AA Lounges: free Admirals Club vs paid AMEX Centurion Lounge
 

Will be leaving from DFW Terminal D in a couple of days en route to NRT.

I get Admirals Club access free, but have also been eyeing the Centurian Lounge ($50 entrance).

Anyone with experience using both care to weigh in on the quality difference. Is Centurian worth the 50 bucks?

For what it's worth, the departure is in the morning, so quality breakfast offerings would trump alcohol selection.

Also, is Terminal D AC the best of the lot, or is it worth switching terminals for a different club?

I went to the Centurion in LAS. It was nice and the food was good.. but worth $50? Nah, get yourself a nice breakfast at an airport restaurant for $20 and then go relax in the Admiral's Club.

Unless you have free access to the centurion lounge, you can get a lot better food for less than $50 elsewhere. Amex lounges can get crowded at times so they're not any less exclusive than a nice restaurant.

There's good hot food and booze at the Centurion Lounge, plus the opportunity to get a 20-minute massage, all of which are free. I'd find it to be worth $50 if I had a few hours to kill before a flight.

Agreed. I've been to the DFW Cent many times as I already have an Amex Plat card, but most definitely would not spend $50 to enter.

Completely agree with your recommendation.

Regards

I agree depends on the time. 3+ hours, Centurion would be worth $50 for me. Food is much better than anything in the AC and the liquor selection is really nice. They employ bartenders who know how to make proper drinks. Service is better (drink refills at your table) and the showers are extremely nice.

The D AC isn't bad (and if you are EXP you'll have access to flagship dining (which is a room with some buffet items and good champagne / better liquor). My favorite AC is in Terminal A as it has the old flagship lounge and nicest showers in the AC system although I'm not sure if renovations have started there yet so take that with a grain of salt.

Agree on cent. being crowded at times, though I was in there Tues evening for a couple of hours and it was the emptiest I've seen it in a long while and was much less crowded than the Miami version earlier that day. They also will prevent buy-ins if it is too busy. Dallas has one of (if not the) biggest cent lounges in the system so I find it consistently less busy than other locations like MIA or Vegas

I get "free" access to both, and though the Centurion lounge has a significantly better selection of food and beverages, it can also be incredibly crowded, with children left to run amok as their parents relax, etc. I'd say this is true of MIA and other locations with Admirals Club and AMEX Centurion Club lounges.

I'd save my fifty bucks, frankly; that's a lot for what IMO is essentially a nice college duning commons breakfast.

Does the DFW Centurion lounge have massages? I know SFO does not have them, only MIA does among the ones I've been to.

But I personally wouldn't pay $50 to go into a Centurion lounge over an AC since it's usually much more crowded in the Centurion lounges.

Yep, the DFW lounge has a spa inside. Massages and manicures are free (other than the tip, I suppose), and they may still offer facials.

Personally, I don't think the Centurion Lounges ever feel that crowded to me. I've never not been able to find a seat.

There a lot of nice restaurants in D to get a great breakfast then hunker down at the AA lounge.

You want the Admirals club in case of an IROP. On my last flight at DFW I actually watched them take the tires off my flt to HKG and replace the brakes. Kinda fun since I did not even need to look at the monitor on the delay time as I was watching the work progress

The question to ask is if the Amex lounge is $50 nicer than the Admirals Club.

For me, I might not do it. Do I think it's $50 nicer than the terminal? Probably. Is it $50 nicer than the Admirals Club? Maybe not.

heck head over to Terminal A and try Pappadeaux's. awesome yummy seafood

Someone (likely not 100% in the know) told me recently that due to the popularity of the Centurion lounges, there was no longer an option for non Platinum/Centurion members to pay to get in.

Again, no test of reality that I can bring, but it might make sense to ask around at AmEx for those considering that plan.

Please let it be known that I am saying this not to dispute anyone who has posted, but just to pass along something I heard from someone who has been there and allegedly learned that.

It really depends on how much the $50 matters to you. If I were you, and tempted, I'd pay $50'once to decide whether it was worth paying for a full Plat.

For or what it is worth, I'm personally happy paying for the real thing. I also happen to hold a life Admirals Club membership.