American Airlines: Flagship Lounge Philadelphia Lags Others

The introduction of American Airlines new Flagship lounge at Philadelphia is an utter disappointment and lags significantly behind the competition. 

New Flagship Lounge Open

In Terminal A the American Airlines lounges (Philadelphia) are open for business and on a recent flight I tried the Flagship lounge. At the top of a three story escalator (or elevator), the entrance is split into two lounges. To the right is the Admiral’s Club, accessible by cardholders of Citi’s Aadvantage Executive credit card, paid members, Aadvantage members (and other oneworld elites) with Sapphire or Emerald status traveling internationally, or those paying $79 or 7,900 Aadvantage miles subject to availability (no guests.)

To the left is the Flagship lounge, available to business and first class customers on predominately long haul flights to the following regions:

• Asia
• Australia
• Europe
• Middle East
• New Zealand
• South America (excluding Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela)

Additionally, oneworld Sapphire and Emerald status holders and status holders:

Space, Food Offerings Disappoint

The Flagship lounge is spread over 25,000 square feet but somehow felt small and (as all lounges are at the moment), crowded. It was a Saturday night flight so while I was traveling on business, most were leisure passengers inside. Seats were at a premium in the main lounge.

There was a side room with limited additional seating where some families sought refuge. Plastic wrapped fruit and some candy was available in an otherwise underutilized space. I didn’t find a children’s room.

Flagship has three locations for food and drink. A self-service area with wine and beer along with grab and go drinks and a self-serve tap including still water.

A buffet with some elevated items served mostly in individual dishes (a la Chase Sapphire Lounge style) included a vegetarian focaccia sandwich, a pot pie, sides like potato salad, greens, mashed potatoes, and beef bourguignon.

A sundae bar with server offered a few more options than onboard, but is great for travelers that solely want to sleep on the flight but don’t want to miss the sundae.

A bar follows this area with a staff of two serving seated, walk-up customers, and working the well.

Flagship Dining

Menu ordering and seated service is available in the dining room only unlike modern lounges like the Sapphire which allows customers to order anything from the menu and have it delivered to them wherever they are in the lounge. This is intended to compete with United’s Polaris restaurant within the lounge but falls behind in a few key regards.

Because menu items can only be served in the dining area there must be adequate seating. American offers a total of just 40 seats, which could possibly be enough for the night’s flights as they depart across the evening schedule. But that’s not really 40 seats. In some cases, it’s a single person sitting at a table for four or another in an alcove for two. I had to ask a pair of diners who were working while eating if I could occupy a third of four seats at the table just to bring our fine readership images of the food. It’s awkward for me to ask, it’s awkward for them not to accept, and does not feel premium in any regard. Below is a photo I took right before leaving on one of the later flights of the evening after 9:30pm, the lounge closes an hour later.

If a lack of seating wasn’t my first indication of limited effort, the menu choices would have been my second. The menu had just three items on my visit, a vegetarian option, a Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich, and a salad. I ordered the Philly and salad. The sandwich was 90% bread though I did leave full. The salad was more than adequate, almost an entree itself, but because of its abundance, it was difficult to eat as lettuce would fall to the table.

The United Polaris Lounge, has no fewer than three appetizers, three entrees and three desserts on their restaurant dining menu. The Sapphire lounge has far more options. American Express doesn’t offer menu service but it does offer at least the same number of options on its buffet in Philadelphia.

The choices were limited, the menu was the bare minimum, and the restrictions to the dining room entirely unnecessary.

Many Options, American Doesn’t Know Its Competition

Someone in Fort Worth probably conducted a competitive analysis of airline lounges in Philadelphia and found they had built the largest and most compelling. The problem is, other airlines aren’t really American’s competition – the credit card companies are.

American’s sole source of profit, in the rare occasions the airline achieves it, is from the loyalty program and that’s mostly driven by credit card revenue. American’s Flagship lounge is only available to those flying business class on American, business or First on another oneworld airline or codeshare partner on an international flight or status holders on American flying in any class of service.  The connected Admiral’s Club is for those with the premium Citi Aadvantage credit card but that misses the broader point, many of American’s eligible passengers hold premium credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the American Express Platinum credit card.

The Sapphire Lounge, which is not located conveniently next to American’s long haul network, is larger than the Flagship lounge by 50% (20,000 sq. ft to 13,750.) The American Express Centurion Lounge also in Philadelphia’s Terminal A is only slightly smaller than the Flagship. The United Polaris lounge at Newark is 25,000 square feet, twice the Flagship. Philadelphia is a key international gateway for American, the lounge is brand new and while pretty, it’s mailing it in and avoiding available “wow” moments.

While, of course, Philadelphia is an important O&D market for American, it’s also a connection point for travelers elsewhere in the United States. Those travelers not only hold premium credit cards outside of the American ecosystem, but they also have options for other connecting flights on competing airlines. American isn’t the only show in town and premium customers aren’t and shouldn’t accept this over airlines and credit cards putting stronger effort into their lounge product.

It’s beautifully designed, and it has more than it did before as a converted US Airways (and in this case) Envoy Clubs but competitive it is not.

Conclusion

As a cardholder for both of the other two lounges, I had a choice as to where I spent my time and wished I had stayed in the Sapphire lounge I crossed three terminals to reach. As part of American’s pivot to premium, this is further evidence that the carrier is disingenuous in their ambition. If they truly wanted to make its product more premium ordering from anywhere with a more significant menu would be an option. That solves some of the seating limitations at the same time and spreads patrons out further. If American wants to win premium customers they have to offer something sexy and exclusive only to customers willing to pay more to have it. If they can get it with their credit card, there’s no need to fly American specifically. The exclusivity of Polaris, by contrast, may be enough to get flyers to pay more for the experience. Premium is in part about the hard product, but it’s also service, options, choice, and most importantly, effort. Try again, Isom and company, this one falls short.

What do you think?

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