American Airlines has announced plans to invest in its premium ground experience at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), and this can’t come soon enough.
In this post:
American plans huge Charlotte lounge improvements
Charlotte is American’s second largest hub, though as a premium traveler, it has to be one of the least pleasant to travel through, given the current state of lounges. The primary Admirals Club is an outdated and crowded disaster, though at least we saw the recent opening of the Provisions by Admirals Club concept, essentially a grab & go lounge.
Now there’s some really good news — American has officially announced plans to open a Flagship Lounge in Charlotte, in addition to opening a new Admirals Club. This will represent a significant increase in lounge space at the airport. Unfortunately official information beyond that remains limited, with American stating that construction details and timing will be shared at a later date.
As you’d expect, the updated lounge spaces will follow American’s new lounge design concept, matching what we recently saw in Philadelphia (PHL), with the opening of a new Flagship Lounge and Admirals Club. American has also announced plans to open a new Flagship Lounge in Miami (MIA), so there’s a lot to look forward to.
Here’s how Heather Garboden, American’s Chief Customer Officer, describes this:
“As an airline, we’re committed to meeting the needs of our customers, and we’re excited to continue to invest in our lounges at CLT. These improvements will introduce a premium experience for our Flagship customers and provide more space in our Admirals Club lounges.”
Where will American’s new Charlotte lounges be located?
As was reported by JonNYC a couple of years back, the plan here seems to be for the new lounge space to open on the mezzanine level near the Concourse D & E connector. There’s expected to be around 40,000 square feet of lounge space. While that’s a fairly large footprint, there’s no denying that the space will likely still be very crowded, given the number of people at the airport with lounge access.
The bad news is that this new lounge space is expected to replace the existing primary Admirals Club, which will be used by the airport for something else (likely shops, dining, etc.). That’s less than ideal. Yes, the new space will be bigger than the old space, but ideally American would keep its current Admirals Club space, plus open the new lounge compound.
Regardless, this is a huge step in the right direction, and it will be a massive improvement. Now we’ll just have to see how long it takes until this new lounge actually opens. Are we talking under a year, multiple years, the same timeline as the Flagship Lounge London (LHR), or what?
Bottom line
American Airlines plans to make a huge investment in its lounges in Charlotte. This includes a first-ever Flagship Lounge for the airport, plus an all-new Admirals Club. The expectation is that this will be a new lounge compound that measures roughly 40,000 square feet, and that it will replace the existing primary Admirals Club.
I’m delighted to see American continuing to invest in its lounges, as there was no airport more in need of an investment than Charlotte. Now we just have to be patient, since we have no clue when this lounge will actually welcome its first guests.
What do you make of this Charlotte lounge news?
American has been renovating their current primary Admirals Club so I’d be surprised if they abandon it.
Happy for AA to continue growing CLT! AA isn’t for me, though know plenty who enjoy AA and now with citi, we shall see more choosing AA potentially
I prefer United
Name a more inconvenient to transit, more uncomfortable US hub than CLT. Better Admiral's Clubs and a Flagship lounge are good move. Does not make up for the other shortcomings of CLT.
I feel this way about Charlotte as a whole. Maybe it's the Triangle/Charlotte rivalry I learned in college. My friend put it well: "Charlotte is like if LinkedIn and HGTV collaborated to create a city."
DTW and DFW aren't great to transit through but at least you can get some great, cheap eats delivered to your hotel on an overnight.
I'm a bit confused. You say early in the article that American is adding the Flagship Lounge "in addition to opening a new Admirals Club," but then later lament that ideally they would keep both the Flagship and their main Admirals Club open. So are they actually opening a new Admirals Club too after giving up their current main one?
Does this now make MCO the new king of major US airports with a complete lack of any premium lounges or any kind of premium experience at all?
MCO is also the king of leisure, low yields, and LCCs.
@yolo For sure but considering Disney is still a destination for the richest and their kids globally, it's wild MCO doesn't have premium services.
(Disney stans kind of weird me out, especially the Fortune 500 CEO I met once who talked my ear off about EPCOT.)
As a Charlotte-based international flyer this is certainly welcome news and finally places CLT where it should be…on equal footing with other markets with fewer customers. AA is finally realizing the growth in the area (Charlotte plus those places that connect in at CLT) is worth the investment. Kudos to AA for stepping up. My only fear is that it will take years to complete and until the the paint is dry, economic uncertainty and...
