November 5, 2024: I just got back from a conference in Las Vegas where I only ended up accessing the Centurion Lounge once (out of three attempts) due to lounge overcrowding. My experience during that trip has me seriously reconsidering whether Centurion Lounge access is worth it. Here’s my take.
Access to The Centurion Lounge (and Amex’s network of Escape Lounges) is a unique perk of the American Express Platinum card. Airport lounges can provide free food and drink and a comfortable place to relax, before your flight or on your layover. This perk has substantial value for many, and can make your travel experience meaningfully better.
But what is Centurion Lounge access actually worth? Here are my thoughts.
My view: Centurion Lounge access is worth what you would pay for it.
My view with most credit card benefits (or any airline mileage redemption for that matter) is that they are worth exactly what you would pay for it, if you were to pay for it in cash.
An airport lounge might charge someone with no free access and no partner credit card $75 or more to visit the lounge, but that doesn’t mean that you’re getting that much value when you’re entering the lounge for free.
If you’re like most people, absent lounge access, you’d probably pack a few snacks in your carryon and maybe by an overpriced $7 bottle of Diet Coke from the airport store. When you travel a handful of times a year, the real value of the airport lounge access over the course of the year might approach $50 or $100—but certainly not the almost $700 you might pay for an Amex Platinum card.
Keeping this in mind when valuing lounge access helps me make more rational decisions about the money I spend on credit card annual fees.
My experience over the past year: Lots of waits, limited use
Overall, my personal experience using Amex Centurion lounges this year has not been great. Often, I’ve been unable to get into the lounges due to overcrowding and the quality of the food and beverage certainly isn’t what it was years ago.
Lounge quality: Average and heading downhill
When American Express first opened its Centurion lounges, they offered an amazing experience. The food and beverage selection was on par with the business and first class lounges of leading global airlines. A Centurion lounge was a destination in-and-of itself and I would frequently route flights through airports with Centurion lounges just to spend a few hours there.
However, over the years, Amex has slowly transitioned the Amex Platinum card from being a tool for business travelers into a lifestyle card and it has cheapened the lounge experience along the way. The lounge at LAX is in a dingy corner room in a basement. The food selection is now on-par with most Priority Pass lounges. And it feels like the drink selection has also been cost-optimized (though I’d defer to others on this as no one would rightly describe me a connoisseur of high-end spirits.)
Overcrowding: Long lines and dangerous crush zones
Another consequence of Amex selling more Platinum cards and turning the Amex Platinum into a lifestyle card is lounge overcrowding. Nowadays, Centurion lounges are invariably packed, making it difficult to find a spot to sit, or get food and drinks. Far from being a peaceful oasis, often the lounges are even busier than the terminal.
But it’s not just crowding inside the lounge that is a problem. I’d estimate that more than half the time I have tried to visit a Centurion lounge this year, there has been a line to get in. Rather than wait in line for 30 minutes or more, I’ll simply visit a different lounge. Between the Delta SkyClub and the Priority Pass lounges I have access to, I’ll usually find somewhere else to go on my layover. When I do this, I get exactly $0 value from the Platinum Card.
In some cases, lounge overcrowding has become, frankly, dangerous. The Centurion lounge at the Denver Airport is on the Mezzanine level and it has a small area where Amex has set up a barriers for people to queue. The problem with this with this is that, when the queue gets full, people will wait at the top of the escalator, creating a dangerous crunch zone when the escalator keeps feeding new people into a crowd of dozens of people. I’ve brought this up to Amex several times, as I am certain that someone will eventually get serious injured if this doesn’t change.
My one Amex lounge sweet spot: The Minneapolis Escape Lounge
I consider Amex’s Escape Lounges to be kind of like a “Centurion Lounge lite.” Generally, they are smaller and offer less food than the Centurion lounges, but they are another option if you’re in an airport that offers them. And for some travelers (including myself) the Escape Lounges are where the value is in the Centurion lounge network.
I hold the Amex Platinum card and my partner has an authorized user card, which gets her lounge access. When we’re traveling together, we’ll usually go to the Delta SkyClub (a benefit of the Amex Platinum) but when we’re traveling with kids, the Escape Lounge is our destination at our home airport once we’re all through security.
The Escape Lounge still allows you to bring in two guests, which means we can bring the whole family (2 adults and 3 kids) into the lounge with our two Amex Platinum cards. This is value that I’m willing to pay for on the two trips a year that we make with the kids.
Next year, the Minneapolis Escape lounge will be even more valuable as Delta devalues the SkyClub access of both its Delta SkyMiles Reserve cards and the Amex Platinum Card.
My Centurion Lounge access value: About $100/year, but it will increase next year
Right now, I’d say that, for my travel patterns, I’m willing to pay about $100 per year for access to the Centurion Lounge network. But this value will change next year. Currently the Amex Platinum offers unlimited visits for the cardholder when traveling on Delta, but this changes to a limited number of visits next year. That means I’ll be using the Escape Lounge more at my home airport because I’ll only have limited access to the Delta SkyClub.
Then again, there is also a Priority Pass lounge at my home airport and if I cancel my Amex Platinum, I’ll still have access to that through my other cards. Centurion lounge access will certainly be a component of my decision whether to cancel my Amex Platinum card in the coming months, but the lounge access alone won’t get me near justifying the card’s nearly $700 annual fee.
Bottom line: Take a hard look at the real value you’re getting—it’s probably less than you think
Ultimately, how you value Centurion lounge access will be based on how you use the lounge and what your alternatives are. If you travel every week, have better luck getting into the lounges at off-peak times, or would otherwise spend a lot in airports on food and drink, Centurion lounge access can be a huge perk with huge value.
But if you’re like most people, the Centurion lounge access you’re getting with your Amex Platinum card is likely a lot less valuable than those selling the card would have you believe.
