Review: American Airlines Flagship Lounge New York (JFK)

We’ve visited this Flagship Lounge at JFK several times on our travels and have never been disappointed. As with the other American Airlines Flagship Lounges, they are among the best business class lounges in North America.

However, our only suggestion would be to update the “quiet room” to include day beds to get a few hour nap in. As we arrived at 6am after a domestic redeye flight we were very tired still but were unable to get comfortable enough on the lounge chairs to fall asleep.

Location & Hours JFK Flagship Lounge

Terminal 8, Mezzanine Level after Concourse B Security.
Open Daily 4:00 am to 12:30am

If you are entering the lounge from the gate area you will probably use the entrance across from this Hudson News stand.

If you are entering the lounge from security then you would be using this entrance, straight past the security checkpoint.

Access for American Airlines Flagship Lounges

The requirements are a little complicated, so I’ll try to simplify as best as possible. Access is allowed if you qualify under one of the following three methods:

1.   Qualifying first or business class flights on American or Oneworld partner
       a. Qualifying international flights are between the US and Asia, Australia, Central America, Europe,  Mexico                        City, New Zealand, South America
       b.  Qualifying transcontinental flights are between LAX-JFK, LAX-BOX (only on A321T aircraft), SFO-JFK
2.   Oneworld Emerald or Sapphire status flying on American or Oneworld partner*
3.   ConciergeKey flying on American or Oneworld partner

* its important to note that if your Oneworld Emerald or Sapphire status is from American Airlines, you will not be allowed access if traveling on solely North American itineraries

Guest access is allowed for:

1. One guest for qualifying first class international flight
2. One guest for Oneworld Emerald or Sapphire
3. Two guests or immediately family for ConciergeKey

Here are American’s requirements for Flagship Lounge access and locations.

Flagship Check In

Upon entering there is a desk with agents to verify your invite with your boarding pass, and passport. The Flagship Lounge is located on the left and the Admirals Club is on the right.

JFK Flagship Lounge Layout

Once you enter the lounge there is a long corridor with a beautiful illuminated panorama of New York City Skyline.

Once you enter the main lounge area, the first seating area reminded me of the Flagship Lounge in LAX with a modern themed lighting above multiple seats. Our several visits to this Flagship lounge all happened to be very early in the morning and it was not crowded. Some people have noted it can be quite full in high travel times though.

Continuing forward are more seats and the main dining area. The Flagship First Dining entrance is right by the buffet.

Past that is a really cool looking bar with various seating arrangements, tables and charging outlets.

At the far end of the lounge are more seats and tables. It’s a nice touch that most of the seats come with their own charging outlet. There are even these cool looking personal semi-enclosed booths.

Did we mention that the Flagship Lounges have pretty neat artwork?

On the left side of the lounge are a few seating areas that offer slightly more privacy, the Quiet Room and the restrooms.

The Quiet Room was well very quiet since we were the only ones there at the time. However we were disappointed in the lack of some sort of day bed to try and get some rest. We came in on a red eye and wanted to catch a few hours of sleep on our three hour layover. We tried to sleep in the quiet room, but there really is not comfortable area to sleep. We pushed together two chairs, and it was quite uncomfortable. It was also freezing, and we attempted to adjust the thermostat, but it wasn’t able to warm the room at all.

Food & Beverage American’s Flagship Lounge New York

As mentioned from our previous visits to the Los Angeles and Miami Flagship Lounges, the food & beverage was consistently excellent, something you would expect from a nice restaurant for example. The food and ingredients were fresh, tasty and had an aesthetically appealing presentation (we eat with our eyes first after all right?)

For breakfast was both scrambled eggs and egg whites! Jess and I are fiends for egg whites on our travels, but unfortunately it’s nearly impossible to find even restaurants that serve egg whites. There was also bacon, sausage, home fry potatoes, eggs Benedict, pancakes with blueberry topping, a selection of meats, cheeses and fruits, cereal as well as some delicious looking pastries and bagels.

There was a good selection of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. I couldn’t find the signature make your own drink station or the champagne, but maybe that’s because it was still 6am..

Restrooms & Showers

The restrooms and showers were back towards the main entrance and were all well maintained. They had the signature CO Bigelow products that American is using for its business and first class amenities.

There was also a luggage storage room by the Quiet Room as well

Overall Impression

The food and drink was just as delicious as the other Flagship lounges we have been to and we are always impressed by the amount of choices available at these lounges. The décor was similar to the other flagships as well, it appears American is keeping with the same theme. While we noted many positives, the only negative was the overall lack of ability to sleep anywhere. Even the Quiet Room did not have any type of day bed to catch a few hours of sleep. I would recommend not using this lounge to catch some sleep, but rather to enjoy a nice layover over.