After arriving in Austin on my Delta flight from McAllen, I had a roughly three hour layover before my connecting flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth. With plenty of time to kill, I headed off to the American Airlines Admirals Club to relax prior to my flight.
American Airlines Admirals Club Austin Location
The American Airlines Admirals Club Austin is located one level above the concourse. Elevators and stairs up to the lounge, shared with the United Club, are located across from Gate 22.
Once upstairs, the United Club is to the left while the Admirals Club is directly ahead. Apparently, they also offer chiropractic services up here somewhere?
American Airlines Admirals Club Austin Hours of Operation
The American Airlines Admirals Club Austin is open between 4:15a and 9:15p Sunday-Friday and between 4:15a and 7:45p on Saturday.
Admirals Club Entry Requirements
There are many different ways to gain access to American’s Admirals Clubs. The most common is by having an Admirals Club membership. While these can be purchased outright for $850 or 85,000 AAdvantage miles annually (rates may be lower depending on your AAdvantage status). The cheaper option is to get the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® which provides a membership as part of it’s $595 annual fee. Day passes can also be purchased for $79 or 7,900 AAdvantage miles.
Qualifying First Class, Business Class, and AAdvantage elites can access the lounge when traveling on select international, transcontinental, and domestic routes. The full rules can be found here.
Finally, non-AAdvantage oneWorld Emerald and Sapphire frequent flyers can access the lounge regardless of their class of service. This is how I accessed the lounge as I have oneWorld Emerald via my British Airways Gold status.
American Airlines Admirals Club Austin Layout
The Admirals Club in Austin is long and skinny, divided up into a variety of smaller rooms. After entering the lounge, before you reach the reception desk, there is a room with some chairs and a few small tables. Apparently you can even sleep here in a pinch.
Once inside the lounge, off to the right, is another room with a few groupings of chairs and small tables. These seats overlook the concourse below.
Thanks to the large windows in this portion of the terminal, there is plenty of natural light even though this is an interior lounge.
At the rear of the lounge is another small room with, you guessed it, some chairs and small tables. There are also a couple of workstations located here.
On the interior portion of the lounge is the bar area. There isn’t much natural light here and it feels dark, but not necessarily in a bad way. There were six barstools surrounding the bar top and this space stayed mostly empty throughout my visit, unlike the rest of the lounge.
Ten, two-person cafe tables with chairs are located along the wall opposite the bar.
Overall, there aren’t many different types of seating in this lounge. The various, smaller rooms did make the space feel somewhat private though.
Food and Beverage
The Admirals Club has a small buffet area that is located behind the reception desk. There was a small salad bar set up at the beginning of the buffet, though it didn’t have many options. A selection of fruit was also available.
The main offering during my visit was a BBQ chicken slider bar with some sad looking toppings. Two soups, minestrone and Italian wedding, were also available.
A selection of assorted sweets were available along with containers of snack mix, corn nuts, and dark chocolate covered cranberries.
To drink, the lounge had some standard items like water, tea, and coffeemakers that could make a variety of beverages.
At the bar, there were three draft beers on offer; MIller Lite, Stella Artois, and the Electric Jellyfish Hazy IPA from local Austin brewer Pinthouse.
The bar offered complimentary beers, wines, and liquors with premium options available for a fee.
American Airlines Admirals Club Austin Restrooms
The restrooms are located at the rear of the lounge, on the interior side next to the bar. Upon entering, there is a bench with a few coat hooks should you need to leave a jacket or bag.
One of the two urinals was out of order and covered with a trash bag, otherwise the restroom was clean.
Atmosphere
The Austin Admirals Club is on the small side and can become crowded very quickly. American has dramatically increased their presence in Austin over the past few years due to the city’s rapid growth. The lounge also fills up quickly in the afternoons due to premium and elite passengers on British Airways’ daily A350 flight to London-Heathrow.
Saturday afternoon is a slower than usual time for the lounge and it was still quite crowded. Empty food and beverage containers were scattered throughout the lounge and they didn’t have enough staff on hand to clear things quickly, though they were doing their best.
Thankfully, I managed to find a quiet space in the bar area to relax during my visit.
Summary
The American Airlines Admirals Club in Austin is a nice place to wait for your flight if it isn’t too crowded. The Delta Sky Club in Austin is the best airline specific lounge at the airport but the Admirals Club is squarely in second place. Even when the lounge is busy, the layout makes it easier to try and find some privacy.
What a farce. Admiral clubs are too crowded to find a seat in thanks to the day pass and credit card memberships. Please raise you rates and reduce the number of people allowed into the club.
They raised the memberships this year by $200. On average, I have noticed a decline of people and improved food and beverage. You may have just gone during a bad time.
When will Americans lounge be expanding /upgraded?
American will keep its current lounge in addition to opening a new lounge it would appear. So expect to have two Admirals Clubs in Austin in the future.