I have to admit, I don’t fly American Airlines as much as I’d like to. Even when I fly on American Airlines, sometimes it’s using another programs points or miles. For example, I flew American Airlines on a recent flight after booking a cheap one-way award ticket for only 7,500 points.
In the past, I wasn’t even able to get into the American Airlines Admirals Club Lounge when flying American Airlines. But this trip was different. I was granted access to the AA Admirals Club in Dallas thanks to the 100,000 Platinum American Express offer I signed up for earlier this year.
Dallas A Terminal Admirals Club Lounge
Once through security, I found the entrance to the lounge near gate 24 in Terminal A. I handed over my boarding pass and Platinum American Express card. After a few clicks by the agent, I was waived through to the elevators which took me up to the lounge where I found some unexpected surprises.
I know Texas likes to do things big, this lounge is huge. It has plenty of seating with great views.
Once inside, I turned left and was hit with surprise #1, a smoking lounge. I know I don’t fly American Airlines enough when this is a surprise. I’ve seen lounges in airports before, but this is only the second time I’ve seen a smoking lounge in a lounge. The first time was in the Senator Lounge in Frankfurt when I flew Lufthansa First Class to Spain. The smoking lounge didn’t bother me at all because the doors were sealed tight which traps the smoke smell inside the smoking lounge.
Moving past the smoking lounge and towards the destination, I found a cool computer station with HP computers. The station has four HP computers. I saw one person walk right up and start browsing on a computer. I think this is more useful to have than a Beats Noise Canceling Headset Room within a lounge.
The next surprise I stumbled on was a workout room. This is a first for me. I’ve never seen this before and I actually think it’s pretty useful, especially since it’s right next to the shower rooms.
The next pleasant surprise was the children’s lounge. During Baby Weekly Flyer’s first long flight, we visited a lounge in Atlanta and didn’t see any space designated for Children. It is nice to see a dedicated space for children.
At one end of the lounge, I felt like I had been transported to Initech. This probably makes some business travelers homesick. But seriously, a full cube with a bit of privacy is a welcome amenity for a business traveler.
The snack selection included mix, crackers, apples and a few miscellaneous snacks. I continued past to the main attraction in the club lounge.
The Admirals Club offers complimentary beer, wine and spirits. But they also offer a premium menu.
Instead of Delta’s Non-stop drink, they serve the American Layover. I found this slightly amusing because I always prefer a non-stop over a layover 🙂
My eyes immediately honed in on the spirits. While they don’t serve Woodford Reserve, they have a good selection of Scotch and Bourbon. Although $12 for a glass of Makers Mark is a bit on the pricey side.
I went with the Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks which rang up to $10 plus tip, no tax.
The final surprise I found in the Admirals lounge is that every bar table has a land line phone. At first it made me think of two things, (1) instead of the phone, a trivia game might be cool in the bar areas to help people relax and interact. And this brings me to my next thought (2) maybe they are there as part of some scheme to connect passengers to each other. Are the phones meant for some sort of dating game where people can call up the next table and chat people up? Either way, the phones just seemed out of place and a waste of space. Have you ever used one of these while in an Admirals Club Lounge?
Bottom Line
The Admirals Club Lounge in Dallas is huge. It has plenty of seating, a smoking lounge, children’s lounge (far from the smoking lounge), a workout room, showers, plenty of seating, and a bar with with a good selection of beverages and food.
After returning a few pages using the land line table phone, I headed to the gate to grab my middle seat in coach for my 2.5 hour flight westbound, all for only 7,500 Avios points and $2.50 in taxes and fees.
You don't need new glasses, this picture is blurry
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The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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Love the AAdmirals club! They are awesome everytime I have go in except for the one at JFK. That one is probably just average but still miles above any UA lounge.
Time to come over to the dAArkside.
AA always finds a way to put me back in my place.
I was travelling revenue coach on AA and used my AMEX platinum to enter the AAdmirals in MIA. As we exited the elevater we were bumped and my wife was almost knocked off her feet by staff escorting a major VIP. As an afterthought one staff member stationed nearby apologized on behals of those that knocked into us.
I respect the need and effort to protect a VIP but when it causes physical contact with me that is too much.
I asked the station manager to comment, he declined.
Nice write-up but you completely missed the best part about this club. The former Flagship Lounge (for international F pax) also resides upstairs and is open to the public (offering no amenities sans additional privacy).
I’ve been to the Terminal A club so many times that I’ve forgotten how nice it is, I seldom see more than the coffee machine.
Thanks for the tour!
Thadeus Winston – Oh no! I completely missed that part.
The Admirals Club, and more importantly, the staff, are what I miss most about flying American alot. They seem consistently more empowered to get you where you need to go than any other airlines’ lounge agents. Many of the facilities are quite nice too.
I love the Terminal A Admiral’s Club at DFW. I fly in and out of DFW every week for work and have spent a healthy chunk of time in both the A and D terminal clubs. The terminal A club is really nice but terminal D is my favorite for the excellent customer service at the concierge desk. That crew (and one older gentleman in particular whose name escapes me) has worked miracles for me, getting me home on Thursday nights when my flights have been cancelled or significantly delayed. They are magicians and having their assistance in a pinch alone makes the membership worth it to me.
Interested in how you booked the Avios flights… I have a lot of them but find they seem to be easy to book for short flights in Europe…. but how do you book them for flights in the US? I just booked a flight from Paris to London on BA and it was a total bargain! 2 one way tickets $56 and 9K abios points. Bargain.