By Taylor Rains
American Set to Reopen Admirals Clubs Locations
As travel rebounds, American Airlines is reopening many of its Admirals Club lounges and adding enhancements to make customers feel comfortable at the airport. By Memorial Day weekend, the airline will fully open 27 lounges across 21 U.S. cities, most of which will have innovative touchless technology and offer healthy meal options.
Admirals Club lounges at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, Miami International Airport and Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport are open as of this week. Meanwhile, previously-opened lounges at Austin Bergstrom International Airport, Nashville International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport will extend their operating schedules to seven days a week.
With the reopenings, travelers can once again enjoy a full-service bar and hot food, but showers and self-serve areas are still closed. However, lounges may have limited capacity based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and travelers will still need to wear masks when not actively eating or drinking.
To ensure customer safety, American has introduced enhanced touchless technologies in its lounges, such as hand-free ways to read magazines and newspapers. However, beginning May 6, guests can also take advantage of touchless entry to the Admirals Club at Terminal A in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The lounge will use facial recognition to automatically confirm guest membership, which will negate the need for travelers to pull out their phone or wallet. The same technology is currently in use for touchless bag-drop at Dallas-Fort Worth and Ronald Reagan National Airport. Data gathered from all three facial recognition locations will help American expand its technology to other airports and improve the customer experience.
In addition to touchless technology, select Admirals Club lounges will begin offering signature food-for-sale items starting May 5. These include chilled quinoa salad, southwestern power bowl, cheesy tater tots and bacon and egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches. Furthermore, child’s plates, such as chicken bites and cheddar sandwiches, will be offered at all lounge locations.
Clarissa Sebastian, American’s Managing Director of Premium Customer Experience and Onboard Products, said, “As we welcome customers back to the skies, we have been eager to expand signature offerings that everyone in the family — including kids — can enjoy. We know even more families will be returning to travel this summer and the Admirals Club provides safe and clean service with care.”
With the return of signature dishes, American is trialing mobile ordering at one of its Dallas-Fort Worth lounges. The Admirals Club at Terminal A will start the trial later this month. Customers will order signature meals from their smartphones, and gloved and masked employees will serve the food to the guest’s table.
Taylor Rains graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Aviation Management in 2017. She has worked in the aviation industry for the past five years and has a specialty in safety analytics for part 121 airlines, but she has also worked for a part 135 company in Alaska. Her experience has allowed her to work in many areas of aviation, including airport operations, flight operations, security, inflight, dispatch, and maintenance. Taylor is also an avid traveler and has used her flight benefits to fly on as many airlines and aircraft types as possible. So far, her favorite flight has been aboard KLM’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner.