The Centurion Lounge is arguably the best perk of the American Express Platinum and Centurion family of cards. I use the Philadelphia and Miami lounges almost every time I travel. The lounges have since become extremely popular, with overcrowding a major issue. The company has expanded some lounges, and also restricted the amount of time you can be at each lounge. American Express has also been aggressively expanding its lounge footprint in the US. They will add lounges in New York JFK, Charlotte, Denver and Los Angeles. A lounge will also open at London LHR. With such aggressive expansion, the question asked is where will the next Centurion Lounge be? Here are my top candidates, in order of my subjective likelihood as well as my reasoning.

Candidate Number 1: Chicago

I have found it really interesting that American Express has mainly targeted American and United hubs for their lounges. Both airlines have credit card agreements with other companies (Citi & Barclays and Chase, respectively). I think that part of the strategy that Amex has been following is to try to poach away CC members from those airline co-brand cards with the allure of their better lounges. The one place where both of those airlines have a major hub is Chicago. With the new terminal expansion planned for Chicago airport, I suspect that Amex has their eyes set on some real estate there to add a lounge. The construction project will take years to complete, so don’t get your hopes up of an announcement in the next few months. However, in the long run game, this is the most likely place for a new lounge.

Candidate Number 2: Atlanta

This seems like a possible location for a whole different reason than Chicago. Amex has been a partner for Delta’s CC since I can remember. The Amex Platinum card offers members same day access to Delta Sky Clubs. The only reason I believe they would open up a lounge in Atlanta is because of the sheer magnitude of the airport. It is still the busiest airport in the world. It would only make sense that American Express would want to have its flagship feature in such a busy airport. I don’t know where they would locate the lounge, maybe in Terminal T to not compete with Delta, or in Terminal F, to allow for international passengers (like at DFW). I am mildly skeptical because of their relationship with Delta, but I see Amex planting a flag there at some point.

Candidate Number 3: Boston

Boston is much like LAX. Every airline in the United States has, to some extent, a footprint at Boston Logan Airport. JetBlue is the largest carrier there, but Delta, Southwest, American and United have sizeable operations at the airport. I am honestly surprised that there haven’t been plans to open a Centurion Lounge at Boston yet. Even if the airport is not as busy as LAX or JFK, there is certainly potential. American launched A321T flights to JFK from Boston, and Delta and United offer lie flat seats across the country from Boston. I think this option is as likely as Atlanta, if not slightly more likely. The only reason I keep it as number 3 is because the airport is not as busy as Chicago or Atlanta.

Honorary Mention: Newark

The third airport in the New York City area, Newark is also a potential candidate for a Centurion Lounge. I don’t see this as likely as the previous three candidates because the two other airports for NYC already have Centurion Lounges. However, the rationale behind the Chicago lounge applies very strongly here. Newark is a major United hub, and the CC company might try to poach some frequent fliers from the area with a swanky new lounge in the largest city in New Jersey.

Dark Horse Candidate: Dubai DXB

This is pure speculation, and I did not want to theorize outside of the US. However, the more I thought about the possibility, the more sense it made. Hear me out: Dubai is the most international airport based on passenger movements. It is one of the busiest airports in the world, and has a lot of high profile people transiting through every day. American Express has a version of their Platinum card for the UAE. There is enough real estate space at DXB to accommodate a Centurion lounge (as of last time I was at DXB). I honestly think this is the most likely international destination to get a Centurion lounge after LHR and HKG. As a matter of fact, I believe this location to be the most likely of all of the ones mentioned before. I would simply love to see the Centurion lounge expand beyond the US more, as just two international locations seems like not enough.

Landing Thoughts

I am excited as ever to see where American Express will open their newest Centurion Lounge. The candidates I mentioned all have strong qualifications, but I don’t think that the list is comprehensive. If you think of any other place that should be on the list, please let me know which and why!

What do you think? Where will the next Centurion Lounge be? Do you have any other suggested places? Let us know!

Here is a list of all my flight reviews: The Millennial Traveler Flight Reviews

Here is a list of all my lounge reviews: The Millennial Traveler Lounge Reviews

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Images from Wikipedia, Wikimedia and featured image from American Express.