American Airlines Flagship Lounge

While this doesn’t quite compare to Asian airlines lounges, by American standards it’s way better than the regular admirals club. Less crowded, hot food, and free booze, plus a nice view of the tarmac– what’s not to like?

Compared to other lounges, especially for large international hubs such as LAX I was expecting more food, higher quality, etc. Perhaps it’s due to most of my international lounge experiences coming from mostly European or Asian hospitality, but I don’t think AA hits the mark in terms of offerings, quality, drink selection. The space in the lounge is decent, but the layout could make it feel crowded during peak traffic.

What’s there not to love! Helpful people. Personal service. Quiet and spacious. Bright. Open high end bar with great champagne and much more. Clean showers with good products. Nice views. Good food. Love this lounge!

Now for the secret lounge within the lounge.. . To enter the Flagship Lounge, you must be flying first class internationally, to JFK on a three-​cabin plane or have oneworld emerald status on an international itinerary. To gain access to the Flagship Lounge, use the keycard provided upon entry and enter the unmarked sliding door to the right of the customer care counter. You cannot purchase a day pass for the Flagship Lounge.
So the Flagship Lounge is just a smaller version of the main lounge with nicer seats grouped in sets of two. These are nice for people traveling together but are not so private for those traveling solo. It wasn’t that busy during my morning visit but I would imagine this would be annoying if the lounge was more crowded. With large windows, there’s plenty of natural light and views of the ramp and runway below to zone out and kill some time.
Workspace-​wise, there’s only a small table located in the middle of the lounge if you need to get any work done. It’s not the largest space or the most private.
What really separates the Flagship Lounge from the main lounge is the food and drink selections. Here, you’ll find a hot breakfast buffet spread and a self-​service bar with top shelf drinks. The breakfast selections included hot and cold items such as eggs, sausages, potatoes, oatmeal, pastries and fresh fruit.
Overall, the Admirals Club and Flagship Lounge is pretty nice for a domestic US lounge and is one of the better ones that I have visited. The main lounge is huge and there’s plenty of seating for everyone and plenty of space to spread out if you need to get some work done. Now, this was my first time visiting the lounge but I do hear it gets pretty crowded during the afternoon hours. But at 9:00 on a Wednesday, it wasn’t crowded at all.
And the Flagship Lounge wasn’t bad either. The upgraded menu and self-​serve bar were appreciated and the lounge was good enough to keep me entertained and productive for a couple of hours before my flight.

Love this lounge.
Bright windows and acoustically quiet. There’s a business area with printers. Complimentary coffee and yogurt and small snacks.
The staff and check in people were so friendly and unpretentious.

Upgraded food options compared to the admiral lounge across the hallway. Shower availability is better. Not enough power outlets though. On a side note, some of the reviews posted here are actually for the admiral lounge not the flagship lounge.

This place is a great place to relax between travels. I really enjoy this Admiral location for these following reasons:
1.) large space with many open seats.
2.) showers are assessable for those who my have long layovers or international flights.
3.) great customer service. There are friendly front desk receptionists and diligent custodial staff.
4.) clean bathrooms
5.) free drinks including bar options like wine and beer.
6.) fast wifi
7.) snacks
8.) juice bar during the breakfast time.
9.) the check in process is swift
10.) a beautiful and relaxing environment, you almost forget you are in an airport and feel like you are in a hotel lounge.
11.) storage for your luggage and belongings
12.) there are computers for your conscience and usage.
Overall, it is worth the membership.

On our way to Hawaii, my husband has access to the American airlines lounge. The place is neat, clean and the workers are very friendly. They have a machine that can make espresso, cappuccino, mocha etc. There was also a kids area with lots of really neat stuff. They also had a full bar and my husband ordered a breakfast sandwich and it was quite tasty however expensive.

Really nice lounge. It’s relaxing and much better than the Admiral’s lounge! The ambiance is quiet and the china and food is luxe! The place is usually a ghost town and there are plenty of comfy places to sit! I love when they give you the card key to this place! Showers are fantastic to freshen up!
It’s a REAL first class lounge unlike the Admiral’s Club, which many people mistakenly rate on Unilocal!Non voyage!

