Imagine paying almost $700 a year for a premium travel credit card to get into “exclusive” airport lounges … that feel anything but exclusive when you arrive, with lines of fellow cardholders out the door and virtually no space to sit once you make it inside.
That's the reality for all too many travelers trying to visit American Express Centurion Lounges today. Long regarded as the pinnacle of airport lounges in the U.S. and even abroad, Amex's flagship lounges have lost their luster in the post-pandemic travel boom while lounges from competing banks close the gap. And it's a problem of Amex's own making.
As American Express has lured in record numbers of new cardholders with *amex platinum card*, they've given more travelers a free pass into Centurion Lounges at many airports than they can possibly manage to squeeze inside. While new Amex lounges are bigger and even many old locations have been expanded, it's still not enough to handle the demand.
For years, Delta Sky Clubs were the poster child of overcrowded airport lounges. Now, that has shifted to American Express itself. And as banks like Capital One and Chase have gotten in on the action with next-level lounges, many Amex Centurion Lounges no longer measure up.
What went wrong – and what can be done to fix it? Let's take a look.
Read next: The Ultimate Guide to Amex Centurion Lounges
How We Got Here
After opening its first Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas (LAS) more than a decade ago, American Express quickly followed it up with another in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). Fast forward with stunning new locations open in Atlanta (ATL) and Washington, D.C.-Reagan (DCA), and the bank is up to 29 lounges in total … and even more are on the horizon.
But with every new lounge the bank announces or opens, the same joke always follows: “Is there a line outside yet?”
Building more lounges is great, but it doesn't solve the real problem. New or old, almost every Centurion Lounge in the country is overcrowded, leading to an experience inside that's a shadow of what it once was.
In some ways, American Express is a victim of its own success.
The company raised the bar on what an airport lounge could be: not just stuffy rooms with cheese cubes and crackers but comfortable spaces with great cocktails, hearty and delicious meals, and even some unexpected amenities like massage rooms or speakeasy bars. For years, we said there were Centurion Lounges … and everything else. They were simply that much better than the competition.
But the secret is out.
Let's be clear: While overcrowding has become unacceptably common, you won't find long lines at all hours of the day or each and every location. Visiting a Centurion Lounge can still be a pleasant experience at off-peak times … and some locations just fare better than others. A handful, however, are notorious for issues, like Centurion Lounges in Las Vegas, Dallas, and Denver (DEN).
Representatives from American Express did not respond to several requests for comment on this story. But the culprit behind overcrowding is clear: Even as it's built more lounges and bigger spaces, American Express has opened the floodgates, letting too many travelers inside.
Once regarded as an exclusive space for business travelers, no company has made it easier to get into airport lounges than American Express. All you need is the right credit card: *amex platinum*.
With an annual fee now at $695 a year (see rates & fees), you might think the price tag scares travelers off. Just the opposite: Travel perks and especially eye-popping welcome bonus offers of up to 175,000 points have helped consumers look past the annual fee. For the past few years, American Express has bragged to investors about signing up record numbers of travelers for their premium cards.
“This quarter, we acquired 3.2 million new cards, with acquisitions of U.S. consumer Platinum card numbers again reaching a record high and increasing 20%, above last quarter’s record levels, demonstrating the great demand we’re seeing,” Amex's CEO, Steve Squeri, told investors in the summer of 2022.
That trend has only accelerated. Combined with a surge in social media influencers and (admittedly) sites like ours showcasing airport lounges and how to get in, premium travel and airport lounges have officially gone mainstream. And American Express has made it happen.
Plus, Amex has long positioned itself as a premium card issuer, catering to high-earners with more disposable income. That fact alone means that Amex cardholders are more likely to travel – and use a lounge – than those with cards issued from other banks.
And it's not just Amex's own marquee card that can get you into a Centurion Lounge. There's also a Delta problem.
Thanks to Amex's reciprocal access agreement with the Atlanta-based airline, anyone with a *delta reserve card* in their wallet can also get into the Centurion Lounges (so long as they're flying Delta that day). Add it all up, and there are a grand total of six different cards (business and personal) that will get you into Amex Lounges – far more than the competition at Chase and Capital One.
What's Been Done
As the bank has expanded its network of lounges – and the numbers of cardholders who can get in – crowding was inevitable. American Express has repeatedly tried to fix it with new policy restrictions.
