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What are American Express Centurion airport lounges, and where are they?

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One of the perks of holding premium credit cards, and particularly American Express cards, is that they often come bundled with airport lounge access.

Historically Amex has contracted with airlines to offer lounge access. In recent years, however, it has started building its own lounge network, and there is now a large network of American Express and Centurion branded lounges.

I thought it was worth taking a look at the Centurion Lounge network. Despite the name, you get in by showing an American Express Platinum charge card.

Why did American Express get into the airport lounge business?

A decade ago, American Express started to lose its contracts with the major US airlines which allowed Platinum cardholders to use their lounges. 

Today, the only arrangement that is still in place with a US airline is with Delta. Even this is restricted to the Platinum cardholder only, with guests only allowed for an additional fee.

In response, American Express decided to launch its own proprietary airport lounge network.  They have been seen as a welcome breath of fresh air in the US, where airport lounges are substantially lower in quality than those in Europe and Asia.

US airport lounges tend to operate on a ‘club’ system with paid memberships – having status is not enough to get you access. You have the odd situation where a British Airways Executive Club Gold or Silver member can use their card to access an American Airlines lounge but an AA top-tier flyer cannot.  You are also expected to pay for food and some drinks in certain US lounges.

Amex has branded its lounge network as ‘Centurion Lounges’.  This causes some confusion because many believe that you need an American Express Centurion card to enter, which is not true.  Access is gained via a Platinum (or Centurion) card, issued in any country.

Where can you find Amex Centurion Lounges?

At present, there are Centurion lounges at:

  • Charlotte
  • Dallas / Fort Worth
  • Denver
  • Hong Kong
  • Houston
  • Las Vegas
  • Los Angeles
  • London Heathrow T3
  • Melbourne
  • Miami
  • New York (La Guardia)
  • New York (JFK)
  • Philadelphia
  • Phoenix
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Sydney

The first ‘proper’ overseas lounge was Hong Kong, as we covered here. The London Heathrow Terminal 3 lounge opened in 2021 – you can read our review here.

There is also, confusingly, a group of other American Express lounges, which are not always branded as ‘Centurion’. These are generally lower quality than ‘real’ Centurion Lounges, although American Express is slowly rebranding with the Melbourne and Sydney lounges now officially Centurion branded.

Currently, other Amex lounges include:

  • Buenos Aires
  • Delhi
  • Mexico City
  • Monterrey
  • Mumbai
  • Sao Paulo
  • Stockholm

What do Centurion Lounges contain?

American Express has set up a special website where you can find all the details of each lounge, including opening times and facilities, here.

Depending on the airport, you will find a cocktail bar, premium wines, hot and cold food, a family room, a computer bar, a spa suite offering free 15-minute treatments and shower suites.

Just because you are using a particular airport does not mean that you can get to the lounge, of course.  It depends on what terminal you are in and how international and domestic passengers are segregated. This isn’t a problem at Heathrow Terminal 3 which does not have any dedicated domestic areas.

Who can use the Amex Centurion lounges?

Unfortunately, Centurion Lounges in the US have been a victim of their own success and now suffer from overcrowding at peak times.  The entry requirements have been tightened up over the years and you can no longer bring in unlimited children or spend the whole day there. 

Amex has also started extending some of its existing lounges, and the Centurion Lounge in San Francisco has now nearly doubled in size, to almost 3,000 square meters.

Anyone with the following cards can use Centurion Lounges:

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

Holders of the Centurion Card (sometimes called the Black Card) also have access, although as this card is invite-only we won’t be focussing on it.

Platinum Card members are now restricted to two guests although additional day passes can be purchased.

From February 2023 holders of US-issued Platinum Cards will not be allowed to bring guests into Centurion Lounges unless they spend $75,000 per year on their card. This rule will not impact UK cardholders.

For the US lounges, you must be 21 years old to enter – unsupervised – if there is a self-service bar.  Lounges with a staffed bar accept unaccompanied guests from age 18.

Are Amex Centurion Lounges good?

Generally speaking the answer is yes. Centurion Lounges are well designed spaces with good amenities and normally excellent food and beverage options. You can see our Centurion Lounge reviews here:

As you can see here, we rank the Centurion Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 as the fifth best in the terminal. Don’t misunderstand this – Terminal 3 features an unusually high number of outstanding lounges including Cathay Pacific (x2), Virgin Atlantic and Qantas. At almost any other airport a Centurion Lounge is one of, if not the, best.

You can find out more at the dedicated Centurion Lounge website here.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Category

American Express Platinum card

Comments (48)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • cinereus says:
    17 Jan17 January 04:13

    Like most lounges, they are still pretty crap and the food and drink is very disappointing.

    • Lee says:
      17 Jan17 January 06:22

      I agree. London T3 particularly is poor.

      • louie says:
        17 Jan17 January 07:16

        We tried the Sydney one a couple of days after it reopened post refurbishment. Average…..

        • Chris says:
          17 Jan17 January 07:23

          Average is being very generous of the Sydney lounge. It’s a soulless pit in the airport; you sit with your coffee whilst jet lagged arrivals walk past its windows staring in.

