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I reviewed the Admirals Club Phoenix amidst another surprise trip
If you read us very often you’re probably aware of the fact that we love a good surprise trip. I’m still posting about my mom’s epic $125k surprise birthday trip around the world, and my lovely lady and I went to Austin for her birthday last year, took my dad to a colts game a couple years ago, and this time around…I was flying to Indiana to surprise my folks over July 4th weekend. I actually wanted to fly in earlier, but the only avail that opened up was on Sunday. It actually worked far better because my parents suspected I may surprise them, but then when Friday and Saturday came and went they’d given up hope. That’s the best time to strike 😉 I took advantage of the final days that the Prestige offers free Admirals Club access and stopped in to the Admirals Club in Terminal A for a bit.
Check out the insta-story of the whole surprise.
The Admirals Club Phoenix in terminal A is located near gate A8
Take the elevator
Prestige ends its Admirals Club benefit on July 23. This is probably our last visit for a bit.
The lounge is quite nice, however small, but didn’t seem to be overly crowded while we were there.
For a small lounge I thought it utilized the space it had very well. Plenty of varied seating with power, and of course Wifi.
Miles love a good bar shot. And a bar photo.
Food:
The biggest complaint I have about Admirals Clubs in general is that the food is slim pickings. While you can order food in most of the Admirals Clubs, you have to pay for it. I’d say the coolest feature was the coke machine. I love a good fountain soda.
Small but adequate work center.
Overall:
My flight from Phoenix to Indianapolis was delayed by roughly 30 mins, and the delay was really the only reason I ended up in the lounge. My connection was pretty tight and I was planning going from one flight straight to the next, but in the end, I’m glad I took the time to check it out. The lounge was fresh, clean, and a positive direction for AA to take with their lounges. I’ll be flying business to Europe in a couple of months and am interested to see how the Admirals Club in Terminal 4 is coming along. My plan is to check it out and the Qantas First lounge at TBIT. While I think these lounges are great perks associated with premium credit cards, I’m not sure I could ever justify the expense if I had to pay the annual fee out of pocket.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back. .
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
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