They haven't moved the needle.
At first, the bank simply tinkered with ways to help. Way back in 2019, American Express stopped allowing access upon arrival and also restricts entry to three hours prior to departure. Neither change worked.
The supposed silver bullet to deal with lounge crowding was the elimination of free guest access. Rather than bringing two guests for free, as of early 2023, they now cost cardholders an additional $50 apiece – unless you're willing to spend at least $75,000 each year on your Platinum Card.
Spoiler alert: This still didn't fix the problem.
Neither did raising the cost of adding authorized users to the Platinum Card – who each get their own Centurion Lounge access – from $175 per year (total for three additional cardholders) to $195 each.
All the while, Amex has steadily increased the annual fee on the Platinum Card itself, making it more expensive to get in, period. What was once a $450-a-year card increased to $550, then again up to its current $695 price point. And they're not done yet: Amex has hinted that more card refreshes (and fee hikes) are on the way.
But those are all bandaids compared to the core issue: The growing number of cardholders who want to visit Centurion Lounges. Of course, the bank isn't likely to see that as a problem.
Where We're Headed
What's been done obviously isn't working. If you don't have to wait in line to get into a Centurion Lounge these days, it's practically a miracle. And once inside, you'll be lucky to find a seat … at least not one without dirty dishes stacked up next to it.
The point is that what initially set Centurion Lounges apart – great food and service in a relaxing environment – is no longer something you can count on.
But it can be done. You only have to look at one Amex's biggest competitors to see a way to thread the needle.
Capital One might have fewer locations (and far fewer cardholders with a *venture x*), yet its lounges in Dallas, Denver (DEN), and Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) have grown equally popular. But compared to American Express, Capital One is putting on a masterclass on how to handle lounge crowding while maintaining a positive guest experience.
Unlike American Express, there's a bonafide mobile check-in option to reserve your spot in the lounge long before you walk up. But more importantly, Capital One is clearly managing capacity more tightly. Sure, that might result in a wait to get in the door … but that's well worth it for a better experience once you're inside. It all makes visiting a Capital One Lounge feel just as special as it did when the first one debuted in Dallas way back in 2021.
Amex might not be able copy that strategy to a T, but a true mobile check-in would be a great place to start. You can check on wait times in the Amex mobile app and generate a QR code to scan your way in. But being able to actually reserve your place in line while going through security should help reduce the number of people crowded outside the lounge and easily make it feel less busy.
The bank has already tried building its way out of this problem with expansions to several longstanding locations and the debut of its biggest lounge yet in Atlanta (ATL) – but in this case, maybe more is more. As new locations are added or existing lounges are expanded, the bank should focus on allocating more useable space for more guests. While shower suites and relaxation rooms are unique-and-appreciated amenities, they take up valuable square footage that could be used for more practical guest seating.
I hate to tempt fate, but another solution could be to limit access to a certain number of visits each year like Delta is planning to do with its popular Sky Clubs.
This would no doubt sting most for frequent business travelers who are in and out of airports every week – I can see the “Brutal” and “OUCH” headlines now. But for others, being limited to a dozen or so visits per year would likely be plenty.
By thinning the herd a bit, it might give customers who only get a chance to visit Centurion Lounges a few times a year a better shot at actually getting in and enjoying the space.
Finally, reducing the number of cards that can get in the door for free surely wouldn't hurt. Amex can't afford to upset Delta (and vice versa), but removing Centurion Lounge access from the list of benefits that come on the airline's top-tier *delta reserve card* (and its small business counterpart) would be a logical step. That could come with collateral damage: Platinum cardholders could lose Sky Club access altogether, for example.
Until Amex is ready to address the growing hoards of Platinum cardholders – and odds are, they're not going to – some sort of solution is needed to restore the once-vaunted Centurion Lounges to their former glory.
Bottom Line
American Express might have fired the first shot in the airport lounge wars, but the bank is increasingly falling behind.
They might have more lounge locations than any other bank, but it's become an issue of quantity over quality. With increasingly long lines to get in the door and scarce space inside, the Centurion Lounge experience is often unrecognizable compared to just a few years ago.
Without addressing the root of the problem – more and more cardholders looking to gain access – the bank needs to come up with a solution to deal with the overcrowding and poor service that regularly regularly plagues these lounges.