As I looked up information about the American Express Centurion Lounge, I discovered something I didn’t know. I was planning to visit the Philadelphia airport location before my flight and went to the AMEX Lounge Locator website. From there, I ended up at the AMEX Centurion Lounge site, with information about every worldwide location.
I’ve been here several times, looking up information about AMEX lounges, but I’ve never done a deep dive. When I did, I found this page about AMEX Lounge Contactless Mobile Check-in.
I was interested to see if this mobile check-in allowed you to skip the line somehow, or maybe it was a virtual queue (like at Disney World) that would let you sit somewhere until your place in line was called.
No such luck. All this mobile check-in allows is for you to scan a barcode from the AMEX app instead of having to swipe your Platinum Card (or Centurion Card) at the lounge entrance. How much time this saves is questionable because you’ll still need to show a picture ID and your boarding pass for a departing flight that’s within 3 hours.
I still wanted to see if the lounge could use my mobile pass.
Once you open the AMEX app for your Platinum Card, go to the membership tab and tap “Airport Lounge Access”
I picked Miami because it’s the closest location to my home with a Centurion Lounge.
Once I have the Centurion Lounge pulled up, you only need to tap “Get check-in code.”
Here’s what you’ll get to enter the Centurion Club. The QR code generated is good for 30 minutes. If it expires, you only have to get a new one since it saves no time in line.
FWIW, the process worked exactly the way it was supposed to.
When I arrived, they scanned my QR code and asked for my ID and boarding pass. When everything checked out, I entered the club.
As I said, I’m not sure if this saves any time from handing my Platinum Card to the lounge agent since I have to show two other items for access to the lounge.
Maybe this is only the first step in getting to a virtual queue for lounge entry when lines get long. In the future, maybe we’ll be able to make reservations when we know we’ll be at the airport. Would that be a good thing or not? Would you pay $10 extra to not stand in line? I’m sure some people would.
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3 comments
Thank for the pointer.
You got me thinking though.
“Standing in line or “virtual queue” really seems counter to the whole concept of exclusivity and luxury, as do waiting lists.
Centurion lounges have been a mess the last year and a half.
Unless I’m missing something the advantage I see is that you don’t have to have your physical card with you to enter the lounge.
Sounds like this will place you in queue if the lines are long, You can get placed in the queue ahead of time before you even get to the lounge instead of going there and being turned away to wait for a text message.