Great place to kick in and relax before a 12-​hour flight. The place is a lot more elegant, quieter and more inviting than the Admirals Club. The food is delicious and the selection is more than adequate. The bar is stocked with premium spirits, a large variety of beer. And Evian bottled water.
Having natural orchids adds a fine touch to the place.
Hands down the finest Flagship Lounge I have seen — even better than the one in London Heathrow!

This is a huge lounge with very comfortable seating. The atmosphere is pleasant. There is a small buffet of snacks including crudités, cheese and crackers, and some trail mix. They also have complimentary alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages.
I was really unimpressed by the service here. The bartender was rude and inattentive and there were no waitstaff at all. Nobody came by to clear dirty plates. If it weren’t for the service (primary the really nasty bartender) I’d give this place a higher rating.

The flagship lounge for AA. Bigger than most, a bit older but has showers, a children’s room complete with toys, a sink and a game area, multiple meeting rooms and a large office area, in addition to all the standard areas even available at the smallest of aa lounges.
Showers — go bring your boarding pass, sometimes there is even a wait!
Upon entry when you walk in, to the right of the desks is the bar, and past the bar is a tv watching center. To the left of the front desk is the children’s area, a quiet area and the main restrooms, showers and more seating.
Roam around to find a place you like to sit, there are even massage chairs in the main sitting area with head phones!

Nicely sized and lit lounge. It has nice views of the runways. Additionally, it has a lot of different areas that looked to be very quiet.
This particular one has different waters (one being watermelon jalapeño — which was very cool)
Wi-​fi worked fine and snacks and coffee were up to snuff. Much better than the New York clubs (especially in Laguardia)

I wish US-​based airport lounges would focus a bit more on food. Yea, free booze is nice but I was really hungry and this lounge (along with all other US AC’s I’ve been to) has a really sorry food spread. Can we get anything more than cubed cheese and raw veggies? No, I don’t mean the trail mix and yogurt pretzels.
This lounge is very similar to the DFW one we visited the previous month. We ended up sitting at the bar for quite a while since we arrived too earlier and the bf had enough to drink to make him sleep through all entire flight to LHR. He never sleeps on planes so at least I have AC to thank for that.
I guess it beats sitting at the gate but AC is really not worth the membership fee.

This lounge has been a lifesaver on two occasions, and each time for a specific reason. My only complaints about the lounge are that they don’t announce flight departures and that there’s only one bank of restrooms, in spite of the lounge being so spacious.
And on my most recent visit, the wi-​fi was either down, or no one knew the password. It was odd, and definitely NOT what the lounge user would be okay with. I’ll let it slide and still post a 4-​star review since this was hopefully a rare occurrence for them.
So, how has the good ol’ AA flagship saved my bacon? Well, it’s actually large enough to provide enough space for a seemingly limitless number of customers. This is great because one comes to an airline lounge expecting ample power outlets, table space, internet bandwidth, snacks, etc. I’ve never had an issue locating convenient power outlets, proximate to the couch/​desk/​table where I post up.
The «quiet zones» are really well-​separated from the more lively zone, but it’s a shame that the full snack area is only in the loud zone. If you are sitting in the bar/​non-​quiet zone, it’s nice to find a table, watch the planes, and have the servers bring you complimentary house wine while you nosh on complimentary snacks.
Speaking of complimentary snacks, I find that AA provides better selection and sustenance with the freebies than, say, Delta lounges. Also, the paid-​menu selection at this AA lounge offers such goodies as sushi and also tasty sandwiches, for not any more than you’d pay in a noisy, crowded airport terminal restaurant or café.
My favorite part of the AA lounge here is their showers. It’s simple and a great concept: handover your boarding pass at the front desk, and you are given a key that opens a private, freshly-​cleaned bathroom suite. It’s a truly serene place — nice ambient music, marble walls and floor, huge shower, Dermalogica toiletries, hair dryer, etc. If you’ve been traveling forever, have a long layover or delay, treat yourself to a shower. It makes you feel brand-​new.
Definitely one of my favorite stateside airline lounges!

