After an extended closure, American Express has just reopened its unique airport lounge concept in Stockholm…
In this post:
Amex’s unique airport restaurant at Stockholm Airport
When it comes to lounge access, Amex is best known for its Centurion Lounge concept. However, this is only part of the overall lounge access portfolio offered by Amex’s premium cards.
As of April 2024, we’ve seen the reopening of the American Express Lounge by Pontus Frithiof. For context, this space closed back in March 2023, and has reopened a bit over a year later. Not only has this space been renovated, but it has been expanded significantly. At 700 square meters (~7,500 square feet), itt’s now nearly twice as big as it was before. It’s the largest lounge space offered by American Express in the Nordic region.
The American Express Lounge by Pontus Frithiof is located within The Marketplace at Terminal 5, between Pier E and Pier F. It’s open Monday to Friday from 5AM until 6PM, Saturday from 5AM until 3PM, and Sunday from 5AM until 6PM.
The lounge is open to those who have the Amex Platinum Card and Amex Centurion Card, including those issued in the United States.
What can guests expect at this “lounge?”
The American Express Lounge by Pontus Frithiof is a unique concept. Think of it like a restaurant with free food and drinks, in lieu of a lounge. It’s almost like the concept of a Priority Pass restaurant, except everything is included if you have an eligible card.
For those not familiar, Pontus Frithiof is a well-known Swedish chef, and he’s the person behind the restaurant. The menu is definitely focused on Swedish cuisine, and the lounge also offers a selection of drinks. Wine, beer, soft drinks, juice, coffee, and tea, are all included, while liquor comes at an extra charge.
I reviewed this lounge experience back in 2022, before the concept was expanded. Below is what the menu looked like at the time, along with some of the dishes.
Bottom line
The Amex Lounge by Pontus Frithiof Stockholm Arlanda Airport has reopened, after being closed for over a year. The lounge has roughly doubled in size, so it should offer the same great experience as before, but hopefully with less crowding. If you’re passing through Arlanda Airport and have an eligible card, I’d definitely recommend checking this out.
What do you make of the Amex Lounge by Pontus Frithiof?
Arlanda is a very dated airport, feels like you're walking back into the 1970s and not in a good way.
They have been modernizing ARN this year and last. It’s still a renovation project, but it doesn’t feel as dated as it used to feel.
The Pearl lounge which I used a lot last summer at ARN for my ARN-CDG runs in business class on Air France was more to my liking with regard to food and some other things than the SAS Gold and business lounge at ARN I use when flying SAS from ARN. But regardless of carrier out of ARN, I have preferred to get fed at the Amex -branded lounge facility. Unfortunately, the Amex branded lounge...
The Pearl lounge which I used a lot last summer at ARN for my ARN-CDG runs in business class on Air France was more to my liking with regard to food and some other things than the SAS Gold and business lounge at ARN I use when flying SAS from ARN. But regardless of carrier out of ARN, I have preferred to get fed at the Amex -branded lounge facility. Unfortunately, the Amex branded lounge facility at ARN is reducing its hours in a way that seem deliberately set to minimize people eating dinner there.
Hoping this is good because there are no good, non-SAS lounges at Arlanda. The lounge Air France and KLM use is horrible. Will be interesting to see what changes once SAS joins SkyTeam.
https://onemileatatime.com/news/amex-lounge-pontus-frithiof-stockholm-arlanda/
You think SAS lounges are good??
Was a regular at the lounge before it transformed into a pop-up lounge, while it was a pop-up lounge and also now since it reopened this week.
Glad to have it back as a non-pop-up lounge, but not happy about the reduced hours of operation as someone who is flying out of ARN multiple times a month and was previously using the lounge quite a bit for dinner.