Review: American Admirals Club Tampa Airport (TPA)

Review: American Admirals Club Tampa Airport (TPA)

NAME: American Admirals Club
Airport: TPA
DATE: March 2023
REVIEW RATING:
BEN SAYS: While the Admirals Club Tampa is nothing to get excited about, I'm happy that American has a lounge at the airport, and find it to have great views and friendly staff.
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This morning I flew out of Tampa Airport, and I figured I’d review the Admirals Club there, since I was there right at opening time. I’ve visited this lounge a countless number of times over the years (I used to live in Tampa, and my family still lives there).

While this lounge isn’t anything to get excited about, it has friendly staff, great views, and it’s nice that American even has a lounge here (the only other lounge at Tampa Airport is the Delta Sky Club — there are no independent or other airline lounges here).

American Admirals Club Tampa location

The American Admirals Club Tampa is located in Concourse F, which is where all American Airlines flights depart from. Once you take the train to Concourse F and pass security, you’ll see Cafe by Mise en Place immediately in front of you (coincidentally this is a Priority Pass restaurant, and is actually very good).

Tampa Airport Concourse F

Just to the left of that, and in the direction of gates F85-90, is the entrance to the Admirals Club, right next to the duty free store.

Tampa Airport Concourse F
American Admirals Club Tampa exterior

The Admirals Club is located one level above the terminal, and once you enter the lounge, you’ll see the elevator and escalator that can take you there.

American Admirals Club Tampa entrance

American Admirals Club Tampa hours

The American Admirals Club Tampa is currently open daily from 5AM until 8:15PM, covering all American departures from the terminal. The hours do change based on flight schedules, but you can expect that if an American flight is operating, the lounge will be open.

American Admirals Club Tampa hours

American Admirals Club Tampa entry requirements

There are a variety of ways to access American Admirals Clubs, ranging from buying an Admirals Club membership, to having elite status and being on an eligible itinerary.

Personally I access Admirals Clubs using the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review), which is one of my all around favorite airline credit cards. The card has a $595 annual fee, and offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember.

In and of itself that represents cost savings compared to a membership, as the cheapest cost for an Admirals Club membership is higher than that.

See my guide to American Admirals Club access.

American Admirals Club Tampa seating & layout

The American Admirals Club Tampa consists primarily of one big room, with amazing views of the apron and runway. The lounge has really high ceilings, which make up quite a bit for the otherwise outdated design.

The main part of the lounge just has the typical selection of Admirals Club furniture, arranged into clusters. There are outlets at most of the side tables, so it’s not too hard to charge your electronics.

American Admirals Club Tampa seating
American Admirals Club Tampa seating
American Admirals Club Tampa seating
American Admirals Club Tampa seating

In the very back right of the lounge is the bar area, which also has several cafe-style tables, in case you prefer something other than a side table.

American Admirals Club Tampa bar
American Admirals Club Tampa bar seating
American Admirals Club Tampa seating

Near the bar and to the side is a small TV room, with seating for nine people.

American Admirals Club Tampa TV room

Then there’s a business center room, consisting of five cubicles with rolling chairs and some printers.

American Admirals Club Tampa cubicles
American Admirals Club Tampa cubicles
American Admirals Club Tampa business center

That’s all there is to the lounge. I find that this lounge tends to be pretty consistently busy, but never overcrowded.

American Admirals Club Tampa food & drinks

One area where American Admirals Clubs lag is when it comes to the food selection, and that’s especially true at smaller stations (sometimes hubs have a bit more substantial of a selection).

American Admirals Club Tampa buffet
American Admirals Club Tampa buffet

In terms of drinks, there was La Colombe coffee, tea, an espresso machine, water, and iced tea. Other soft drinks and alcohol are available from the bartender. Can I just take a moment to point out how consistently American’s espresso machines seem to be broken in lounges? It seems like they’re out of order more often than not.

Is American just choosing terribly unreliable machines, does the airline take weeks to schedule maintenance, or what? Of course stuff goes wrong, but this is far too common of a problem.

American Admirals Club Tampa buffet
American Admirals Club Tampa drinks
American Admirals Club Tampa drinks

As far as food goes, the selection consisted of english muffins, bagels, muffins, greek yogurt, hardboiled eggs, fruit salad, cereal, granola, whole fruit, scrambled eggs (with some accompaniments), and oatmeal.

American Admirals Club Tampa food
American Admirals Club Tampa food
American Admirals Club Tampa food
American Admirals Club Tampa food

While house wine, beer, and liquor are complimentary, there’s a menu at the bar with both premium drinks and more substantial food for purchase. You can find that menu below.

