mia

American Express customer service agent reported HERE expressing opinion that Centurion lounges will not reopen in 2020. I put this squarely in the Speculation category, because the lounges are outsourced and it seems improbable that a frontline card agent would be aware of discussions between American Express and the operator, but an agent could be better positioned to know something than the typical cardholder.

KenTarmac

I'd venture to say that is accurate.

CLT

Centurion Lounges are essentially based around eating/drinking/showering. While research has indicated that the risk of contracting COVID from eating/drinking is very small, I doubt Amex wants to take any chances or make huge changes to the Centurion lounge offering that could potentially depreciate the Platinum/Centurion brand. Airlines were quicker to open up their lounges IMO because lounges are a de facto passenger service center in times of IROPS.

At the same time, part of me feels that Amex probably does want to open their lounges ASAP because they likely don't want to have a mass amount of card holders canceling their cards next year. I wasn't offered the $200 travel credit. Given that my travel is almost back to normal, a $20/month wireless/streaming credit is meaningless to me. I'll definitely be downgrading/canceling the card if unless they reopen soon (or I'm offered a generous retention bonus).

Centurion

DING DING DING...Why Amex Lounges will never ever succeed long term to an Airlines own First Class Lounges. IROPS

Doppy

Never succeed in what? They lounges were always packed and many people signed up for the card for access. At an airport with a Centurion Lounge, nobody goes to the airline lounge unless the Centurion lounge is full or they need help with a specific booking. I agree that it's great to go to the airline lounge for help, but fortunately (at least for me) that is probably the case in 1 out of a 100 flights, or less. The other time you might go to the airline lounge is if it's a truly premium lounge that competes with Centurion in terms of F&B and other amenities, like the Polaris lounge.

mia

Discussion of when American Express "should" reopen lounges has been moved:

When should American Express reopen Centurion Lounges?

trouble747

But decisions to suspend business operations or cancel scheduled events can't be dictated solely by such financial considerations--indeed, those difficult decisions had to be made in spite of them. And how one individual may weigh the risk of personally getting sick doesn't end the inquiry when you're talking about an infectious disease. It does seem like many cardholders are at least receiving some sort of credit for not cancelling.

krazykanuck

Multiple blogs and news sources reporting today that Amex will begin reopening the lounges on Oct. 5 starting with SEA and PHL.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/amex-c...ges-reopening/

mia

Confirmed at the origin: https://www.thecenturionlounge.com/

cmd320

Strange choices for the first two to reopen.

krazykanuck

That was my first thought too.

lowfareair

I wonder if it has to do with expected mask usage (PHL and SEA cities seem to be doing well there) or even places less likely to have crowds and connecting flights at the moment, allowing Amex to test different practices without overwhelming the lounge?

HeyItsMK

It's probably a combination of that, plus Washington and Pennsylvania are the two states with Centurion Lounges with the lowest cases per capita currently, except for New York, but lounges there don't have full operations so it wouldn't make sense to open LGA at the moment. I could see them opening PHX, LAX, and SFO depending on if the cases continuing to decrease, since Arizona and more recently California have been trending downward.

Doppy

It probably also has to do with the local restrictions. In SFO the lounges aren't allowed to offer food or beverage at this point, so there's very little point in opening up the Centurion lounge; it will just be an empty waiting room.

The United Clubs have little to-go bags with a piece of fruit, snack bar, and mini bottle of water, that you're not supposed to consume in-club.

Hopefully the new check-in process will be an improvement. The previous routine was slow and annoying with multiple credentials needed, including a requirement to both scan the boarding pass, and manually verify the departure time (couldn't the computer do this?).

Half the time they would swipe my card and it either wouldn't work or the system would hang for a minute before verifying me. Which was ironic since they're the card issuer.

kirkwoodj

Thanks for the news!