How To Access American Airlines Admirals Clubs

American Airlines operates a network of nearly 50 Admirals Clubs globally. There’s often confusion about who gets access to these lounges, given how policies differ around the world. In most places in the world, any business class ticket will get you lounge access, while that’s largely not true in the United States.

In this post, I wanted to take a comprehensive look at how American Airlines lounge access works.

What should you expect from American Airlines Admirals Clubs?

Don’t get too excited when it comes to the quality of American Airlines Admirals Clubs.

For the most part, Admirals Clubs are just lounges that are typically calmer than the terminal, with complimentary Wi-Fi, snacks, and drinks (including house beer, wine, and liquor).

We have recently seen an improvement to Admirals Clubs, at least in theory. This includes a more substantial offering of complimentary premium food, grab-and-go snacks, and improved drinks, including sparkling wine, craft beer, and additional spirits. It’s nice to see some improvements, though I’d recommend managing your expectations.

In some cases, Admirals Clubs are significantly calmer than the terminal, while in some cases they’re still quite crowded. Personally I find the Admirals Clubs at my home airport of Miami to usually not be overcrowded, so they’re my lounges of choice here.

Don’t expect these to be among the best lounges in the world, though. For that matter, don’t even expect them to be among the best lounges in the United States. On the plus side, American is working on redesigning its lounges, with refreshed lounges having already opened in Washington (DCA), Denver (DEN), and Newark (EWR). I’m impressed by the new design, and look forward to it being rolled out at more airports.

How to access American Airlines Admirals Clubs

American Admirals Clubs are membership lounges, meaning they’re primarily intended for members. However, there are some other ways to access Admirals Clubs as well, depending on your status, the type of ticket you have, what credit card you have, etc. Below are all the options for American Airlines lounge access.

Buy an Admirals Club membership (with miles or cash)

The most obvious way to access Admirals Clubs is to buy an annual membership, which can be done with miles or cash. The cost of this varies depending on your elite status with AAdvantage and whether you’re looking for an individual or household account.

Here’s the cash cost to buy an Admirals Club membership:

Then here’s the cost to purchase an Admirals Club membership with miles:

As you can see, this is valuing AAdvantage miles at one cent each, so in general, I wouldn’t recommend redeeming miles this way (I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each). I’d much rather pay cash and use my miles for more worthwhile redemptions.

A couple of things to note for Admirals Club members:

• You can only use Admirals Clubs when flying same day on American Airlines or a oneworld partner airline (though you can also Admirals Clubs on arrival)
• You can either bring your immediate family members with you (including spouse, domestic partner, and children under 18), or up to two guests

Get the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) has a $595 annual fee, and offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember. In and of itself, that represents cost savings compared to a membership.

But it gets better than that. Authorized users on the card get Admirals Club access as well:

• You can add up to three authorized users to the card for a total of $175, so that’s potentially under $60 per person
• Each authorized user beyond the first three costs $175

Each of those authorized users receives Admirals Club access when flying American or an eligible partner airline the same day for them and two guests or immediate family (they don’t have to be flying with the primary cardmember).

So to look at it differently, for $770 per year you get an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember, plus Admirals Club access for up to three additional people. If you want Admirals Club access and are eligible for the card, that’s without a doubt the best way to access Admirals Clubs.

Buy an Alaska Lounge membership

One alternative to getting an Admirals Club membership directly is that you could instead buy an Alaska Lounge membership. Alaska Airlines offers two different lounge membership plans. An Alaska Lounge membership gets you access to just Alaska Lounges, and costs:

• $650 annually for Mileage Plan non-elite members
• $450 annually for Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members

An Alaska Lounge+ membership gets you access to Alaska Lounges and American Admirals Clubs, as well as select Qantas Clubs (when flying Qantas) and select United Clubs (when flying Alaska), and costs:

• $750 annually for Mileage Plan non-elite members
• $550 annually for Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members

Note that non-elite members with the Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card (review) or Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card (review) can receive $100 off an annual Alaska Lounge+ membership by paying with the card.

As you can see, in some cases this could represent a marginally better deal, depending on your status and lounge needs.

Buy a Qantas Club membership

Qantas Club members also receive American Admirals Club access when flying American or Qantas the same day, and one guest is allowed when accessing lounges with this method. In general I’m not advocating buying a Qantas Club membership specifically to access Admirals Clubs, but if you happen to be traveling in the United States and are a member, this is a good option for lounge access.

