Amex Centurion Lounge opens at National Airport July 17

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is AmEx Platinum cards are free to service members, instead of the $695 annual fee regular folks pay. DCA is going to have a lot of people in that category, so just a higher % than most airports of travelers who have a Platinum card.

At least they got strict on the guest policy and you can't bring in guests for free unless you spend $75k/year on the card, but since that's in place, I haven't seen much change in the lounge access lines.

Yes, and also free to their spouses and immediate family. The difference versus places like Denver or Miami is that there isn't a lot of connecting traffic at DCA, so in theory people will be there for a shorter time Also most people there will had PreCheck, so probably don't show up super early at the airport anyway.

But based on other airports, yeah lines/waits are likely unless it's early in the morning or late at night

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every lounge has long lines - because all of them give their benefits away to card holders. Its a broken model that no longer requires actual frequent flying.

The Polaris lounge at IAD doesn’t allow people to get in off cards and it’s very nice.

Worked really well for a late evening flight to have dinner there and sleep on the plane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every lounge has long lines - because all of them give their benefits away to card holders. Its a broken model that no longer requires actual frequent flying.

The Polaris lounge at IAD doesn’t allow people to get in off cards and it’s very nice.

Worked really well for a late evening flight to have dinner there and sleep on the plane.

You must have been there just after the main bank of flights to Europe around 4-6pm. I guess you were on the late departure to LIS, FRA, FCO, LHR, or DUB. The Polaris lounge isn't too bad then, but go in late afternoon and it's packed too.