Quick Review: SFO Admirals Club

To go along with my quick visit, I thought I’d provide a quick review of the SFO Admirals Club. It’s been ages since I’ve been in an American Airlines lounge of any sort, and I was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of the space. I tried a bit of the food, but as I would be soon flying American Airlines Flagship First Class on their A321T, I held most of my appetite for the plane.

SFO Admirals Club Quick Review

The American Airlines Admirals Club at San Francisco International Airport is relatively new. Located on the mezzanine level of the new Terminal 1, you can find it midway down one of the two arms. The SFO Admirals Club opens at 4:30 AM and closes at 11:30 PM daily. I hadn’t figured I’d be able to enjoy any lounge, given my 6:00 AM departure, so even stopping by briefly was a pleasant surprise.

Access

Access to the SFO Admirals Club is the same as any other Admirals Club. You need one of the following:

• Admirals Club membership or membership included with the Citi / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®
• Ticket in first or business class on a qualifying international American, oneworld, or other partner flight
• Ticket in first or business class on a qualifying domestic transcontinental American flight
• Be a Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Platinum elite with a qualifying international ticket in any cabin
• Hold non-AAdvantage and non-Mileage Plan oneworld Emerald or Sapphire elite status

Since I was flying on a qualifying transcontinental first class ticket, I had access.

Space

The SFO Admirals Club is a big lounge. This is what surprised me the most, as SFO isn’t one of their hubs. San Francisco International is a large airport, but I wouldn’t have guessed they’d opt for such a large space. I looked up the size later: over 12,000 square feet of space!

One cool aspect is that the lounge occupies a long space along the edge of the building. You have great views of international terminal A. Well, if it wasn’t so dark still at 5:00 in the morning. 

There is a nice variety to the lounge seating. You have the typical armchairs, several dining tables, small two-person tables, and a long counter facing the apron with plenty of outlets. There are also some strange “corner” seats that look like they want to be a desk, yet aren’t.

If you need to snooze, there is a quiet room with lounge chairs. The SFO Admirals Club also offers an enclosed kids room with a TV. 

Breakfast Food

The SFO Admirals club offered a decent variety of food, including a couple hot option. Nothing fancy, though. There was a zucchini tomato egg scramble, oatmeal, yogurt, chilled overnight oats, hard boiled eggs, plus bagels and bread. There are also candy dispensers, juice, fruit-infused water, and coffee.

Looks like I didn’t snap a photo of the bar. It wasn’t open at 5:30 AM. A splash of Bailey’s would have been nice for the coffee.

There were only a few people in the lounge when I arrived, but several more soon showed up. Most congregated near the food area, with only a few heading to the opposite end of the lounge.

Other Amenities

The SFO Admirals Club also offers:

• A small conference room
• Showers

The inclusion of showers surprised me. Like I said, it’s a large space for a large airport, but it’s not an American Airlines hub. I didn’t expect some amenities.

Quick Review Recap: SFO Admirals Club

I was pleasantly surprised by what the SFO Admirals Club offers. The food was what I expected for an Admirals Club. That hasn’t changed over the past few years. Delta still has a leg up with the quality and variety of what they offer in their Sky Clubs.

But the lounge impressed me in other ways. It’s spacious, and has some amenities I didn’t expect. And it’s very new, with view of the International Terminal A.

I’d love to come back, but it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. My visit was short. I was soon off to fly American Flagship First!