First look: Amex’s beautiful new Centurion Lounge in Atlanta

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta entry

The lounge is open each day from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta location

Amex’s new Atlanta location is in Concourse E, close to Gate E11.

Discovering the lounge should not take a lot work — simply head to Gate E11, and you will find the doorway lined by frosted blue glass doorways simply close to the gate space.

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta structure

Amex’s new Atlanta outpost is in a league of its personal, and it ushers in a brand new era of airport golf equipment for the issuer.

For one, at 26,000 sq. toes, the house is sort of 11,000 sq. toes larger than the second-largest Centurion Lounge (in New York).

After all, time will inform if the lounge will probably be giant sufficient to deal with the variety of Amex Platinum cardmembers passing via the nation’s busiest airport. However kudos to Amex for making the house as giant because it might. (The issuer did not share the lounge’s official capability through the media occasion.)

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta facilities

The Centurion Lounge in Atlanta provides a slew of facilities that can certainly be a success with vacationers.

As an aviation fanatic, my favourite options are the lounge’s three outside, year-round terraces.

There’s one lining almost the complete perimeter of the lounge, and this one provides not solely a bunch of various seating choices but in addition among the finest views you may discover of Delta jets within the nation.

I might simply spend an hour exterior right here — even on a wet day — watching Delta’s Airbus A330s and A350s transfer across the airfield. (The Centurion Lounge is in a primarily worldwide concourse, so you may largely discover wide-bodies parked on the close by gates.)

Even vacationers who cannot distinguish between the A330-200 and A330-300 will get pleasure from this outside house. That is as a result of the seating choices are snug, augmented by a bunch of greenery lining the terrace.

The lounge’s two different terraces do not boast any views (they’re situated within the inside of the house), however they do supply some overflow seating that’ll seemingly be much less crowded than the principle lounge inside.

The truth is, one of many terraces — together with its hooked up rooms — is reserved for Amex’s Centurion members. When you’ve got a “black card,” a lounge agent will escort you into your non-public leisure room, which includes a small beverage station with some snacks, in addition to a handful of seats and the aforementioned terrace.

Whereas the spotlight of the facilities will seemingly be the terraces, the Centurion Lounge additionally has an extended record of “commonplace” options.

This consists of 4 non-public cellphone cubicles, a multipurpose room (that doubles as a household room), energy ports and USB-A and -C retailers at almost each seat.

The lounge additionally options males’s and ladies’s restrooms — probably the nicest ones in the complete airport — three bathe suites, and two all-gender non-public restrooms.

The bathe suites are embellished with marble finishes and have Amex’s signature L’Occitane merchandise.

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta meals and drinks

Amex was the primary bank card issuer to open airport lounges, and one of many issuer’s key differentiators from conventional airline membership golf equipment has been elevated culinary choices.

Given the rise in competitors in recent times (each from airways and different issuers), Amex is elevating the bar — actually and figuratively — with the meals and drinks.

It begins with the opening of the so-called The Reserve by American Specific, which is the issuer’s first Centurion Lounge whiskey bar.

The design suits the invoice for a whiskey bar, and you may have your choose of a curated choice of whiskey-based cocktails crafted by Centurion Lounge mixologist Jim Meehan.

All the meals and drinks are included with lounge admission, so you may pattern as many whiskeys as you want. (Remember that you simply nonetheless have a flight to catch.)

Along with the whiskey bar, the lounge’s primary bar is blissful to whip up your favourite drink or pour you a glass of certainly one of 10 wines picked by Centurion Lounge wine director Anthony Giglio.

As for the meals, Amex is teaming up with Atlanta-based Deborah VanTrece, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind native favorites Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours, Oreatha’s At The Level and La Panarda. (Funnily sufficient, VanTrece is a former flight attendant.)

VanTrece curated a menu of Southern and worldwide favorites for the buffet, together with pea biryani, za’atar grilled hen thighs and “twisted soul” salad.

A media preview is not one of the best time to get a way of how the meals will style every day, but when Amex can replicate what it supplied Tuesday, then vacationers are more likely to go away satiated.

Along with the buffets, the issuer put in a couple of wellness stations all through the lounge. These stations supply gluten-free and vegan choices, together with protein bites, salads, smoothies and immunity booster juice pictures.

Amex would not supply a grab-and-go station (like Capital One does), nor does it supply a la carte eating (like Chase does), however the eating decisions are nonetheless a notable step up from the present Centurion Lounges and from most airline membership lounges.

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta backside line

Amex’s new Centurion Lounge in Atlanta is in a league of its personal.

It is the issuer’s largest location thus far, and it begins a brand new chapter for the Centurion Lounge community with a domestically impressed design, distinctive facilities and top-notch meals and drinks.

For vacationers passing via Atlanta, that is undoubtedly the nicest lounge within the airport (belief me, I have been to all of them). As such, I am certain it will get fairly busy throughout peak occasions.

However all of this innovation comes as Amex faces much more competitors within the airport lounge house. Whereas Amex had an almost decadelong head begin, Capital One and Chase are working exhausting to shut the hole.

Bank card-branded lounges are popping up in additional airports nationwide, and every appears nicer than the final.

Amex’s newest opening is certain to impress, and with 28 outposts throughout the globe, together with one on the planet’s busiest airport, the Centurion Lounge community could be very a lot nonetheless the chief.

Associated studying: