stimpy

I was at ORD today, but at the B or C gates. That's the problem with airports like ORD, LAX and JFK. You'd need several Centurion lounges to serve them. The one at DFW is at least accessible by train, but still a pain to get to from the other side of the airport.

lovethoselegs

DCA in the future will add a new commuter terminal replacing 35x, as part of this change the Grand Hall will be made airside. Once that happens I expect lounge shake-ups/consolidation as well as opportunity for a Centurion lounge - this will be a while so don't hold your breath

mia

Discussion of prospective Los Angeles lounge location moved to more specific thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-upcoming.html

United747

I didn't see anything at ORD last night.

swirlsaepi

MSP has a Priority Pass lounge. It was one of the new ones added to PP's network in 2016. The lounge itself only opened last year, and is beautiful.

mia

AA, DL and UA no longer accept Priority Pass at any location.

stimpy

Not quite 100% true. Some alliance lounges accept Priority Pass. Like the Star Alliance lounge at CDG, the Skyteam lounge at LHR, etc. So effectively if you are flying UA or DL at those respective airports you have access to the lounge of the airline you are flying with.

seacarl

Interesting. I know that UA accepts the AS Boardroom card at a number of locations like DCA, MSP, PHX and PHL. UA outstations used to take the Priority Pass, and then I guess Chase made them stop in order to promote the credit card that includes UC access.

Buy my point stands that presence or absence of Priority Pass lounges doesn't seem to factor in Amex's decision to locate Centurion Lounges. In fact, they seem to be going into the AA DL & UA hub cities. My point would be that if they want to be useful to cardholders in LAX there isn't any good way to do it in only one terminal, the distances are too long to make it practical. The same can be said at SFO where they really only useful to UA and *A pax.

seacarl

We don't really know Amex's criteria for establishing Centurion Lounges, but given that they partner with DL, and premium Amex cards give you access to DL SkyClub (when flying DL), I would tend to guess that they focus on the markets where other airlines dominate, and in those markets put the lounge where it's accessible to the largest concentration of non-DL flyers.

SFO - UA hub, and the largest set of behind security
SEA - AS hub (DL still only 20-25% of pax, I think) so they can get AS-UA-AA etc.
LAS - accessible to all
IAH - UA hub, accessible to all but closest to UA
DFW - AA hub, accessible to all but closest to AA
MIA - AA hub - located by AA
LGA - accessible to all, located currently by AA and UA

DEN and ORD are two pretty logical places to locate if they can get real estate, as would be EWR and CLT and maybe PHL if my pattern holds. LAX is a challenge to site, but if they go between T6-T7 then they are convenient to UA and AS. IAD it will probably take getting the new concourse built before they locate there! Maybe DCA would make sense in the same mode as LGA.

krazykanuck

[re LGA] and WN

I'd like to see one at DEN. It's an airport completely devoid of lounge access for amex plat holders.

haddon90

problem with DCA is i do not believe there is any space. IAD they could go into B.

seacarl

I agree, a lounge at DEN would be nice. Although there are UA and AA lounges, Amex gives no access. If they do a lounge, best near the train so they can serve all the concourses (somewhat).
That doesn't really help if they want to target UA flyers. Plus B already has a lot of lounges, including LH and TK which are quite good and accessible even on domestic *A flights, as well as 2 that take Priority Pass (AF and BA) so a CL would be redundant there.

stimpy

You are right and I use the BA lounge often with the PP card. But C/D for UA doesn't appear to have any space so perhaps neither IAD is not realistic for a Centurion lounge.

mia

SPECULATION: If American Express were anxious to extend their domestic lounge network, they could probably buy the lease from a foreign flag carrier, like BA, at an airport where that carrier is operating only a couple of flights per day. Instead of admitting Priority Pass cardholders to generate revenue, BA could walk away with an agreement for their Gold, Club and First passengers to use the Centurion Lounge. Is the IAD space large enough?

seacarl

They built the train station at the location where the new concourse is supposed to be built - when that's built is when it will make sense for Amex. At the rate Washington airports does anything it will be a decade away. You'd think they'd be embarrassed at the conditions in which their hub airline has to operate.

I don't think there's any need for Amex to put a Centurion Lounge in the B gates - it's well-served with lounges, including Priority Pass, and not where it can effectively serve its US cardholders. Needs to be C/D by UA. Whenever.