Centurion Lounge Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

What Airport Lounges Can You Get Into With The American Express (AMEX) Platinum Card?

The American Express (AMEX) Platinum card is designed for the jet setter crowd. While the personal Platinum card carries a steep $550 annual fee, if you want to learn more about the benefits of the Platinum card, you can check out our full review HERE. While the card is marketed to those who can afford the luxury items advertised in the Departures magazine that’s included with your card membership, many benefits of the Platinum card can help travelers who aren’t in the top 0.01 percent. One of those benefits is access to several different types of airport club lounges. It can be hard to keep track of which lounges the card will get you into and the requirements for each, thus the need for this post. To clarify, access to lounges is a perk of the Personal Platinum, Business Platinum and variants of these cards.

Heads up that other American Express Cards with platinum in the name, like the Delta Airlines Platinum or Optima Platinum, don’t get the same lounge access.

American Express does have a very handy lounge locator on their website. If you type in the airport, they’ll tell you all the places you can get into and which type of lounge that location is. If you have several lounges at an airport to choose from, here’s a link to our article about a website that provides reviews of over 2,500 lounges in 850+ airports worldwide.

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Flying JetBlue From NYC? No More Lounge Access For You

One of things that made flying to/from New York on JetBlue so nice was if you had an American Express Platinum card, you had access to an airport lounge regardless of whether you flew out of JFK, LaGuardia or Newark airport. If you had a Priority Pass card from any of the different sources available to get a membership, you could also use a lounge at Newark airport.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, you no longer have easy access to a lounge from JetBlue gates at any of the New York Airports.

Here’s a breakdown of what happened:

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How We Ended Up Going To The Wrong Airport Lounge in Las Vegas

During one of our trips, we needed to get from Las Vegas to Orange County, California. I found a pair of award seats on Delta for 5,500 miles each, so we decided to fly instead of drive there. I put very little thought into our time at the airport. as we were flying out in the morning and were planning to get to the airport just ahead of our flight time. I forgot that we were checking bags and would need to get the airport early. When I checked us in for our flights using Delta’s app, it automatically checked us in for our flight, I had no idea how to add our luggage fee so I’d have to pay at the airport. Fearing a long line, we left extra early for our flight.

This meant that after checking in (a quick process thanks to the helpful Delta agents at LAS) we were through TSA Pre✓® and at the D Concourse of Terminal 1 with 45 minutes before our flight would board. Plenty of time to stop in a lounge and relax.
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What Happens When Everyone Is Elite?

“… and when everyone’s super, no one will be.” – Syndrome from “The Incredibles”

Not the quote you’d think would inspire me to write a travel blog, is it? However, it popped into my head when reading Nick’s post on Frequent Miler about how having Diamond Hilton status may or may not have helped him out on a recent stay. He has top-level Hilton status because he holds the Amex Hilton Aspire credit card, with an annual fee of $450. He mentioned a comment from a reader introducing the idea that when everyone has access to something, be it status or superpowers, that thing no longer becomes important because anyone can have it.

There was a time, not too long ago, that to achieve top-level status with any travel company, like an airline or hotel chain, you actually needed to use their services and use them a lot. This meant you either had to be a true road warrior, spending much of your work time staying in hotels and flying from worksite to worksite, or a dedicated travel hacker who spent days or more likely weeks making mileage and mattress runs trying to rack up credits for the least amount of money possible.

Those days are gone.

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Here’s How You Can Get Into Airport Lounges When Flying JetBlue from New York to Orlando

One of the big perks of being a frequent flyer with one of the “big three” U.S. airlines (American, Delta and United) is access to their airport lounges. These spaces are a ~~quite~~ less crowded place to wait for your flight compared to the loud chaos that usually is the norm near the gates. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to charge your electronics, snack on some cookies or veggies and even treat yourself to something from the bar. Even if the airlines have started to charge for the better snacks and drinks, it’s still better than nothing.

You’d think if you’re on your way to a vacation at Disney World or Universal Studios in Orlando from the New York/New Jersey area and decide to take JetBlue that you’d be out of luck for getting into an airport lounge before your flight, right? Wrong!

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