    • GaryC says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:00

      Certainly agree re LHR Terminal 3. I recall PHL also being poor. Standout Centurion lounge to me is LAS, particularly compared to the other offerings at that airport.

    • Spare says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:25

      LHR T3 is average at best but some people find it great. Go figure. Different standards, I guess.

  • BuildBackBetter says:
    17 Jan17 January 04:37

    The Delhi and Mumbai domestic lounges have been rebranded as Centurion.
    I guess this was because, when it was previously branded as ‘Amex lounge’, every Amex cardholder, even those with free cards, started queuing up, as they thought it was free for all Amex cardholders. Last time I was there many were turned away as the staff patiently explained to them they weren’t eligible.
    While they have been rebranded as Centurion, these two lounges remain tiny, with a dozen seats and a kitchen with hot food served to order.

  • Justin says:
    17 Jan17 January 06:24

    The Stockholm ‘lounge’ is a corner of the Pontus restaurant, which has its own limited menu. It’s fine for a quick meal before a flight, but it’s not exactly somewhere to lounge and relax. For that you’re better off going to the other lounge in the airport.

    • Nathan says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:46

      Agreed it is a small separate section of ‘Pontus in the air’, approx. 2 dozen covers boxed off behind its own stud walls, but it is better than the other pit hole.

      • Pete says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:37

        Pit hole is being generous!

        Pontus is sadly closing at Arlanda in March after a disagreement with Swedavia about their business classification. The food offering is above average and generous, observed another guest order every item in the menu during my last visit.

        • David says:
          19 Jan19 January 06:52

          I was in there lunchtime and the food offering were full size mains and restaurant style quality.

    • Rhys says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:57

      I was there. It is very odd, admittedly. I was there for breakfast but I imagine lunch/dinner are much better.

  • Brighton Belle says:
    17 Jan17 January 07:35

    Amex HQ is in Brighton
    Gatwick is the nearby airport
    Entry to any lounge via Priority Pass impossible
    Platinum Card entry to Plaza Lounge rare
    Amex needs their own lounge at Gatwick

    • James says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:44

      or Stansted in the middle of nowhere

    • Iain says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:36

      LGW is a good shout although I expect it would require a booking system (probably part-pay) of sorts because the demand for lounges at Gatwick is so high. There would be many travellers tempted by Amex Platinum based on lounge access that doesn’t involve the farce that is Priority Pass.

    • John says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:44

      Amex execs probably use Heathrow?!

  • dougzz99 says:
    17 Jan17 January 07:50

    The Miami one seems to have a permanent queue, with staff controlling access to the lift. There’s nothing in a lounge in the US to make queuing worthwhile. I honestly can’t remember using an Amex lounge anywhere in the US where it hasn’t been an overcrowded pit of luggage and people. Whilst you may get in, unlike many of the UK PP lounges, there’s nothing inside that makes it worthwhile. The value of this on the Platinum card is zero.

    • Rebecca says:
      17 Jan17 January 09:26

      Ugh, I was going to ask about the miami lounge. Flying into there for a virgin cruise and have some time to kill afterwards before our flight home. Guess it’s better than no lounge?

      • Doug says:
        17 Jan17 January 12:16

        I’ve used the Miami lounge a couple years ago and they had waiters inside (that you need to tip) and dishes available to order. So I was overall impressed, nice salads too.

    • David says:
      19 Jan19 January 06:54

      We tried to get in here last week and we’re told there was a 45-60 minute virtual queue to get in.

  • memesweeper says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:01

    San Jose (CR) has (or had) an Amex lounge. Not Centurion, and not particularly great either.

    Clearly it’s not to everyone’s taste but I like the LHR T3 Amex lounge.

  • dan says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:30

    isnt Mexico City a centurian lounge?

    • Rob says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:33

      Not sure of current branding after the recent reshuffle. It was called ‘Centurion’ well before the ‘proper’ Centurion ones launched – I went to it 15 years ago – but wasn’t at the same standard as the ‘official’ ones.

    • JDB says:
      17 Jan17 January 09:04

      Yes, Mexico City has several Centurion lounges. In T1 there is a larger one, landside close to BA check-in desks. It’s not bad, quite small and windowless but staff very charming and efficient. Food is genuinely freshly prepared and while there is a fairly full menu, they offer the option of choosing whatever you want. Good tiritas, proper caesar salad very good puddings.

      I saw someone having a manicure and what they call a ‘neat and tidy’ haircut and they offer a variety of other treatments. My son visited after a 5am arrival and he said they were a bit funny about it being used as an arrivals lounge but relented – showers apparently quite good and he and his friend were impressed with their breakfasts. There is a smaller Centurion lounge after security, but apparently can be waiting list only, although probably not by the time of the BA flight. Haven’t tried the T2 ones yet.

  • BA-Flyer says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:34

    At Seattle there was a 20 minute wait just to reach the entrance desk, at which point your details are taken. You then had a further wait until a text message is sent, asking you to come back within X minutes, otherwise your space goes to someone else. This was at 2pm on Sunday, so hardly peak time. I didn’t bother with any of this, so can’t comment how nice the lounge actually is, but it’s far from a premium experience.

    • Rob says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:40

      There should be changes from 1 Feb when the new entry rules kick in, but let’s see.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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