Review: American Airlines Flagship Lounge, Chicago O’Hare

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Landing in Chicago O’Hare from Washington Reagan, I quickly proceeded to the Flagship Lounge which is located at the end of Terminal K. It’s actually a fairly nondescript location, with a small sign out in the walk-way mentioning JAL First Class passengers. American operates Flagship Lounges in New York JFK, Chicago, Los Angeles and London.

Entering the lounge, I was greeted by the friendly Premium Services representative behind the desk, who asked to see my boarding pass and confirmed my access as an Executive Platinum.

The lounge was fairly dated, and certainly not as great as other airline first class lounges, but was quieter and had better food and beverage offerings than the regular AAdmiral’s Club, so I guess that’s good.

Arriving at around 7a, there was plenty of open seating, and for a brief while, I was the only person inside. Actually, by the time I started boarding the London flight, I counted only 3 other people in the lounge, which was a bit surprising since after boarding the plane, I noticed over a dozen Executive Platinum luggage tags hanging in the overhead bins. Odd.

Most of the seating was on leather single couches, though there were a fair amount of coffee tables scattered throughout for placing drinks.

At the far end of the lounge was a kid’s play area in an enclosed room, as well as partitioned off computer terminal stations.

Because it was early, there were no hot food options available, though there was some tasty looking yogurt parfaits and fruit salad cups.

In addition, there was oatmeal packets and bagels.

The full, self-service bar was also open, though being so early and not getting enough sleep the night before, I decided not to drink. I did take a few bottles of sparkling water for the “road,” though.

My Take

While certainly not as enticing as other airline first class lounges, the Flagship Lounge offers better options than the traditional Admiral’s Club, and is the place to be if you’re waiting for an international flight and are eligible for access. The WiFi was very fast, and the agent service very friendly. Boarding for flights is announced here, and with the small enough space, I believe the agent came to find folks individually to let them know of their flight departures.