ORD American Airlines Flagship Lounge
In September 2017 American Airlines opened a new Flagship Lounge at Chicago's O'Hare airport. This lounge is part of a worldwide revamp of AA's international premium lounge offerings. The lounge is located on the 2nd level of the Admirals Club lounge entrance at the intersection of Concourse H and K. The Admirals Club lounge is on level 3.
In general the lounge is available to Premium class International flyers along with AA's Concierge Key members regardless of destination or class of service. For complete details on American Airlines Flagship lounges visit this link.
An AA attendant greets you upon entry and asks if you'd like to be shown the lounge.
A main hallway takes you to the dining area if you go left. A right turn takes you down to the private rest area and showers.
Grab a paper or magazine (who does that in the electronic age?) and have a seat.
It's difficult to tell how big the lounge is as it's partitioned off into a number of rooms, all with fantastic views of the tarmac.
Obviously not knowing at the time but in the corner are my cabin mates for the next 12 hours.
I headed back to the dining area to have a look. There were no plans to sample anything as JL 9 would be providing nourishment.
There is plenty of table and counter seating where you can watch TV...
or not, seems a repair is needed on this one.
American Airlines has major hubs in Dallas, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago and London for international service. All these locations are getting the new Flagship lounges. All but one of these new Flagship lounges will have Flagship First Dining which is reserved for first class international flyers. Flagship First dining is table service menu based dining. The all but one location? ORD. However you must be flying American metal to dine at Flagship First and I was not so nothing lost for me. Yet it's disappointing for American fliers that they singled out ORD for this benefit.
A second dining area is available with tarmac views.
There are a number of partitions throughout to provide private areas to eat as shown below.
When entering the dining area your first choice is what most people want.
Two large buffet serving areas offered a late breakfast. While a nice selection and accommodations for JL9 passengers, as you can see it was pretty well picked over.
Throughout the lounge snack bars are set up.
I asked the attendant if there were any rest areas and/or showers. She happily showed me around. At the opposite end from the dining room is the rest area. About 6 reclining lounges brightly lit with no privacy. A missed opportunity in my opinion.
The restroom.
And shower stall.
The American Flagship is a very attractive facility. Does it compete with other international first class lounges? No. But it does provide a comfortable space, what appears to be some decent food as well as great views before your international flight.
Note the Chicago skyline in the background.