As a Charlotte-based international flyer this is certainly welcome news and finally places CLT where it should be…on equal footing with other markets with fewer customers. AA is finally realizing the growth in the area (Charlotte plus those places that connect in at CLT) is worth the investment. Kudos to AA for stepping up. My only fear is that it will take years to complete and until the the paint is dry, economic uncertainty and other events could delay or cancel. I hope this moves quickly and I can soon be treated like an actual FLagship customer versus paying like one and being treated like a second-class citizen. I suspect the Delta lounge in Concourse A helped give the needed motivation to announce this for fear of defections.
I was a day 1 believer. I've been saying it's only a matter of time for CLT to get a Flagship lounge.
It's one of the fastest growing markets in the US still, it's not to be ignored. It's crazy that CLT may get a Flagship lounge before ATL does.
why crazy? CLT is a bigger AA mkt than ATL
That admirals clubs are Charlotte are horrific. Thank god. Having said that - I've had amazing experiences with the ground team there. Sadly, I'm now over the idea of connecting as much. And CLT just isn't a city I'm going to be based in. So UA winning on their route network again.
Wait, I thought American's advantage was its network!
I started by thinking About Damned Time, then I saw about the closing of a current club. So American thinks that the solution to vast overcrowding in their critical fortress hub is to close an existing lounge rather than adding another? Could these idiots statistically be any worse at managing an airline?
Hopefully the CLT is appropriate size. Nothing conveys "unpremium" than sitting in between a family and feeling like you're invading their family vacation because seating is so limited.
Hopefully the CLT is appropriate size. Nothing conveys "unpremium" than sitting in between a family and feeling like you're invading their family vacation because seating is so limited.
40k sqft sounds pretty solid to me.
That's larger than Delta's JFK lounge, basically the largest in the US afaik.
I really disagree that CLT is the worst major connecting airport in the US. Their food and beverage is WAY above average. I think the options in the E concourse are super impressive when considering it is primarily used for regional flights. Most airports treat these concourses/zones as an after thought, I think CLT really invested in this area. Not to mention all the options you pass on your way to this area such as...
I really disagree that CLT is the worst major connecting airport in the US. Their food and beverage is WAY above average. I think the options in the E concourse are super impressive when considering it is primarily used for regional flights. Most airports treat these concourses/zones as an after thought, I think CLT really invested in this area. Not to mention all the options you pass on your way to this area such as Shake Shack and the smoothie/acai bowl spot.
Yes the concourses are unbearably crowded, the end of the piers can feature five A321s all boarding at once (what in the world!). Personally I find longer walks between gates as refreshing after getting off a flight from Seattle, I know that's not the case for everyone. It is a far from ideal setup, but within the limitations they delivered to themselves I think they are making the best of it.
I will grant you that there are some decent food choices in CLT. It isn’t helpful when you have a 40-minute connection, a 15-minute walk to your new gate, and would need to wait 30 minutes in line to get something to go. I think if I worked at one of the food vendors there I’d wake up in cold sweats every morning thinking about the stress to come, and I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in foodservice.
Not a great airport to transit thru because of the lack of trains. You may have to walk loooooong distances to get to your gate.
Funnily enough the Delta area is actually quite nice in CLT.
Good news in concept, but I'm sure they'll find a way to muck it up. American seems to be perversely proud of having the nation's worst major hub in CLT. Connecting there is endlessly and deeply unpleasant. The lounge probably won't have a bathroom, or it will only be accessible from an internal stairwell, or it will be called Provisions by Flagship Lounge. Maybe all three - AA does love innovating around new ways to make Charlotte terrible!
Looks like AA is still committed to long haul international flying from CLT.
Crazy to think that such a small market could handle all those flights
I've flown transatlantic dozens of times from CLT, typically in the shoulder or off season. My flights, especially to/from LHR, have been consistently packed (sometimes 100% full). It's likely most of the passengers on these flights are connecting in Charlotte but there are plenty of local people on the flights too.
CLT is hardly a "small market". It's solidly a top 20 metro and continues growing quickly.
It definitely punches above its weight, but no one ever says that about hubs like SLC, which is actually smaller than CLT, and sees similar levels of service.
I'd imagine that CLT acts to AA as ATL does to DL: a connecting hub for the enormous spread out population of the entire South and East Coast. So I wouldn't think of CLT's market as being Charlotte, or even just the state of North Carolina, but also everybody in TN, AA fliers in GA, SC, Kentucky, and some of the Virginias.