American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) review

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The Flagship Lounges are the best lounges American Airlines operates and are found in just four US airports. One lounge location is in Dallas/Fort Worth and on a recent trip, a long stop over offered me the chance to take a look at what the DFW Flagship Lounge has to offer.

Location & opening hours

The Dallas/Fort Worth Flagship Lounge is located in Terminal D between gates D21 and D22.

The lounge shares space on the mezzanine level of DFW Terminal D with the Capital One Lounge (a lounge which you can access with two guests for free if you hold the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card).

The lounge is open between 05:00 and 22:15 daily.

Access

The rules dictating who can and cannot access American Airlines Flagship lounges are far from simple, so here’s a link to our article which explains the access rules for American Airlines Flagship lounges in depth (this includes a section on Flagship First Dining).

The Flagship Lounge at DFW

Once you’re through the main doors at gate level, you’ll need to take a short elevator ride up to the floor on which the lounge is located.

Turning right out of the elevator doors takes you straight into the lounge’s welcome area where your credentials are checked (turning left takes you to the Capital One Lounge).

Assuming the fare you’re flying on and the flight you’re taking (or have just been on) gives you Flagship Lounge access, you are offered a glass of chilled Champagne (Piper Heidsieck) and invited into the lounge.

The first area that you walk into is the largest area of the lounge and includes a variety of seating options …

… and well as the lounge’s buffet and dining area.

During daylight hours, there’s no shortage of natural light in the Flagship Lounge thanks to the fact that the entire length of the lounge offers large windows looking out over the airport apron and towards the runways.

If you walk deeper into the lounge (keeping the windows on your left), you’ll come across more seating areas and seating options …

… as well as a quiet room …

… a TV room …

…and work areas facing the windows.

About two thirds of the way down the row of large windows you’ll find the Flagship First Dining area (to which I didn’t have access) …

… and in several places throughout the lounge you’ll find tea/coffee making facilities.

Don’t let the images above fool you. It may look like the lounge is relatively quiet, but the reality on this visit was the exact opposite – the lounge was very busy for most of my stay.

The images you’re seeing here were taken over number of hours (thanks to a significant delay to my connecting flight), and a lot were taken once most of the day’s flights had already departed.

The lounge wasn’t noisy (well, not until a couple of families walked in and acted like the lounge was their own private crèche where parenting and child supervision were optional), but it wasn’t a sea of tranquillity either.

There was a constant movement of people around the lounge and there were times when finding two seats together was a challenge. For a space as large as this one, that surprised me, but given that this is American Airlines’ home airport and an international hub, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Tip: If you’re visiting from outside the US, be aware that the Flagship Lounge doesn’t offer many USB-ports and that all the AC power outlets are US-style so make sure you have at least one adapter with you if you’d like to charge your devices.

The showers

The DFW Flagship Lounge has several shower cubicles available for guests to use, and you’ll need to put your name down on a waiting list (at the desks part-way down the wall of windows) if you’d like to use one.

Once on the waitlist, you’ll be given a buzzer that vibrates and flashes with different colored lights when you turn comes around, and after you pick up a key from one of the lounge agents, this is the kind of cubicle you’ll have access to.

Not all the shower cubicles are likely to be identical, but this should give you an idea of what to expect (keep in mind that this may have been an ADA cubicle in which case others may not be quite so spacious).

Generally speaking, these are very good cubicles and given that they seem to be maintained pretty well and that even when the lounge is busy you don’t have to wait an inordinate amount of time to get one, this is definitely a nice amenity to have access to … especially if you have just flown 9+ hours across the Atlantic.

Flagship Lounge food at DFW

Most people don’t go hungry in the Flagship Lounge as the buffet is big and the chefs seem to do a good job of trying to provide something for everyone (although there’s a very clear bias towards Texas/southern flavors).

On this visit, this is what was on offer.

