Fully stocked shower suites? Power outlets at every seat? A private living room with its own Nintendo Switch console? Credit-card companies are homing in on the premium travel segment, going above and beyond to appeal to their highest-flying customers.
American Express debuted its newest Centurion Lounge on Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the latest salvo in a three-way bid to compete for the highest-value credit card holders and dominate business travel.
This year, Chase, Capital One, and American Express are ramping up their investment in airport branding, armed for battle with the amenities that matter to frequent flyers such as curated menus from award-winning chefs, secluded work suites, and high-speed Wi-Fi. The growing global footprint of rarefied spaces is a boon to business travelers everywhere, as Chase and Capital One race to catch up with American Express, which opened its first lounge in 2013.
The 12,000-square-foot Centurion lounge has a whiskey bar and private library.
American Express
Investing in its Centurion Lounge network has yielded clear returns for the credit card company’s bottom line, Audrey Hendley, president of global travel and lifestyle services at American Express, told Robb Report at a media preview of the lounge on Tuesday.
The membership base for its premium Platinum and Centurion credit cards has grown exponentially alongside the company’s spending on its lounge network, she said. The Centurion card charges a $10,000 initiation fee and a $5,000 annual fee.
“We know our customers,” says Hendley. “They travel frequently, domestically, and internationally. We want to be in the top places where our customers are, because it’s really nice when you get to the airport and you can go to the lounge and crank out a few emails or just sit back and have a nice glass of Champagne before you take a trip.”
Menus from three award-winning chefs are served at the new lounge.
American Express
American Express’s new 12,000-square-foot lounge overlooking the Potomac River is the 29th in the Centurion network, as well as the first credit-card-branded lounge at DCA, which gives AmEx a stronghold in valuable business travel to and from the Capitol. The space boasts a whiskey bar, a private library with a flat screen television and gaming console, and an all-day menu pairing three award-winning chefs from Miami, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.
Earlier this year, American Express opened its largest lounge, a 26,000-square-foot respite at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport. Next up is Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in 2025. A Centurion lounge slated to open at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport in 2026 will confer a valuable geographic advantage: AmEx will be the first credit-card company to operate lounges in all three major metro New York airports.
But Capital One and Chase don’t want to get left behind.
Capital One entered the fray in 2021, opening its first lounge at Dallas-Fort Worth for holders of its top-tier Venture X card, followed last year by locations at Denver International and Washington Dulles. Plans call for a 13,000-square-foot lounge at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and another in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, it’s partnering with José Andrés Group to debut a new dining concept called Capital One Landing at DCA later this year, with a LaGuardia outpost to follow.
The new Chase Sapphire Lounge at LaGuardia this year has the amenities of a luxury hotel.
Chase Sapphire
Chase opened lounges at LaGuardia and JFK this year, with plans to grow its Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club network beyond Boston and Hong Kong to Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Las Vegas. Some spots feature private hotel-style hideaways that come with caviar service, a concierge-style host, and spacious bathrooms complete with showers.
Some credit-card-branded airline lounges have even earned cult followings based on their convivial bar scenes or celebrity chef-inspired menus, becoming destinations of their own merit instead of a mere waypoint on a traveler’s journey.
“We have a crazy amount of travelers purchase fully refundable tickets to go to the lounge and sit for 12 hours,” says Michael Solomonov, one of the James Beard-recognized chefs who shaped the Centurion lounge’s menu at DCA. “It’s the most amount of chutzpah I’ve ever heard, but from a chef’s perspective, it’s incredibly flattering.”