gboots

Well I am flying from DFW to LGW and just realized there is no FlagShip Lounge in either airport and No AA Lounge at LGW. Can anyone give me
any other options... I am Flying on AA but have Emerald status with OW.

ijgordon

There are lots of Admiral's Clubs in Dallas.

Presumably you can use the BA First lounge in the North Terminal at Gatwick.

JGR01

Yes, it is a shame that the home base of the airline does not have a Flagship Lounge.

They did (in TermA) but no longer.

Shame Shame Shame (or as one poster would write ShAAme ShAAme ShAAme).

The LGW BA FIRST lounge is really nice in my opinion .. and had great Bacon sarnies ...

skye1

The BA First Lounge in Gatwick has really good hot-food-on-order, and their table-service staff are always friendly & helpful. Their hot soups are quite tasty--I dare say one of the best bowls of minestroni can be had there, and their bacon sarnies really hit the spot! The returns to DFW are often when they've got both breakfast AND lunch offerings available. The facilitiy itself is a bit small, & it's not uncommon for pax to go to the F Lounge & grab the good food then head next door to the BA Terraces lounge & grab a lounge chair by the fountains or along the windows, to rest. The showers facility is shared by both, and the attendants are always happy to stock you up on a few extra travel-sizes of their products. It's all at the opposite end of the terminal from where AA's flights depart, but well worth the walk.

There's a few threads here on the BA lounge in DFW, that have led me to think that it's nothing to write home about in comparision to other BA lounges.

There's several threads on which AAdmirals Club passengers prefer, but it seems to usually boil down to :
A--mini-gym--treadmills, elipticals, rowers, best showers in the AA system, quiet oasis for undisturbed work or rest---where the Flagship Lounge used to be
D--newer, better "view" of planes, better restaurant choices in Concourse D
All of them are within minutes of each other via Skylink.

Lack of international/transpond connections, lack of several international OW connections I think all played into the nixed FL.

JGR01

So AA is short sighted enough to think that premium traffic ex-DFW to NRT (2 flights), LGW (2 flights soon to go LHR on at least one), FRA, ZHR, SCL, EZE and GRU ( I count 10 in all) is not enough to support a FL? OK some are 763 with EXP only access .. but their HOME BASE is supposed to be the showplace for the world!

ORD has a similar number of international nonstop departures and they have a FL.

FWAAA

True, but then again, AA has direct international competition at ORD (UA and others). Same at LAX and JFK. For the most part, AA has no international competition at DFW. Maybe that competition helps support First Class lounges.

Despite the lack of DFW competition, AA does compete with CO (IAH) and DL (ATL) in the region. Neither offers proper First Class, however.

ORDflyer

I 'll bet that AA figures that free booze for all the DFW-based EXP's and families flying coach on international flights would bankrupt the company.

brp

Of course, these same people (and PLT as well) get free booze in the ACs for international flights...so no savings there.

Cheers.

JGR01

But remember the thread a while back about the ORD FL not putting out bottled water because all the interloper EXPs on economy tickets were stealing the water to take on the plane. Like the full F pax would not care about water!

martin33

The LGW Admirals' Club was formally folded into the BA lounge there when AA changed terminals.

The D Club at DFW is one of the nicest in the system.

mdusry

Ditto to all the praise above for the BA lounge at LGW. Re the lack of a Flagship Lounge at DFW: I was given what I consider a weird explanation by one of the Admiral Club AAngels at DFW when I asked why a FL at ORD but not at AA home base. She told me most int'l F pax from ORD are paying F, whereas int'l F pax from DFW are primarily mileage redemption. Of course, it was just plain dumb to shot down the FL inside the BOS AC, and God knows MIA needs a FL.

brp

BA F lounge at LGW had Johnny Blue and one of the older Glens. Nuff said.

Cheers.

chsb

I do guess one does ask the question why in the world MIA does not have an FL lounge. Especially with all the South American flights along with LHR, CDG and I guess another several international flights. I have also never understood why they took away the FL at DFW or why they didn't at least put one within the new AC in terminal D.

ESpen36

I think you hit the nail on the head. The FL is designed to be a lounge for full-fare First Class passengers traveling to Europe, Asia, and South America. AA grudging lets in EXPs (flying to/from/through these locations and MEX) because it has to do so thanks to OW agreements.

Many of those international services mentioned above are operated with a 763, and therefore no First Class section. Thus, DFW has nowhere near the number of paying full-fare F international passengers as ORD, and definitely nowhere near JFK!

I agree that given all of the EXPs and other AA elites who are based out of DFW, the FL would be flooded all the time with mileage redeemers and EXPs traveling internationally. It would be too much revenue exposure, given that the FL is exclusively a PERK, not a membership club like the AC. AA doesn't make any additional money when an AA passenger or elite walks in.

Finally, I agree with others: there's nobody else to help pay for the FL at DFW. At LAX, QF pays a very significant portion of the FL's operational costs (the other OW airlines help out, every time a non-AA OW Emerald walks in). JFK is the highest-yield station in the AA network (the most number of full-fare premium international pax), so it deserves a FL. LHR gets one because of significant premium yields as well. ORD needs a FL for competitive reasonss.


Again, most of the South America services are with 763s.

skye1

I remember there being several threads on the "Why no FL at ___", "why AA closed the FL at DFW", etc., and from what I can recall of those, these points by Espen36 pretty much sum it all up quite well.