Oakland’s new Escape Lounge now open to Amex Platinum card holders (Photo: K Taylor)
American Express announced today that it will add access to three Escape Lounges as a new perk for Platinum cardholders.
In the U.S., Escape Lounges are located in Hartford, CT, Minneapolis and Oakland airports. (In Europe, there are three Escape lounges at Manchester and one each at East Midlands and Stansted airports- but these are not part of the Platinum plan.)
The new benefit starts today. Fine print says: Platinum Card Members receive complimentary access and may bring up to two guests. To enter the U.S. Escape Lounges, simply present your American Express Platinum Card, a same-day boarding pass and valid government issued I.D. to the front desk.
Escape Lounges are not affiliated with specific airlines, so anyone can enter for $45 per visit. Some Escape lounges have agreements with airlines in the airports where they operate to allow complimentary access to business or first class passengers. The lounges offer free wi-fi, hot and cold food and bar service.
This is welcome news for Platinum members, but I’m worried that the new benefit could result in crowding at the Escape lounges. Just last month I enjoyed the Escape Lounge in Oakland prior to a British Airways flight to London, and one of the highlights of the visit was that the lounge was only half full.
Below is a snippet from that Trip Report: Oakland-London, British Airways business class
Modern design, generous food and drink and views at Oakland’s new Escape Lounge (Chris McGinnis)
Last year Oakland International Airport opened a new Escape Lounge that’s open to all passengers for a $45 one-time-use fee. (British Airways business class passengers and Norwegian Air’s Premium passengers are comped.) It is located in Terminal 1 between gates 8 and 8A, across from gate 9. The 2,700-square-foot facility can accommodate 50 travelers, and has separate zones for relaxing, dining/drinking and work. It’s open daily from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m.
Warm mac and cheese, avocado toast, cheese and crackers at the Escape Lounge (Chris McGinnis)
When I was there around lunchtime, The Escape lounge buffet had a nice selection of hot and cold items, including these cute cast iron ramekins of yummy macaroni and cheese, avocado toast, soup, salad, fresh fruit, cold cuts, crackers, cheese and chips. There’s also a separate full complimentary bar with waiter service. Food and drink is service on china and glass. Nice tarmac views out big windows. I found this lounge almost as nice as any Amex Centurion Lounge I’ve visited recently, but only half as crowded.
H/T: USA Today
Have you been to an Escape Lounge? What did you think?
ICYMI, see the 25 most recent TravelSkills posts right here
In the market for a new credit card? See our “Credit Card Deals” tab to shop around! It helps us help you.
Don’t miss out! Join the 185,000+ people who read TravelSkills every month! Sign up here for one email-per-day updates!
Thanks for the tip, Tim. I’ve never been to T2. It looks like a haul from T1, so potential time savings may be erased. In fairness, I think they only have Pre opened when it’s fairly busy, so waits are fairly minimal once you enter the Pre line (only to realize it ends at the same point as the regular one).
Last evening flight I had in T1 they had full precheck lane open instead of precheck lite, so hopefully that’s regular now. Precheck is always open in T2 as far as I know, so you can always go through there.
I know OAK didn’t want to join PP because it didn’t want to be overrun with PP cardholders, perhaps BDL was the same. Not sure if this means MSP will leave PP but given even the Alaska lounges didn’t leave I suppose leaving PP isn’t so easy.
About MSP, what’s the point of this “new” Amex access to Escape lounge there? I routinely go there via PP, most recently with the new guest benefit. Something is odd here, unless Amex knows something we don’t know about pending changes to the PP affiliation there.
Great news! I find OAK to be an extremely depressing facility (plus they also have faux PreCheck most of the time and obviously no Clear), but at least having a (free) lounge would make that a slightly more appealing option when there’s a major fare advantage over SFO.
Yes, it is. But last time I checked Oakland was not.
This is great news, since I live in Oakland. Isn’t MSP already a Priority Pass lounge?