Chilled foods

• South Padre Island shrimp ceviche
• Green Goddess salad (minted spring pea & onion, creamy cucumber dill & orange tarragon vinaigrette
• Watermelon salad (local baguette, pickled veggies, lemongrass grilled chicken, pâté, cilantro & jalapeños)
• Market crudité with cashews, red cabbage and lemon vinaigrette
• Cheese board (domestic and imported cheeses & a mixed nut blend)
• Charcuterie (Spanish chorizo, prosciutto, capicola, & genoa salami)

Hot foods

• Pulled smoked chicken
• Chimichurri Rockfish (Rockfish with chimichurri sauce & marinated eggplant)
• Paneer Manchurian (crispy paneer cheese tossed in a sweet, tangy, sour and spicy chili sauce with bell peppers and onions)
• Calabacitas (roasted corn, cotija cheese & cilantro)
• Roasted heirloom carrots (carrots tossed with Middle Eastern spice blend and oil)
• Charro beans (with vegan butter & crispy shallots)
• Schezwan-style quinoa fried rice

Soups & sides

• Pozole Rojo (a brothy soup with pork)
• Red miso soup (with smoked tofu, dashi broth & scallions)
• Baker’s Chips (skin-on potato chips seasoned with Ho-Lotta all-purpose seasoning blend)
• Caramelized onion (sweet onions and shallots cooked and mixed with sour cream, Greek yogurt, herbs and spices)
• Tonkats broth bar (noodles, nori, roasted corn, cilantro & limes)

Made to order

• Quesabirria or Birria tacos*

*A very popular option for which there was a continuous line of people (hence no pictures).

Desserts

• Texas Pecan Chocolate
• Chunk Bar
• Churros with caramel sauce
• Wholegrain cowboy cookies
• Texas-style peach cobbler
• Whipped cream (an accompaniment, not a stand alone dessert!)

Drinks in the lounge are all self-pour.

A variety of beers and sodas are available in large refrigerators.

There’s a good selection of spirits, wines and champagne … but don’t expect anything high-end.

And there’s even a ‘make your own Bloody Mary’ station.

Overall, the Flagship Lounge offers a very solid set of F&B options.

There’s a variety of different dishes from which to choose and the staff are (mostly) very good at replenishing plates pretty soon after they have been emptied (or nearly emptied), so dining at the Flagship Lounge is actually pretty good (even if you don’t have access to Flagship First Dining).

The drinks aren’t anything to get excited by and it’s hard not to think back fondly to the days when Bollinger was on offer (at the LAX location), but it would be unfair to complain.

This may be American’s best type of lounge but it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not trying to be a First Class lounge, so what it offers from a food and drink standpoint is what you’d hope for from a good global Business Class lounge … and that’s exactly what you get.

Final thoughts

As a place to relax and wind down this isn’t a great lounge because it’s often very busy and there aren’t many places where you can hide yourself away from all the other guests.

That being said, it’s still a considerably nicer place to spend some time than any of the Admirals Clubs at DFW, and if you’re looking for something to eat or drink before a flight, if you need somewhere to freshen up after a long-haul flight, or if you just need somewhere to get some work done, the Dallas/Fort Worth Flagship lounge does a very good job.

Let me put it this way …

If you’re expecting a haven, you’ll probably be disappointed (unless you’re visiting during one of the lulls or at the very end of the day). If you’re just looking for a good Business Class lounge and don’t mind a hubbub around you, this Flagship Lounge should work for you just fine.

All reviews in this series:

Review: American Airlines 777-300ER Business Class (transatlantic)
Review: American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
Review: American Airlines A321 domestic First Class (DFW-PSP)
Review: Marriott Desert Springs Villas I (a Marriott Vacation Club property)
Review: American Eagle CRJ-700ER First Class (PSP-PHX)
Review: Escape Lounge Phoenix (PHX) Terminal 4
Review: American Airlines 777-200ER Business Class (transatlantic)
Review: Iberia short-haul Business Class A320neo (LHR-MAD)
Review: Iberia Premium Lounge Velazquez Madrid Terminal 4S
Review: Iberia short-haul Economy Class A320neo (MAD-LHR)