American Airlines Flagship Lounge at JFK Airport, Terminal 8

It seemed like the AA Flagship Lounge at Terminal 8 at JFK Airport was under construction for the longest time. On September 30th, I arrived at JFK, ready for my trip to Ireland (JFK-LHR-DUB-KIR). The first leg of my journey was on American Airlines. Lo and behold, the Flagship Lounge was open for business.

There’s a lot that I like about airport lounges. The convenience, the (usual) calm, the wi-fi, and sometimes the food and beverages. Honestly, though, I usually find the domestic lounges rather nondescript at best.

Well, that all changed when I saw the new AA Flagship Lounge! I was impressed! It was right in the league with some of the really nice international lounges I’ve seen. I know you’d rather see photos, so here you go.

There’s a variety of seating, from lounge chairs to tables to individual cubicles and workspaces. The lounge was not crowded when I arrived, but it did get more crowded a little later on.

Food glorious food. There were hot and cold dishes. Everything was actually quite delicious and far superior to what you’d normally see in a domestic lounge. The area was kept clean and dishes were replenished on a regular basis.

My plate:

A wide selection of beers.

Yay for self-serve bars – with top shelf alcohol!

Wine and champagne!

Austin Cocktails? (a promotion perhaps?)

The Flagship Lounge also has a First Class Dining Room. I did not have the opportunity to visit that.

There was also plenty of great plane-spotting from the lounge. I sat near a German couple, and, as we looked down at the Air Berlin plane, the man told me he had lost 500,000 Air Berlin miles. It’s always sad to see an airline go out of business.

And then, I was on my plane ready for take-off.