I had the chance recently to pay a couple of morning visits to the new Chase Sapphire Lounge at New York JFK in Terminal 4. This lounge was formerly the Etihad lounge and now is a shared lounge with Ethiad. I never visited the lounge when it was solely Etihad’s, but it appears the layout of the lounge has not changed much, though it has been fully redecorated. Let’s get into the review.
Chase Sapphire Lounge New York JFK Review
You enter the lounge on the upper level of JFK just past security towards the A gates: it is located right next door to the Centurion lounge.
Hours + Access
The lounge is open from 05:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily and entry is free for Chase Sapphire Reserve card members and up to two guests (other Priority Pass members are allowed access once per year at no charge in any Chase Sapphire Lounge [but just one], with subsequent visits costing $100 per-person and guest access not included).
Seating
Upon entering the lounge you’ll find yourself in a good size space with tarmac views and multiple seating areas plus the bar backed up to the windows.
To your left there is another smaller seating area behind a wall that is a little more private.
If you continue into the lounge you’ll find the coffee, juice, and pastry station and past that a buffet with various food items on offer depending upon the time of day.
Deeper into the lounge there are more tables and chairs across from the buffet and another smaller seating area towards the back which also features a couple of “relaxation” or more accurately prayer and ablution rooms meant for Islamic guests.
Restrooms + Showers
There are also bathrooms that are very nice with one shower in each.
The lounge isn’t especially large but in the two mornings I’ve been in there it’s never been crowded and there was never a wait for entry (though there were enough people to inhibit my picture-taking…).
Drinks
Both times I visited I was unable to sample any of the alcohol on offer though the brands did look to be at least mid-tier which seemed very appropriate. Cocktails, beer, wine, soft drinks, and water are available.
The coffee was simply ok with machines dispensing espresso-based specialty drinks like lattes and cappuccinos. The orange juice was good but not freshly squeezed.
Food
The food was on the whole very good. I tried multiple dishes on the breakfast menu and found the Shakshuka to be a particular highlight. The curry potatoes were also excellent but the combination of mango and banana in the yogurt didn’t suit my palate.
You can also order certain items via a QR code to be delivered to your table. I tried the breakfast Bao and found it good though perhaps a little more doughy than I might have preferred. As a dad, I also really appreciated seeing Cheerios on the menu for kids who might not be interested in the more exotic offerings.
One negative was that the blue bench in the main lounge area where you can sit down to eat doesn’t have any power plugs available. By contrast the bar has a ton of outlets as do most other areas of the lounge. I also discovered that my back wasn’t happy sitting on that particular bench.
The lounge was very clean and dirty plates were removed promptly by the staff who were courteous and pleasant.
CONCLUSION
On the whole this lounge was excellent and certainly nicer than most domestic airline lounges or even business class lounges I’ve been in. I’ve never been in a Centurion Lounge so I can’t compare it to that but I can compare it to the Capitol One Lounge at Washington Dulles (IAD) which I would say is better, though not by a huge margin. Again, though compared to domestic airline lounges and many business class lounges (Polaris being an exception) it is definitely nicer. And if you’re thinking about the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card and will have the chance to use one of the Chase Sapphire Lounges regularly then it would be a very compelling reason to hold the card.
This seems on par with an Amex lounge, although the secret isn’t out yet on this one. Amex lounges are impressive aside from the crowding.
Ooh, I can actually visit this one! And in T4 – I wonder if this will still be susceptible to overcrowding if a good number of DL / Skyteam elites are not in the Chase ecosystem + there’s also a Centurion lounge here…
Formerly, not “formally.”
Just experienced this lounge about 2 hours ago as I am currently on my way from JFK to Abu Dhabi. Physically, the lounge is not anything to write home about. But there are a lot of staff and everyone was unusually friendly. It was lunch time and the amount of food out was limited. I finally ordered off the menu and the burger sounded good but in the end I was told they were only cooked well done! So I ended up ordering the kids grilled cheese which was incredibly good. I had a side of a bowl of tomato soup which was beautifully presented with flakes of mozzarella cheese, croutons, and dashes of parsley.
Since I avoid JFK like the plague, especially for immigrating to the US, it may be a while before I connect there.
I tried out this lounge back in February.. I headed straight there after security when I got to JFK. There was a sign on the door stating that at that time, they were ONLY admitting passengers from the Etihad flight that was about to take off (I was flying Delta), so I went to the Centurion lounge next door. About an hour later, I decided to try my luck again and they had removed the sign and started letting people in that were not from the Etihad flight. Staff were really friendly, but there was hardly anything in stock after the Etihad passengers boarded. The drink fridges were practically empty. I did order stuff to my table using the QR code and I really enjoyed my burger and fries (they were fried perfectly) and the La Puerta cocktail (a kind of Margarita with black lava salt) and both were delicious, so I’m glad I decided to give it a try. I guess keep the Etihad flight times in mind if you want to visit this lounge?