Airport Lounges – Miles for places

Lounge Review: Centurion Lounge Buenos Aires Ezeiza Aiport

Over the last few months, I’ve been fortunate to transit through airports with an AMEX Centurion Lounge. Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, happened to be another one of those airports. Centurion Lounge access is complimentary for those holding an American Express Platinum card during our visit. At the time of our visit, cardholders were also allowed to bring in one guest (and children under 16), so my wife was able to benefit. As of 2023, AMEX Platinum cardholders must spend $75k annually on the card for complimentary guest access.

This lounge is in Terminal C, past immigration/customs and security. Take the elevator or stairs to the second floor right past gate 15, and you will find the lounge entrance.

Upon entering the lounge, the front desk staff will ask for your AMEX Platinum card and boarding pass. Once they have scanned both, you’re good to go.

FoodBA — The food options were sweet croissants, wheat and white bread, cheese, pastrami sandwiches, and banana nut muffins with powdered sugar. It was not quite the selection I’ve seen at other Centurion Lounges, but certainly better than many non-Centurion Lounges I’ve visited. Fresh orange juice and apple juice were also available.

DrinksBA — The beverage cooler was fully stocked with *soft drinks and adult beverages.*

This lounge had plenty of seating and did not suffer from being overcrowded when I was there. Perhaps traveling on a Sunday, which also happened to be New Year’s Eve, had a lot to do with that.

DiningAreaBA — *The dining area of the lounge*

One thing I noticed and appreciated about this lounge was the attentiveness of the staff. They would check on tables every 2-3 minutes to make sure any dishes, soda bottles, and cans were removed.

LoungeBA — Plenty of empty seats in the common area. Big time plus

The lounge was equipped with Apple iMacs. It might be the first lounge I’ve seen featuring Apple, and as a long-time Apple guy, I appreciated this.

They also had a room for the kids. Centurion Lounge is doing a great job making its lounges kid-friendly. I didn’t want to take pics while the kids were there (that would be creepy), so I waited until it emptied out. During my two hours there, it was undoubtedly being utilized for most of that time.

*Great job by AMEX for remembering the population that may become future AMEX Platinum cardholders.*

SpeedTestBA — *Wi-Fi connectivity could have been better.*

Overall, I’d give this lounge a 4.5/5. It could use a slightly enhanced food selection and faster connectivity, but it scored well on everything else: Plenty of seats, spacious Apple iMacs, and a playroom for children. The staff was very friendly and worked hard to keep the lounge clutter-free. If you’re an AMEX Platinum card holder flying out of Buenos Aires (EZE), visit this lounge.

Lounge Review: United Club O’Hare Terminal 2

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.