I don’t often find myself flying on American Airlines which means I don’t often find myself in the Admirals Club lounges. A few weeks ago while headed to Chicago I flew with AA and, due to a minor SNAFU with my work scheduling I found myself at LaGuardia about 5 hours prior to my originally booked flight. Thanks to the AmEx platinum card I can use the AA lounges so that’s exactly what I did. I’m VERY impressed.
For starters, the lounge is huge, with many separate seating areas. In any of the several rooms it never felt too crowded nor loud though some were pretty close to having all the seats full. I also happen to be a fan of the décor, though I suppose that’s very much a subjective thing.
Separating the main bar area from the rest of the lounge was a decorative wall. This wall also happens to be a museum tucked in to the middle of the space. Want to relive the past 100 years in Whiskey? Check out the bottles on display in the wall. Very cool stuff there.
Like many Admirals Clubs there is also a kitchen/snack bar area available where food is sold. The selection looked decent enough and I was impressed to see waiters walking around the lounge bringing hot dishes out to guests who ordered food and then went back to their seats. That said, there were one or two wandering enough that I wonder if the food was still warm when it got to the guest.
And, scattered throughout the lounge were computer terminals available for use. Many AA lounges have the computers so that part isn’t too much of a surprise but it was nice to see them throughout the lounge, not just in the business center.
There is a TV room and conference rooms, too, making the lounge fitted to serve just about anyone’s needs.
Oh, and views of the Manhattan skyline, too.
I don’t generally expect much from domestic carrier lounges so perhaps my expectations were sufficiently low that the quality of this lounge really wowed me more than it should have. That said, I’m still reasonably convinced that it is one of the nicer options available in the NYC area, at least from the domestic carriers.
More photos, reviews and details on the Admirals Club at LaGuardia can be found in the Airport Lounge Guide section of Wandering Aramean Travel Tools.
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In general, of the few Admirals Clubs I’ve visited in SFO, ORD, and SJU, I generally find them to be of more pleasing decor and atmosphere than the United Clubs. The SFO club is really nicely done, but that’s also a function of the general new-ness of SFO T2.
AA has really turned up its game at LGA. The segregated premium check-in area is a nice touch, too.
DL and AA certainly have the best on-the-ground offerings at LGA these days.
I had a few visits to the Dallas Admirals Club this year (also courtesy Amex Plat) and was consistently impressed. Large, airy, with multiple “styles” of lounging available – from lively bar scene to comfy living room. Nice to also have decent hot food (for $$) as an option w/o having to leave the club. Having tried lounges from all the major domestic airlines, AA’s clubs at their hubs outshine the rest.
did you check out the restrooms? They have the weirdest looking urinals I’ve ever seen.
The DL LGA lounge is packed on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Way too small for the amount of traffic they get.
I am a United customer as well, but really enjoyed the Admirals Clubs in LAX and DFW on a recent trip on AA. Much nicer and friendlier than the United Clubs.
United has really crappy lounges for the most part. SFO is big but its a madhouse and everything looks old and boring.
The AA Clubs are great as compared to other airline clubs in the US. DL has great clubs, but compared to the UA Clubs, they win hands down. Coupled with the fact that they have food, and a ton of them have showers, I love ’em. Been to the ones in DFW (all of them), AUS, JFK, SJU, LAX, MIA (both) and the FlAAgship lounges in JFK and LAX….they are great and AA has already announced a refreshment of their club decor in the coming months, so they will be even better. Of course, I am not about to pay for a membership, but they are cool to see anyways… 🙂