Buy a day pass

It’s also possible to buy Admirals Club day passes, at the cost of either $79 or 7,900 AAdvantage miles. Between those options I’d definitely recommend paying cash rather than redeeming miles.

This is valid for the entire day, so if you’re connecting you can use multiple clubs. These passes can be purchased directly at the club. If you purchase them in advance, they’re valid for 12 months from when they’re issued.

While the pass is per person, you can bring up to three children under the age of 18 with you without needing extra passes. You also need to be flying American or a partner airline the same day to use a day pass.

For the most part I wouldn’t consider this to be a very good deal, unless:

• You happen to have a very long connection, or multiple connections
• You’re traveling with kids under 18, since they can come with you at no extra cost

Book an eligible business or first class ticket

A standard domestic first class ticket won’t get you access to Admirals Clubs. However, certain types of tickets will. If you are traveling first or business class on an eligible international or premium domestic flight operated by American or a oneworld partner, you do get lounge access. It doesn’t matter if you paid for your ticket with cash or miles, or if you upgraded (only staff travel wouldn’t qualify).

Qualifying international itineraries include flights between the United States and:

• Asia
• Australia
• Canada
• Caribbean (this includes Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, even though they’re part of the US)
• Central America
• Europe
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• South America

There’s just one exception — if you’re an Alaska Airlines first class passenger traveling between the United States and Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico (excluding Mexico City), you wouldn’t get Admirals Club access.

Qualifying domestic itineraries include those between the following city pairs (this even includes if you receive a complimentary elite upgrade to a premium cabin):

• New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX)
• New York (JFK) and San Francisco (SFO)
• New York (JFK) and Orange County (SNA)
• Boston (BOS) and Los Angeles (LAX) — only when flying on A321T
• Miami (MIA) and Los Angeles (LAX) — only when flying on wide body
• Dallas (DFW) and Honolulu (HNL)
• Dallas (DFW) and Kona (KOA)
• Dallas (DFW) and Maui (OGG)
• Chicago (ORD) and Honolulu (HNL)

Those traveling in business class can’t bring any additional guests, while those traveling in international first class or transcontinental A321T first class can bring one guest.

Have Concierge Key status

This is along the lines of the Admirals Club membership above, but American’s invitation only Concierge Key members receive a complimentary Admirals Club membership, so they’d get Admirals Club access under the same conditions as members.

Have American Airlines AAdvantage elite status

American AAdvantage Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Executive Platinum flyers get Admirals Club access when traveling same day on a oneworld flight between the United States and:

• Asia
• Australia
• Canada
• Caribbean
• Central America
• Europe
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• South America

There’s just one exception — if you’re a oneworld elite member flying Alaska Airlines between the United States and Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico (excluding Mexico City), you wouldn’t get Admirals Club access.

You don’t just get access at the international gateway, but rather at all airports throughout your journey. Eligible AAdvantage elite members can bring one guest with them.

Have oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status with a foreign program

If you’re a oneworld Sapphire or Emerald member who earns status through a program other than American AAdvantage or Alaska Mileage Plan, you can access Admirals Clubs whenever you’re flying oneworld same day, even if you’re not traveling internationally.

Eligible oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members can bring one guest.

Be an active duty military member

Active duty United States military personnel traveling in uniform on a same day American Airlines flight receive complimentary Admirals Club access. You’ll need to present your military ID.

Eligible military personnel can bring two guests or immediately members, including a spouse and children under 18.

What about American Airlines Flagship Lounge access?

In addition to Admirals Clubs, American Airlines also has Flagship Lounges in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. These are American’s premium international lounges, and they offer a much better selection of food and drinks, as well as other elevated amenities.

These lounges have different entry requirements, so for more details on that, see my guide to American Flagship Lounges.

Bottom line

As you can see, there are a variety of ways to get American Airlines lounge access, in particular for Admirals Clubs.

These American Airlines lounges are primarily membership clubs, and if you are considering a membership, I’d highly recommend getting the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card instead. The card has a $595 annual fee, so that’s less than you’d otherwise pay for a membership, and then you can also get discounted lounge access for authorized users.

On top of that, select premium cabin passengers and oneworld elite members also receive Admirals Club access.

Hopefully the above clears up everything you could want to know about American Airlines lounge access. If I missed anything, please let me know.