OneWorld Welcome: American Airlines Flagship Lounge New York

OneWorld Welcome: American Airlines Flagship Lounge New York

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Update: See this post for a full, detailed review of the renovated Flagship Lounge JFK.

Our flight from Seattle landed a few minutes early, and we made it to the lounge by 3:30PM. Interestingly there was a concert of some sort going on right outside the Admirals Club, which I believe was part of a JFK concert series. Weird.


Concert

The Flagship Lounge is located inside of the Admirals Club, so if you have access there’s another agent at the Flagship Lounge door that lets you in. The Flagship Lounge is American’s first class lounge, though OneWorld Emerald members also get access, so even though we were in business class we could use it.


Admirals Club entrance


Flagship Lounge entrance

The lounge was on the full side, as it usually is in the afternoons before the bank of European departures. The lounge is on the large side, with several blocks of seating areas, a relaxation zone, desks, and a dining area.


Flagship Lounge seating


Flagship Lounge seating


Flagship Lounge seating


Flagship Lounge seating

My favorite part about the lounge is probably the views of the tarmac. Royal Jordanian seems to always park in front of the lounge, which is at least a bit of exotic traffic. 😉


Royal Jordanian arrival

As we arrived they were still serving “afternoon tea,” which includes the following:


Afternoon tea selection


Afternoon tea selection


Afternoon tea selection


Sweets

In addition to the food was a well stocked self serve bar.


Self serve bar


Self serve bar

Later in the afternoon the menu changed to dinner, which included the following:


Dinner


Dinner


Dinner


Dinner

We left for our 6:15PM flight at around 5:30PM, given that gate three was only a short walk away.


Terminal


Terminal


Our plane


Departure gate


Finnair plane parked across from us

At around 5:45PM boarding was called, starting with first and business class.

On the whole the Flagship Lounge can’t compete with top first class lounges, though as a business class passenger entering based on status, it’s pretty tough to beat.

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  1. Cook Guest

    If one thinks it through a bit, DEPARTURE Lounges are a bit silly. Regardless of cabin class, most pax can arrive for check-in in a clean and well-fed state. Where the lounges are of true benefit is at en-route airports (think layover) and upon arrival. In the last two cases, when flying in a coach seat, I've been known to PAY $$ for lounge access. A coach seat plus a lounge fee is nearly always...

    If one thinks it through a bit, DEPARTURE Lounges are a bit silly. Regardless of cabin class, most pax can arrive for check-in in a clean and well-fed state. Where the lounges are of true benefit is at en-route airports (think layover) and upon arrival. In the last two cases, when flying in a coach seat, I've been known to PAY $$ for lounge access. A coach seat plus a lounge fee is nearly always less costly than is a better class cabin for the flight itself. I've never heard you mention this option - OK, I know - you almost never have to fly coach... Some of us do. Please share your thoughts. Thanks. -C.

  2. Mark Weiss Guest

    Many kooks on here

  3. Nat Arem Guest

    Re conflict of interest discussion from the other post, I feel like commenters have a conflict of interest themselves because, as internet commenters, they must always be way up on their high horse. So I don't feel like they are good evaluators of whether someone has a conflict of interest because they are biased.

  4. nyc6035 Guest

    @Lucky: Apologies - I thought this was a continuation of the 'free' AA Biz Clas trip JFK-LHR you described earlier in the week. FWIW - I was trying to point out no matter what anyone may think of the 'subsidy' - your review was absolutely spot on and fair - IMHO. Keep on doin' what you do.

    @wwk5d: ...opps - over the NZ Lounge."

  5. Pu Guest

    Qf first lounge in Syd and mel is where it's at

  6. lucky OMAAT

    @ nyc6035 -- I paid for this ticket, not sure what conflict of interest I'd have?

    @ Mark -- You'll have Admirals Club access and not Flagship Lounge access, unfortunately.

    @ Lantean -- Nope, that gets you access to the Admirals Club.

    @ wwk5d -- The Admirals Club is on par with other domestic US lounges, which is to say it's uncompetitive with business class lounges of foreign carriers.

  7. wwk5d Guest

    "the Virgin Lounge wins over the Virgin Lounge"

    Huh?

  8. nyc6035 Guest

    @Jack yes...they are pretty nice lounges. That said:

    I've grown tired of The Wing - if you don't eat noodles there isn't much to it - although the espresso bar is nice. The Cabin has a good breakfast - but no showers. The Pier is nice enough with showers - but I don't recall the food as being memorable.

    I may not be being completely fair to CX as I've recently been on the...

    @Jack yes...they are pretty nice lounges. That said:

    I've grown tired of The Wing - if you don't eat noodles there isn't much to it - although the espresso bar is nice. The Cabin has a good breakfast - but no showers. The Pier is nice enough with showers - but I don't recall the food as being memorable.

    I may not be being completely fair to CX as I've recently been on the F side of both the Pier and Wing - and I find the F Lounge Services - VERY nice...the new F Wing is in some ways better than the TG F Lounge - particularly if you're not into message services.

    The Virgin Lounge as a Biz Lounge by comparsion has a sit down menu; a champagne bar; pool table, message services & a haircutting facility. The NZ Lounge has a fairly good buffet and a great selection of NZ Wines (thinking about it more - the Virgin Lounge wins over the Virgin Lounge).

  9. jack Guest

    @nyc6035 : ever tried all the HKG CX lounges ?

  10. MJDORD1K Guest

    Pasties or Pastries?

    Cayanne or Cayenne?

  11. wwk5d Guest

    So...if the Flagship Lounge is a nice business class level lounge, how bad is the Admirals Club?

  12. Lantean Diamond

    Does Amex platinum card give me access there? Thx.

  13. Glenn New Member

    @Mark No, you have to be AA EXP or OW Emerald to get access to the Flagship Lounge.

  14. Mark Guest

    I recently took advantage of the low business class fares from NYC-IPC. I'm on Lan for my MIA-SCL segment, codeshared by AA. I'm also an AA Gold. Will I be able to access the Flagship in JFK?

  15. nyc6035 Guest

    "On the whole the Flagship Lounge can’t compete with top first class lounges, though as a business class passenger entering based on status, it’s pretty tough to beat."

    Conflict of interest or not - that's a pretty fair assessment of the JFK Flagship Lounge.

    That said - my opinion - the LHR Virgin Lounge or the AKL NZ Lounge are the hands down Biz Lounge Winners.

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The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Cook Guest

If one thinks it through a bit, DEPARTURE Lounges are a bit silly. Regardless of cabin class, most pax can arrive for check-in in a clean and well-fed state. Where the lounges are of true benefit is at en-route airports (think layover) and upon arrival. In the last two cases, when flying in a coach seat, I've been known to PAY $$ for lounge access. A coach seat plus a lounge fee is nearly always less costly than is a better class cabin for the flight itself. I've never heard you mention this option - OK, I know - you almost never have to fly coach... Some of us do. Please share your thoughts. Thanks. -C.

0
Mark Weiss Guest

Many kooks on here

0
Nat Arem Guest

Re conflict of interest discussion from the other post, I feel like commenters have a conflict of interest themselves because, as internet commenters, they must always be way up on their high horse. So I don't feel like they are good evaluators of whether someone has a conflict of interest because they are biased.

0
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