I guess it beats sitting out in the main AA terminal.
Only good thing I like is that it gives a good opportunity to take shower (very nice after a 13 hour flight), relax in the quiet lounge (the best part), enjoy the nice views of the runway, charge up your devices, and catch up with work /​cat videos that you missed while on the last non-​wifi flight.
I like the concept of the quiet lounge too, great place to work distraction free (it’s close to showers too)
Bit disappointed that you have to pay for food and alcohol though.

The Admiral’s Club at LAX airport experiences a lot of traffic and for good reason — LAX is one of the hubs of American Airlines. This means that the lounge is often crowded and noisy, especially in the dining and lounge area near the bar.
There are several rooms within the lounge, which make it more spacious than others and comparable in size to the lounges at DFW, although, those lounges are still bigger and better IMO. Besides the main lounge area, there is also a «nap» room where it’s encouraged to not use cell phones, a children’s room, a business area with desks, printers and computers, a TV room, and a dining area. Bathrooms and shower facilities are located within the lounge as well (this is not a standard lounge amenity.)
Select beer and wine is complimentary, such as house red or white wine. There is also self-​serve coffee machines, water, juice, and a few snacks. Depending on the time of day there could be vegetables, cheese, pastries, crackers, fruit, or cookies for grabs. White chocolate covered pretzels and trail mix are always seen at the counter. Want to save some for later? Bring your own ziploc bag or plastic container. (Yes, I’ve done it, and I only got the idea from seeing others do this.)
In addition, what does come in handy is the free Wi-​Fi access and the showers. After a long flight, a hot shower feels great! Just ask the front desk on the second floor for access. They will take your boarding pass in exchange for a shower key. The shower room is a full bathroom and includes fresh, clean towels, a hair dryer, shampoo and soap.
Overall, the lounge does not provide a substantial meal in any way. This is where the lounge fails in comparison to others, especially international airport lounges. Unless you were able to get into the exclusive, private Flagship Lounge within the Admiral’s Club, there is no hot buffet or extra special elite service to look forward to. Admiral’s Club is a basic lounge. Be prepared to pay for a premium drink and a hot meal here. Also note there is no workout room like at DFW and the luggage storage area are just easy access shelves, no lockers.
3 stars.

it was clean and quite.
no real free-​food to speak of. you could do so much more with your budget, just put some effort into it please.
small menu of items that are sub-​par.
service was non-​existant. i sat for about 1 hour before i had to flag someone down to take an order. the waiter was very nice and professional, but i dont think i need to flag someone down in a lounge like this.
poor lighting
confusing layout with no signage of what is where
front door staff that ignores you when you come in
dingy upholstery and decorations. like it was from when the airport was built.
poor placement of TVs in the bar area.
not sure what the luggage storage area was for. just open cubicles, no doors, and looked dirty.
i have been in about 15 executive or premier lounges throughout the US and the world and I would rank this one near the bottom.

One of their largest lounges 2^nd floor in Terminal 4 that you need to take elevator up to from entrance level. Once there you are in the largest Admirals club I have been to but no matter how large this place is the knock on it is IT IS ENTIRELY TOO CROWDED. Guess there is not much you can do about that as LAX is a busy place.
Many areas to sit from the quiet areas way in the back to the TV big screen areas near the front or on the sides overlooking the angled giants windows that overlook the Tarmac.
Computer space is limited for the amount of people and I thought the bathrooms could be cleaner.
Snack area is basic with a full menu through the bartenders who deliver your food to you where you are sitting. SPEED not great ordered 4 sliders Sunday off menu told 7 minutes we will deliver. With that statement you would think WOW they got this down to a science. 7 Minutes later here comes the server WE ARE OUT OF SLIDERS… OH My guess I got that wrong. Ordered a couple of breakfast sandwiches which showed up eventually.
Again busy, crowded, bathrooms could be better cared for but certainly no worse than 3 Stars.

For Domestic Lounge, I have to say AA Flagship Lounge is decent.
There are lots bottled drinks, waters, and foods for you to use. Free wifi and shower.
It feels really spacious when you are here, its much better than the regular Admiral club since its limited to First Class (3 classes services) and One World Emerald Member only.
The food is kinda blah but you know, its free, what else can you ask for?
It feels like night and day when you head down to the terminal. Terminal 4 is horrible.