a group of people in an airport

Quick Look At American Airlines Flagship Lounge @MIA

Steven Ganeles·
American AirlinesBusiness ClassFirst ClassSmart Travel

Good Morning and Happy Holidays from London. Last night I flew in from Miami after a slew of delays. I was originally planning to fly on British Airway’s in World Traveler Plus but with an imminent misconnection , AA took over my ticket and upgraded me into Business class to get me to my connection, more on that flight later though.

This was my first time departing out of Miami on American Airlines on an international flight in quite some time and thus my first time visiting the newish Flagship Lounge. The lounge has been open for a little over 1 year its located next to gate D30. I’ve tried the Delta Sky Club and United Polaris Lounges and was curious how this would stack up. As it turns out it falls right in the middle of the two

The Good

  • Massive 29,000 Sq Ft spacea group of people sitting at tables in a room with a bar and a man talking on the phone
  • Good food selectiona buffet line of food
  • Local Craft Beer
    a can of beer on a table
  • “Action” food stationa sign on a table
  • Quiet Spacesa group of chairs in a room
  • Unique Seating Optionsa red bench with wooden seats and a light on the wall
  • Multiple power ports per seat including USB portsa close-up of a seat
  • While I didn’t get the opportunity to dine, the lounge does offer private Flagship dining room. It is only accessible to customers flying in first class on a one world carrier.
    a sign on a wall

The Bad

  • Overcrowded in the evening, lots of premium heavy overnight flights departing for South American and Europea group of people in a lobby
  • This is the one place American really fell short for me, there was no bartender. Just open alcohol. Even Delta Skyclubs have a bartendersa bar with bottles of alcohol
  • American’s solution to the bartender problem is overly sweetened pre-mixed cocktails, not a great solutiona group of bottles of liquid and a sign
  • Even with the massive buffet of food, they are still pushing over cooked slow cooker soups and curries. Why?a white and silver pot on a counter

Overall

American did a great job make these lounges feel different from Admirals clubs. They are more spacious, more modern, and have mostly good food offerings. That being said they still have room for improvement. While Delta SkyClubs come in at the bottom of this list to put American Airlines Flagship lounges on the same level as United Polaris lounges, American needs to have a bartender mixing drinks and have Flagship dining open to anyone in the lounge. I guarantee that most people still wouldn’t take advantage even if they had access. American Flagship lounges can be found in Chicago (ORD), Miami (MIA) , New York (JFK) , and Los Angeles (LAX) . American Airlines is constructing lounges in Dallas (DFW), Philadelphia (PHL), and London (LHR) which will hopefully open soon.

Have you been to a Flagship Lounge? What did you think?