A new lounge opened today at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), which is an exciting development for travelers.
In this post:
Escape Lounge (Centurion Studio Partner) opens at FLL
Escape Lounge, a Centurion Studio Partner, has opened today at Fort Lauderdale Airport. The 5,000+ square foot lounge features a variety of amenities, including private workspaces, reading nooks, shower suites, outlets at every seat, conference rooms that can be reserved, and children activity packs.
In terms of food and drinks, the lounge features a coastal-inspired menu with dishes from Chef Laurent Tourondel from restaurant DUNE by LT. Menu items include french toast royal, topped with pineapple confit, milk crumble, and rum raisin cream, and a Mediterranean twist on a chopped salad. There are also a variety of wine, beer, and spirits, as well as coffee from Calusa Coffee Roasters. You can find the food menu here, while you can find the drink menu here.
The lounge is open daily from 5:30AM until 9PM, and is located in Terminal 3, along the connector walkways between gates E and F. Terminal 3 and Terminal 4 are connected airside, and the lounge is easily accessible by passengers flying on several airlines, including American, JetBlue, and Spirit, all of which have gates nearby.
This is the first lounge in Terminal 3 or Terminal 4, which is also why this is so exciting and overdue.
How to access Escape Lounges
Escape Lounges are affiliated with American Express (hence the “Centurion Studio Partner” branding). As far as lounge access goes, access policies are similar to what you’ll find at Amex Centurion Lounges, with the added opportunity for anyone to buy access:
- The lounge is open to those with the Amex Platinum Card (personal or business) when traveling with any airline same day; cardmembers can take two guests into the lounge for free
- The lounge is open to those with the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card when traveling on Delta same day
- Lounge access can be purchased for $40 when booked in advance, or $45 when purchased at the door
This is not a Priority Pass lounge, so those with Priority Pass memberships won’t be able to access this lounge on a complimentary basis.
Bottom line
Amex’s Escape Lounge at Fort Lauderdale Airport is now open, and it’s exciting for this of us in South Florida. This is the first lounge in Terminal 3 or Terminal 4, so it certainly fills a void. Unfortunately I’d expect this lounge to get crowded, given how many people have Amex Platinums, along with this lounge not being very big. Still, I think this is a great addition.
What do you make of the Escape Lounge Fort Lauderdale?
Might be the worst lounge I have ever had. Ambience is not but but the food is atrocious... The sandwich has more mustard than meat... The chowder has more sugar than a candy bar. The alcohol choice is very limited to low end quality. Very disappointing for $50.
Unbelievable Linda & Cerole the Best attendents.The lounge is 5 Star!!!spotless & all foods are completely full fir the 3 hours we were here March 6!
Es un total desastre tengo una amex platino y no se me permitio la entrada solo porque mi tarjeta es de otro pais no de usa entonces parece las amex son diferentes por paises no entiendo esa politica pues si es american expres es unica y mundial
The old air Canada maple leaf lounge at the “old” la guardia was pretty shabby. It may have had a window but everything was old and worn and there were ugly rugs and terrible food. That good looks 10 times better. It was located pre security and all the way down and away from the departure gates in the old terminal B
Totally disappointing. The food offered was disappointing. Would rather see breakfast with cereal, pastries, scrambled eggs, toast. I would suggest checking other airport lounges!!
Which lounge would that be lol?
I had the opportunity to try this lounge after it being open just 4 days. I can say the manager was extremely welcoming & the staff were all working extremely hard to keep up. Being it is the only lounge for Terminal 3 & 4 it goes without saying it stays busy. However it did seem we arrived during a lull, where they appeared to be working to catch up from the crowd before us....
I had the opportunity to try this lounge after it being open just 4 days. I can say the manager was extremely welcoming & the staff were all working extremely hard to keep up. Being it is the only lounge for Terminal 3 & 4 it goes without saying it stays busy. However it did seem we arrived during a lull, where they appeared to be working to catch up from the crowd before us. It was very refreshing to relax & refuel as we watched our flight continued to be delayed.
I will be there later today. This is hopefully a nice addition at FLL. I usually fly MIA because FLL lacks everything except cheap flights.
hi wendy - how did it go? anything you care to share? thanks in advance!
As a fairly frequent B6 flyer out of FLL (by necessity), this is most welcome. I'm actually heading there in a couple hours and will check it out and report anything notable...
Didn't get to fully experience the lounge yesterday (it was a soft opening and they were closing as we arrived), but really a beautiful space that feels bigger than the listed size and had very comfortable furniture. The mini-cubanos were delicious, and the service was very friendly. I'll definitely be a regular there.
Flying out of FLL next week, will have to check it out using my Delta Reserve card. The last time I flew out of FLL was in 2019 and the Delta SkyClub was a dark tunnel, so this looks like a major improvement over that, but it also looks like Delta has now opened an improved SkyClub as well. Club hopping opportunity...
And little reminder for those who have the Reserve card. Like the Centurion lounges, you still need to be flying on DL to have access to Escape Lounges.
If you’re flying Delta, you’ll be in a separate terminal that isn’t connected airside. You won’t be able to get to the Escape Lounge. The SkyClub was recently renovated though and it’s extremely nice.
@Ben
I thought guess changes for 2023 only applied to main Amex Centurion lounges and not Studio Partner lounges.
I am not sure that the 2 guest option for Platinum card holders goes away in February at Escape Lounges. Here are the access rules for Escape Lounges:
https://escapelounges.com/us/access/
It doesn't say anything about an upcoming change in guesting privileges for Platinum card holders, unlike the Centurion Lounge access rules page, which makes the February 1 2023 change very clear:
https://www.thecenturionlounge.com/info/access/
@Ben: When is Escape CMH opening?
This is good news for the cruisers that don’t fly Delta. I love the Escape lounges in PVD and BDL and now get to experience a new one in two weeks.
I am flying out of FLL Terminal 1. I have reservations today for escape lounge but I don’t see how I can get into Terminal 3, the location of the lounge. How can I get a refund for the 4 guest reservation I have for today?