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

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta facilities

The Centurion Lounge in Atlanta gives a slew of facilities that may 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 practically your complete perimeter of the lounge, and this one gives not solely a bunch of various seating choices but additionally a number of the greatest views you will discover of Delta jets within the nation.

I might simply spend an hour outdoors 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 will largely discover wide-bodies parked on the close by gates.)

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

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

Actually, one of many terraces — together with its hooked up rooms — is reserved for Amex’s Centurion members. If in case you have a “black card,” a lounge agent will escort you into your personal rest room, which incorporates 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 probably be the terraces, the Centurion Lounge additionally has an extended listing of “commonplace” options.

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

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

The bathe suites are adorned 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 lately (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 Categorical, which is the issuer’s first Centurion Lounge whiskey bar.

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

The entire meals and drinks are included with lounge admission, so you may pattern as many whiskeys as you need. (Do not forget that you simply nonetheless have a flight to catch.)

Along with the whiskey bar, the lounge’s essential bar is completely satisfied to whip up your favourite drink or pour you a glass of one in all 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 rooster thighs and “twisted soul” salad.

A media preview is not the very best time to get a way of how the meals will style each day, but when Amex can replicate what it provided Tuesday, then vacationers are more likely to depart 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 selections 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 to this point, and it begins a brand new chapter for the Centurion Lounge community with a regionally impressed design, distinctive facilities and top-notch meals and drinks.

For vacationers passing by 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 area. Whereas Amex had an almost decadelong head begin, Capital One and Chase are working onerous 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 earth’s busiest airport, the Centurion Lounge community could be very a lot nonetheless the chief.

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