American Admirals Club Tampa drink menu
American Admirals Club Tampa drink menu
American Admirals Club Tampa food menu
American Admirals Club Tampa food menu

American Admirals Club Tampa bathrooms

The bathrooms at the Admirals Club Tampa are inside the lounge and to the right, just past the TV room.

American Admirals Club Tampa bathrooms

The men’s room has three sinks, three stalls, and one urinal. I have no clue why that funnel was on the counter, but it was there for the duration of my stay.

American Admirals Club Tampa bathrooms
American Admirals Club Tampa bathrooms

The Admirals Club Tampa doesn’t have any showers, which is fair enough, since this isn’t an airport where many people are going to connect.

Bottom line

I’m grateful that American even has an Admirals Club in Tampa, since it’s not a hub or even a major focus city for the airline. The Admirals Club Tampa has friendly staff, nice views, and it’s never too crowded. I don’t leave any extra time to visit the lounge, but I typically drop in here for a few minutes every time I fly out of the airport.

If you have more time and have an eligible Priority Pass membership, I’d absolutely go to the adjacent Cafe by Mise en Place for a meal or drink instead.

The Admirals Club Tampa could definitely use a refresh, as it feels a bit outdated. But like I said, I’m grateful the airline even has a lounge here, so I’m generally a fan of this place.

What do you make of the Admirals Club Tampa?

Conversations (23)
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  1. Katy Guest

    Definitely not worth coming. I’ve been to American Express lounges all over the world and US. This one, American Airlines at TPA, has the food of a cheap hotel breakfast buffet…a few box muffins, powdered eggs, no breakfast meat, no OJ, just iced tea and water.
    The Delta lounge is probably much better. I will try that next time. I would have rather just ate at the airport Chic-fil-a

  2. Steve Guest

    As an Alaska Lounge+ member, this lounge is also accessible, even when flying on Alaska from Airside C. Shuttle passes are available from the information desk near Starbucks in the main terminal. Just plan enough time to go through security twice.

    1. Mason Blacher Guest

      Going through security TWICE? Are you kidding me? Alaska flight attendants always announce that their airline is "a proud member of the One World Alliance." Why? What kind of alliance leaves its member, Alaska, to the Siberia gates of Southwest, both here and in Boston and in other places as well.

  3. iamhere Guest

    Looks like a standard lounge when not in a hub city.
    You said there are no independent lounges then what is the "international club"?

  4. Todikaios Guest

    Tampa is my new home airport. Hartford (BDL) was and I was sorely disappointed when American close the Club at Bradley a few years back. During the late Fall and early Winter the Tampa breakfast selection featured grits, a southern staple. It has disappeared in the past couple of months. I agree that the service staff in the lounge and behind the reception desk are amongst the most friendly and responsive. Perhaps the smaller size...

    Tampa is my new home airport. Hartford (BDL) was and I was sorely disappointed when American close the Club at Bradley a few years back. During the late Fall and early Winter the Tampa breakfast selection featured grits, a southern staple. It has disappeared in the past couple of months. I agree that the service staff in the lounge and behind the reception desk are amongst the most friendly and responsive. Perhaps the smaller size of the Tampa Club encourages this customer interaction.

  5. Kenmatel Guest

    I think it used to be an usair club before they merged

  6. Jerry Diamond

    Wow, the bar was empty?! I just figured there were 10 white people in their 40s and 50s on AA's payroll whose job it is sit there and pound Bud Light and chardonnay all day.

    1. grichard Guest

      Well, he got there right when it opened, so probably those guys were still clocking in.

    2. Scudder Diamond

      Wearing polyester golf pants, Columbia SPF shirts, and baseball caps.

  7. VT-CIE Diamond

    There has been an increased spate of lounge reviews recently, to the extent that I feel that lounge reviews are drowning out other airline reviews. C’mon, bring on the LH 787 and DE A330neo reviews, and tell us about your next Aeroplan adventure (hopefully including Vistara)!

  8. Cole Guest

    There is another club, the International Airlines Lounge near gate F78. There is not much information about it but I know Virgin Atlantic uses it before their London flights, (since the sky club is in a different terminal), not sure if Lufthansa or Copa uses as well. I know it is not priority pass and there is limited information online about the lounge

    1. Stan Guest

      Ba also uses this lounge for their tpa to lgw flight. It's maybe half the size of the admirals club. Some tables and a few chairs, and that's it. Drinks and snacks and an airline rep or two and not much else.

  9. Zain Nensey Guest

    As a Tampa based flyer who typically flies Delta this was a nice way to shout out Tampa (particularly as we went to the same HS Lucky). I wasn't even aware we had an Admirals Club, let alone that it could be accessed with a credit card. I recall seeing a BA Galleries lounge, did this replace that space or is the Galleries lounge still there?
    I think there's still an available lounge space...

