have a hard time getting excited about the value proposition of Five Star Service. $350 is a lot to spend for a little hand holding at the airport, especially if you already have Admirals Club access:
- You’re unlikely to be driven on the apron to or from your aircraft, but rather you’re typically just escorted
- Flagship First Check-In might save you a few minutes, but if you have TSA PreCheck, I can’t imagine it’ll make much of a difference
- I suppose some might be able to justify this for a very special occasion, if a loved one who doesn’t travel often is flying (and you want to make their journey easy), or if you have a tight connection and it’s very important that you make it
Just as a point of comparison, I’d consider Delta’s equivalent service to be a better value. If you’re connecting, you’ll typically be driven across the apron to both your arriving and departing flight, and you won’t have to wait in any line to get into a Sky Club.
As far as Five Star Select goes, you’re basically paying an extra $300 to be sure you won’t have to walk, and to get access to Flagship Lounges and Flagship First Dining. I think there are much better dining experiences that can be had for that kind of a premium outside of an airport. But that’s just me.
Bottom line
American Airlines Five Star Service is the carrier’s paid VIP service, intended to take any hassle out of the ground experience. For an extra $350 (for one person) you can be looked after from the curb to the gate, and get access to the Admirals Club. Then for $650 you can buy Five Star Select, which offers the incremental value of being driven through the airport, and also getting access to Flagship Lounges and Flagship First Dining.
I wouldn’t consider any of this to be a very good value, but I figured it’s at least worth covering…
What do you make of the value proposition of American Five Star Service?
Now that you've posted the article with Delta charging $500 for similar services; it seems, either DL is price-gauging, or AA isn't charging enough... bah! Either way, that's a nope for me, dawg.
I book this service for my 83 year old mom when she’s connecting in DFW.
For $350 I don’t have to worry about her ability to navigate or walk or get into the lounge. If the passenger is marked as needing assistance, then I have found they generally use a gold cart to help her accomplish it all.
They literally take her to a lounge, find a seat for her and get her...
I book this service for my 83 year old mom when she’s connecting in DFW.
For $350 I don’t have to worry about her ability to navigate or walk or get into the lounge. If the passenger is marked as needing assistance, then I have found they generally use a gold cart to help her accomplish it all.
They literally take her to a lounge, find a seat for her and get her situated, and then when it’s time to board the next flight they proactively come back to her and help her collect her things and ensure she gets to the flight on time.
For some people who are not that familiar with travel and navigating airports, I think it’s definitely worth the peace of mind.
I could see my 83 year old mom enjoying that (if I could get her to travel solo)
I paid for the service once for my father a few years ago.
He was traveling HNL-DFW-BWI flying Flagship Biz then domestic F. He's older and DFW is large, so I thought he'd appreciate the assistance. In the end it was a Terminal D to D connection and the agent walked him to the FL, then the gate. In that scenario it was not worth the cost.
There are firms that provide airport concierge services. Amex Centurion Card uses these firms. Mastercard uses these firms. And, typically, a hotel concierge can arrange them. I have and family members have used them a fair number of times. If you book them directly, they are a fraction of the cost of the cost you likely saw with Five Star.
The only way this makes any sense at all is for a large group that is traveling domestically in first class and intends to purchase flagship lounge for $150/person.
This way, the Five Star Select works out to be a single $500 "cover charge" for flagship dining for everyone in the group (no matter how many people) along with all the hand-holding, golf cart transfers, etc.
Sounds like a big rip off to me. Especially the Five Star Select option.
I could see a good use for an elderly traveler who is less experienced in navigating airports. This can be especially true for a tighter connection in an unfamiliar airport.
Unless your celebrity wanting not to be bothered economically this would never make sense. Really at $650 a throw maybe one should consider flying private.
It couldn't possibly be some poor slob who worked two janitorial jobs his whole life to fulfill a promise to his wife that one day they would take one special trip. And, that one special trip would be the only trip they'd ever be able to take. Open your mind to the dreams that everyday people might have.
How do I become one of these people who has so much money they can pay for someone to walk them through an airport but doesn't have the mental capacity to do it myself.
If American had ever had any sort of strategic vision or ability to differentiate themselves in a positive manner, they'd have offered this program for international first class passenger as part of the service.
Well, "service" such as it is, soon to be was; their only real differentiation seems to be offering Surly and Extra Surly depending on the day and the person.
It's worth noting that Five Star is a shadow of its former self. Management has consciously chosen to move down market. Eliminate finer touches. In the old days, Five Star offered expedited Customs for international arrivals and even partnered with Blade. A person could actually use AA miles to book Blade. It reminds me of how British Airways has changed. Quite sad.
Yeah, it seems that AA and BA colluded in a race to the bottom. I wish I were joking.
"escorted by foot" will eliminate any pesky ambulation-disabled people .