Historically American Airlines hasn’t offered lounge access to domestic first class passengers traveling to & from Hawaii. Even though some of these flights are over eight hours long and are operated by 777s and 787s, they haven’t come with special lounge privileges. That has finally changed.
American Airlines now offers Flagship Lounge or Admirals Club access for first class passengers traveling nonstop between the following city pairs:
- Dallas (DFW) and Honolulu (HNL)
- Dallas (DFW) and Kona (KOA)
- Dallas (DFW) and Maui (OGG)
- Chicago (ORD) and Honolulu (HNL)
- Charlotte (CLT) and Honolulu (HNL)
The only other nonstop domestic routes eligible for lounge access are nonstop premium transcontinental flights between the following city pairs:
- New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX)
- New York (JFK) and San Francisco (SFO)
- New York (JFK) and Orange County (SNA)
- Los Angeles (LAX) and Miami (MIA)
Note that for all of these domestic routes, AAdvantage elite members don’t get lounge access, but rather this is purely based on the class of service you’re traveling in.
While all eligible customers will immediately have access to Admirals Clubs, American’s Flagship Lounges are currently closed. American’s Flagship Lounge Miami will be reopening in September 2021, and the remaining Flagship Lounges are expected to open gradually throughout fall 2021. American has Flagship Lounges in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York.
Bottom line
American Airlines first class passengers traveling to & from Hawaii on longer flights operated by 777s and 787s now enjoy lounge access. This includes the option of using the Admirals Club or Flagship Lounge, though the latter will be closed a little while longer.
This is a very nice improvement to the first class experience for travel to Hawaii.
What do you make of American’s lounge access policy change?
(Tip of the hat to Kyle)
Nice addition for those of us spending $12K on AA to fly to Hawaii.
What about PHOENIX to Kauai?
This is a good move by American. Some flights to Hawaii are longer than flights to Europe, so this makes good sense. I am about to book a flight to Maui and I will use American
Does Maui airport have an admirals club. Where is it
I have the same question.
Do first class passengers traveling from lax to Hawaii has access to club spots? We are
Traveling from Charlotte to Honolulu with a stop in lax.
Flying HNL-DFW-STL in F
Will I be able to access the AC in DFW?
I’m flying first on AA from RDU > CLT > HNL. Will I get access at RDU or only CLT?
Yes, you get access at your origination airport, RDU.
It's basically only one way lounge access... Honolulu lounge is still closed and I haven't seen any indication it's opening any time soon.
It's a shared lounge with JAL... So maybe they are waiting till JAL has full flights returned Hawaii.
Sad since I have been paying for lounge access and my home airport lounge is STILL closed.
But still no option for leaving Hawaii.
So is it just First Class, like on a 777W, or is it business class too?
@Elaine, you basically answered for yourself. dont fly AA. I havent flown Hawaiin, but have heard their service is really good. hopefully the seat was comfy though :)
Anchorage flights gettin' no love, huh?
Nice, real enhancement.
Nice add. Am in Hawaii now flying back thru CLT so it will be nice to have a little lounge time before the flight back.
Flew from LAX to OGG in First. Hubby and I tried to enter the lounge and was turned away. The attendant said they were only accepting international flights??
The service was abysmal. Boxed chips and other crap. You literally had to beg for a plastic cup of wine.
Meanwhile our friends flew on Hawaiian and had pre-drink before departure and a hot meal with more drinks served and they flew out of Sacramento!!! AA is truly sad.
Wow, you literally begged someone to give you a plastic cup of wine? I think there are bigger issues here than lounge access.
Yes, I came in yesterday from DFW to OGG, and was given access, to my surprise. Nice lounge at the 'A' concourse. Decent food and gin tonics. 8-). But the '777', oh my, it felt ancient, especially with half of the seats facing backwards up front.
I have a flight from DFW > HNL in early September, and noticed that it came with lounge access - I wasn't sure if this was a new development, or was always offered to first class passengers.
Where would lounge access show on a reservation? I'm not seeing anything on my HNL-CLT-ALB reservation.
It won't. You'd need to show up to the lounge with your boarding pass.
Troubling to see that status passengers won't be included. Makes me worried they're angling to remove Flagship First access for elites on every route. Although I have to say, nothing would make me drop AA faster - lounge access in international economy is basically the only leg up AA has on the other carriers.
*angling to remove Flagship Lounge access
I think it’s great that paid first class passengers get access
I would be annoyed and outraged if I had AA elite status or paid for business class and was not able to access the lounge.
Question for the group - why does American seem to be skimping on it's best customers (first class / business)?
Hi. Not relevant here. I posted this to an older entry of yours about Marriott Bonvoy CC, but guessing you can't review every old post for new questions. So, let me ask here and hope you see it.
Ben, since Marriott bought Starwood and what was the best hotel loyalty program is no longer. And Bonvoy is just meh. Would you say Hyatt is now the best hotel loyalty program? Or, more clearly, which...
Hi. Not relevant here. I posted this to an older entry of yours about Marriott Bonvoy CC, but guessing you can't review every old post for new questions. So, let me ask here and hope you see it.
Ben, since Marriott bought Starwood and what was the best hotel loyalty program is no longer. And Bonvoy is just meh. Would you say Hyatt is now the best hotel loyalty program? Or, more clearly, which hotel loyalty program do you now consider the best if a person is going to participate in just one? Thanks!
The best program is still Marriott. It is so damn good, it has it's own verb.
You can't get Bonvoyed with other program.
The rest all depends. I can't fully say like @D .. .. that United is the best, please take my money no matter how bad Mileage Plus is.
It’s a space thing at HNL. I have been squeezing into the QF & other airline lounges for decades. To call them lounges is a misnomer, bear no relation to normal lounges, more like overcrowded schoolrooms or sardine cans.
I don’t know why all first class paying customers shouldn’t get an hour or so of preflight lounge access, especially considering the cutbacks in what they’ll be getting on their expensive flights.
I thought the same thing, how callous and cheap that it’s limited to select airports? Why would they not include their home airport (PHX) and most of all LAX in this? High grossing clients pay thousands for a terrible first class seats with no food, and no lounge because 5.5hours isn’t a long enough flight? this is such a smack in the face.
Lucky, now that AA is once again selling 3 cabin A321T's on LAX-BOS route, do you know if that's supposed to come with lounge access too?
Not sure about lounge access but American is anticipating people will use their upgrades on the LAX BOS route with the A321t. Most flights are already overbooked in the main cabin with lots of availability in the premium cabins.
Seems logical if someone is paying $1800 for a first class ticket that they have lounge access. For now at least. Once Asia re opens next year the AC in terminal D at DFW would be overcrowded in the mornings. All those flights depart around 10am-noon.
Very nice for my return flight HNL-CLT in a couple weeks with a long layover in CLT. Heading out via PHX-HNL on a 772 in the lie-flats. Can anyone think of a reason that pairing is excluded from this change? PHX ACs too crowded already?
I think it has to do with lie flat flights in premium cabins. The Phoenix flight isn’t lie flat I believe. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong…
There are a few frequencies ex-PHX that are widebodies - to HNL and OGG I believe.