    As a Tampa based flyer who typically flies Delta this was a nice way to shout out Tampa (particularly as we went to the same HS Lucky). I wasn't even aware we had an Admirals Club, let alone that it could be accessed with a credit card. I recall seeing a BA Galleries lounge, did this replace that space or is the Galleries lounge still there?
    I think there's still an available lounge space in Airside C. I wonder if there's an opportunity to do a Priority Pass lounge for SW fliers there.

    1. InternationalTraveler Gold

      And the Heineken 0.0 is non alcoholic. American really wants their guests to pay for the beer. I rather would choose one of the complimentary wines.

    2. UA-NYC Diamond

      Jai Alai is a great local IPA. Delta and even United (gasp) would offer that free if it was a hub.

    3. Alex Guest

      The lounge is nothing to write home about.

  10. zagman1112 Member

    The only free beers are Heineken and Coors Light (gag)? Geez, I know Alaska Lounges are few and far between and are not anything special but at least I can go in and get a decent craft brew complimentary.

  11. Keith Guest

    I've been checking the literature. Brown wood doesn't cause cancer or other medical ailments, so you can use this lounge without any danger. I hear they will even let you into it if you're wearing athleisure or sneakers with a suit.

  12. George N Romey Guest

    That club gets very crowded. AA really needs to expand that location but I'm not sure how.

  13. Steve Williamson Guest

    Hi Ben - wasn't this lounge (the TPA Admirals Club) originally a US Airways Club back in the day? I know the Admirals Club in PHL has a VERY similar design to it (and almost as much dark wood), and of course PHL was a major hub for US Airways before American took it over. I'm stunned that a decade after the merger they haven't really refurbished either of them. Yet the Orlando (MCO) Admirals...

    Hi Ben - wasn't this lounge (the TPA Admirals Club) originally a US Airways Club back in the day? I know the Admirals Club in PHL has a VERY similar design to it (and almost as much dark wood), and of course PHL was a major hub for US Airways before American took it over. I'm stunned that a decade after the merger they haven't really refurbished either of them. Yet the Orlando (MCO) Admirals Club is pretty much brand new, and totally on brand in respect to the current AA image. Might be interesting to review that one too, at some point, as it's TINY by AA standards. As a side note, how interesting that US Airways (a much smaller airline pre-merger) felt the need to build a lounge in Tampa, and not somewhere like MCO or MIA. I understand that MCO is AA's largest non-official-hub outstation (or at least the station with the most daily flights, that they don't officially regard as a hub), so it's odd they'd have such a small one there. Also, as for other TPA lounges, I'm sure you're aware that space was left for a Continental President's Club (so it would now be a United Club had it been built, given the merger) at Airside A, but it was never built due to budget cuts at Continental in the early 2000s.

    1. NedsKid Diamond

      The TPA Club is a former US Airways Club (the wood is a telltale sign as you said). US Airways did have a Club at MCO dating back to Piedmont when it was a Presidential Suite. The Club was damaged severely in one of the tropical storms or maybe Hurricane Wilma (It was around that 2005-2006 time frame) and if I recall correctly the roof came in and it flooded. It was out on the...

      The TPA Club is a former US Airways Club (the wood is a telltale sign as you said). US Airways did have a Club at MCO dating back to Piedmont when it was a Presidential Suite. The Club was damaged severely in one of the tropical storms or maybe Hurricane Wilma (It was around that 2005-2006 time frame) and if I recall correctly the roof came in and it flooded. It was out on the gate 30-59 airside and I want to say it was a mirror of the United Club set-up but on the other prong of that airside.

  14. Elijah Guest

    Can you please go into more detail about the “three stinks” in the men’s room? Are those proprietary stinks developed with one of AA’s amenity partners? Might we be seeing a new signature stink rolling out?

    1. Imre Guest

      This “stinks” are nothing a courtesy flush (or three) couldn’t fix…but, then, this *is* Tampa we’re talking about.

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Jerry Diamond

Wow, the bar was empty?! I just figured there were 10 white people in their 40s and 50s on AA's payroll whose job it is sit there and pound Bud Light and chardonnay all day.

1
Mason Blacher Guest

Going through security TWICE? Are you kidding me? Alaska flight attendants always announce that their airline is "a proud member of the One World Alliance." Why? What kind of alliance leaves its member, Alaska, to the Siberia gates of Southwest, both here and in Boston and in other places as well.

0
Katy Guest

Definitely not worth coming. I’ve been to American Express lounges all over the world and US. This one, American Airlines at TPA, has the food of a cheap hotel breakfast buffet…a few box muffins, powdered eggs, no breakfast meat, no OJ, just iced tea and water. The Delta lounge is probably much better. I will try that next time. I would have rather just ate at the airport Chic-fil-a

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