Travel | Miles | Photography
Prior to my flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, I had some free time at Miami International Airport. I had heard many great things about the Centurion Lounge at MIA, so as an AMEX Platinum cardholder, I figured I might as well give it a visit.
This lounge can be found on the fourth floor of the north terminal near gate D12. If you have been to the Centurion Lounge in Dallas, this one offers some of the same services and amenities. It’s roomy, and there is plenty of space available. First thing I did (like I do at every lounge), I surveyed the food offerings. Since many people were in front and behind me, I didn’t want to act like a first timer and take pics (I’m really sorry). But the offerings were lamb, Indian-style chickpeas or chole, salad, brown rice, and apple crumble for the dessert. I sampled everything but the lamb and found everything to be delicious. Again, I wish I took pictures and perhaps next time I won’t care whether people are around me. The espresso machine had various offerings such as latte, cappuccino, espresso, etc.
If you are more of a tea person, they also have you covered.
As I mentioned above, there is plenty of seating available. Many of them give you access to USB and plug outlets. The cushioned seats are very comfortable if you must stay there for a few hours.
If you want to sit near a window and airplane watch, there is there is plenty of room for that.
Shower availability is convenient for those who have arrived from a far away destination and want to freshen up before a connection.
You can even get a manicure and pedicure done in the lounge.
I love the family room aspect of the lounge. Keeps the kids busy while the adults can adult. I wish more lounges would do this.
This was my one major issue with this lounge. The internet speed is unacceptable for a brand that touts itself as business-friendly. Those are some dial-up caliber speeds that I encountered, and in my two hours at the lounge, the speed only got worse.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’d rate this lounge a 4/5. It has just about all the comfort, food offerings, and amenities needed in a lounge. It’s also one of the few designed with kids in mind. If the slow Wi-Fi connectivity is addressed, this lounge would be a perfect 5.
On my way back to Albany, NY, I had about an hour and change of free time at O’Hare International Airport. As a United Explorer credit card holder, United gives me two complimentary passes to the United Club lounge every year during my cardmember anniversary. Without the passes, I’d have to pay $50 out of pocket for a day pass. In essence, the two United Club passes make up for the $95 annual fee even if I never used any other benefit from the card. So I figured I’d give it a shot.
The United Club lounge in Terminal 2 is located in the F concourse. Once you enter the lounge, the staff at the front desk will take your pass, verify your boarding pass, and direct you to the escalators that lead to the concierge. There are many factors that I’ll look at when evaluating any airline lounge. The most heavily weighted factor in determining how I’ll rate a lounge is food. If the food is good, it can make up for shortcomings in many other areas. It happened to be breakfast time so off I went to check out the offerings……
As you can see from the pictures, cantaloupes, honeydew melon, grapes, yogurt, and oatmeal.
Bagels, white bread, and whole wheat bread with cream cheese, butter, and strawberry jam or grape jelly. The fresh fruit was pretty good. The bagels? dry with the texture of sandpaper. They also had an espresso machine (not pictured) which gave you a few different choices of latte’s, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and mocha. I had the latte and it was pretty decent. There was also orange juice and watermelon infused water. In terms of the food selection, it was nothing special and certainly nothing that was memorable. So let’s move on to other areas of the lounge…..
The common areas were very spacious and the decor was pretty nice. The lounge was clean, perfectly lit, and didn’t suffer from overcrowding that routinely plagues the United Club lounge in terminal 1.
There is an abundance of power outlets and it seems that just about every seat has access to one. This is certainly not the case at the United Club lounges in Terminal 1 so good for United in addressing that here.
The bar area was quiet at 8am as expected. Very spacious, clean, and an appealing ambiance.
This lounge also had free wifi with very good speeds. Perfect place to get work done if you have a layover or you’re there a bit early and have time to kill.
I really want to like this lounge more than I do. It was comfortable, clean, spacious, great ambiance, not overcrowded, great wifi speeds, and had a very friendly staff. But the food was mediocre at best. And even that’s putting it kindly. I can’t justify or recommend paying $50 for a 1-day pass if the best thing they have going for them is great coffee and wifi. The only way I’d ever return is on a complimentary pass or if I booked an award ticket on business class and complimentary access came with it. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best, I’d rate it a 3.2. If the food is ever on par with AMEX Centurion lounges, it would easily be a 4.5 or higher.
It is important to note that these passes do not work at United’s Polaris Lounge in Terminal 1 or any of the Polaris lounges that are due to open at Newark, San Francisco, Houston, D.C., Los Angeles (LAX), Hong Kong, Tokyo (Narita), and London (Heathrow) over the next year. For those lounges, you need to have a business class or first class ticket on a long-haul international flight. I’ve heard a lot of great things about that product and if I’m ever fortunate to experience it, I’ll share my review here.
Since I booked an Etihad business class flight from Abu Dhabi to Male, Maldives, via American Airlines miles, access to the Etihad business class lounge was part of the package. Usually, I won’t try to get to the airport early simply for lounge access. But since my wife and I had access to an exclusive lounge with many rave reviews, I felt we would have missed out on a great opportunity if we arrived an hour before departure. So we arrived 2.5 hours before departure, giving us plenty of time at the lounge.
Our boarding passes were scanned upon entry, and the staff gave us a tour of the lounge—the buffet area, business center, bar, lounge area, and, of course, the spa. We purposely skipped the hotel breakfast to have breakfast here, and we were glad we did. There was a great selection of food, including breakfast meats, traditional Middle Eastern fare, and a healthy selection that included a variety of fruits and oatmeal.
The lounge itself was very spacious, and there was no shortage of seats. There was also a dessert table, which I really tried hard to avoid, but I couldn’t. It was basically yelling at me to come over, and so I did
The lounge area is perfect if you need a semi-quiet area to get work done. The Six Senses spa located in the lounge used to be complimentary for business class passengers, but that is no longer the case. You can get a variety of massages starting at $25 for 15 minutes. Stop by the business class lounge if you’re traveling from Abu Dhabi via business class. You will be glad you did.
This lounge is a perfect 5/5. It exceeded my expectations and has everything from top-notch food, dessert, and drink options to fast Wi-Fi and a spa. There was plenty of space to spread out, and during my time there, it was not crowded.
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