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After arriving from Las Vegas on AA’s 757 with international configuration I met up with my buddy Dave, and he guided me to where he’d been hanging out for the afternoon: The American Airlines Flagship Lounge in Terminal D. In general, I’m a fan of AA’s flagship lounges and have enjoyed my experiences at their Chicago and Los Angeles outposts. They offer solid food, much improved ambiance, seating, and typically a decent glass of bubbly. Let’s check out my experience at the AA Flagship Lounge in Miami.
Lounge Details:
- When: November 2018
- Where: Miami
- Concourse D
- Hours: 4:30am to 10:30pm
- Access:
- Qualifying flights first and business class flights on One World airlines
- One World Emerald and Sapphire on any cabin on international flight
- To clarify…any One World Sapphire/Emerald that isn’t American would have access within the US as this would be an international flight for those members.
Entrance
I find the fresh and sleek entrance representative of what you’ll find inside after breezing through the doors and checking in: a refreshed lounge that competes on an international level.
Seating:
The lounge was very busy when we arrived; however, due to the sheer size of the lounge we had no difficulty finding various options to sit. Ultimately we plopped down in the dining area and had a couple nibbles.
Dining Options
There is a large buffet style dining area with cold and hot selections. We were only in the lounge for a short amount of time, and decided to use our Priority Pass to eat at the Corona Beach House instead of picking at the food in the lounge. As you can see from the pictures, the food was heavily picked over, and we didn’t really have enough time to wait to see if they replenished quickly. Plus, I wanted to review the Corona House and they serve Impossible burgers, which I love.
More seating, spirits, and Flagship First
Heading on around the dining room you’ll find the entrance to the Flagship First Dining area. A small, exclusive area where only passengers flying in AA First Class can dine ( or Concierge Keys ). Apparently they’re serving Krug, and from other reviews, the food is quite good and served restaurant style from a menu.
Since Dave and I were headed off on a fun buddy trip I grabbed the Besserat, poured a couple glasses, and we cheersed to a great trip ahead.
Showers:
The showers weren’t available while I was there, but this is a picture from the LA Flagship lounge, and should give you an idea of what the Miami showers would look like: very nice, updated, and modern
Overall:
The American Airlines Flagship Lounge Miami is a bright, fresh lounge with quality food, wine/bev, and I look forward to visiting in the future.
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There’s actually no requirement for oneworld sapphires and emeralds to be on an international flight. It’s extremely generous letting sapphires in too and I can’t really understand why it’s not just emeralds?
Jonathan – I clarified… I only meant to AA Plats and up wouldn’t have access if solely flying within the US
Thanks but I still don’t think it’s right. As a BA oneworld Emerald I can buy a flight that’s purely a domestic itinerary within the US that never comes anywhere near an international sector and still have access to the Flagship Lounge. Same is true of sapphires. I live in the US so I think the reference to an “international” flight is just a bit confusing.
You’re completely correct, but a domestic flight in the US is an international flight for a foreign loyalty program. Same would be true if a Brit was an AA Plat and credited an intra England flight to AA they would have access to the Galleries lounge because it’s an international flight for AA
Ok 🙂