ikwia

What do you mean by “guard food”?

Dallas49er

Poor choice of phrase. Perhaps better would be: Guard the door, and defend the interior.

Sorry for the confusion.

Continue to fly safely.

ikwia

Yes, this certainly applies. And at ORD, I’ve also noticed that if you don’t come off the elevator waving your invitation, they start in with their aggressive “this is not the AC” pitch.

perseus11

Really? You must have been in another airport. There is no Gate A27 at PHL.

AANYC1981

How sad that what should be AAs crown jewel of Flagship Lounges at their home airport is getting such bad comments and reviews.

flying_geek

ORD
MIA
LAX

Have not been to any others - MIA has been improving food wise lately and might surpass ORD. I have only been in LAX late evenings - so my view might be skewed.

I like MIA FlagShip First Dining in MIA the most.

AlwaysSunnyInORD

For me JFK and ORD are tops. I have not been to LAX yet. DFW is by far the worst for me. It gets very crowded, the food wasn’t as good as others and the seating options didn’t impress. I think I expected it to be fantastic because it is home base for AA.

metallo

I've had the best experiences at ORD. I actually really like the fact that the FL is on its own level. On longer layovers, I've headed up to the AC to check things out, kept my invitation, and later headed down to the FL. The layout is nice, buffet is done nicely, drinks are well-stocked, staff are friendly (granted I recognize many of them from the past decade of flying through ORD), and I don't think I've ever seen it more than about 2/3 full.

LAX and JFK have been simply too overcrowded for my tastes, perhaps because I've always been there in the evening. They also don't seem to keep the buffets and bars stocked properly when items run out.

I probably haven't really been through MIA enough to give it proper review, but the last time I was there around 7 AM (lots of South America connections, perhaps), it was actually a bit tough to find open seats, but it seemed alright otherwise.

I'm not sure what the deal is with DFW. I've had only neutral or poor experiences there so far. The staff seem cold and unfriendly, and I have witnessed them being downright rude and unprofessional. It's as though they don't consider that the passengers in the lounge are potentially some of AA and OW's best customers. I have not witnessed this sort of behavior at other locations. I also haven't done FFD there yet, but the reviews seem to be mixed, with multiple service-related complaints. When the "fancy" toilets are the star of the show, it's time to re-think things.

Now, how about PHL 2020, CLT 2021, and PHX 2022?

Antarius

I mean, when there is a thread about just the FL, you will definitely get the positives and negatives. Heck, I can name a few negatives about the QR Al Safwah FC lounge too. I wouldn't characterize this discussion as "bad comments and reviews"

metallo

Since I didn’t actually give a ranking in my recent post, it would be:

1. ORD
2. MIA
3. JFK
4. LAX
5. DFW

DFW actually has the most potential to improve, but man, their execution has been quite flawed so far.

WiscAZ

I voted for ORD as my top choice which is funny because it'd be my least favorite airport to travel through of those listed. I have never been to JFK so cannot comment on that. I'd probably rank them as follows:

1. ORD
2. LAX
3. MIA
4. DFW

You could probably flip LAX and MIA and I wouldn't argue much. I've been to LAX about a half dozen times and each of the others only once. My biggest reason for ranking these is based on layout. I've found most of the food, drinks, and showers as being for the most part similar among all of them. The layout in ORD is very nice and it was easy for me to find a secluded seat to not be bothered. I like the layout of DFW the least. I also didn't find the staff great at DFW and the last time I was there which was about 4 hours they weren't even doing any cook to order food (it was lunch time so maybe all don't). I've had excellent service at LAX both from agents when I needed help and the general staff.

marnold3

My ranking of the flagship lounges is as follows:

ORD > JFK > LAX > MIA > DFW

The poll at the beginning of this thread has Chicago listed as Chicago/DFW instead of Chicago/ORD. It would be great if that were corrected.

george 3

JFK - breakfast and dinner very good, never too crowded, food is very fresh, home base.
LAX - I love the chicken fajitas when they are out, but oh so crowded now.
ORD - feels just a notch below the other two.
Haven't been to MIA or DFW yet.

TheDudeAbides

Qantas F Lounge in SYD

SEA737

+1 for JFK because of the bridge. FFD therealso has the best food in my opinion.