Worth Coming to Airport Early For: NO
Better Than The Terminal? YES
In this post:
Amex opened up their long-awaited Centurion Lounge at DCA in Summer of 2024. Recently, I had the chance to check it out. For a brand new lounge, it was pretty underwhelming. Although, to be fair, I had visited this lounge immediately after checking out the new Capital One Landing at DCA, which sets the bar extremely high (see my review HERE) and perhaps left me a bit biased.
To be clear, this Centurion Lounge is exactly what you’d expect for the standard Centurion Lounge experience, which is decent food and very crowded. To me, Amex Centurion Lounges are kind of like a mildly exclusive chipotle. You know what you’re going to get and it’s pretty consistent, but it’s more of a utility than a luxury at this point. This probably sounds snobbish, but is the harsh truth given how crowded these lounges have become. Also, it’s important to note how aggressively Chase and Capital One are working to one-up Amex at the airport lounge game (at which, they are winning).
Anyways, on to the review.
How to Access the Lounge
Standard Amex Centurion Lounge entrance requirements apply for this lounge. This lounge is currently open:
5am – 9pm Sunday – Friday*
5am – 7pm on Saturdays*
*(subject to change and holidays)
As a reminder, Access to Centurion lounges are restricted to holders of the:
- Amex Platinum Card
- Amex Centurion Card
- Delta SkyMiles Reserve (if flying on Delta the same day)
I figure most readers will access the lounge via the Platinum card. In that case, as long as you have a same-day boarding pass and are visiting within three hours of departure time, you’re good to access the lounge.
Where is The Lounge at DCA
The lounge at DCA is located in terminal 2, immediately after the south security checkpoint, right by the start of the B gate wing.
DCA isn’t massive, so even if you end up going through the North Security gates it won’t be more than a 10 minute walk to make it over to the Amex lounge.
As a reminder, the airlines below service terminal 2 at DCA:
| American |
| United |
| Delta |
| Alaska |
| JetBlue |
Lounge Amenities and Review
On to the lounge itself. The lounge is located on the second floor up a staircase / elevator.
Despite being relatively new, this lounge is already quite popular. It was absolutely packed when I visited, and there was a line to check in. To be fair, this was two days after Thanksgiving.
The lounge is kind of structured in one super long hallway, with a larger room at the end and a nice bar and dining area.
This lounge is mid size at 12,000 square feet, with capacity to hold up to 302 people.
The bar and dining area is standard, and quite nice.
The main dining area feels bright and airy, and is well decorated. Note, there are no views of the tarmac or runways in this lounge. This part of the lounge faces the road to the check-in area which isn’t too pretty, but does let in a ton of natural light which is nice.
The lounge had a very nice coffee bar setup, with self-serve espresso machines.
And now for the most important part (to me): the food.
The buffet here was really solid, and one thing Amex does really well consistently is to have a relatively high quality buffet spread that will make you full.
Conclusion
The DCA Amex Centurion lounge is a fine place to grab a drink or make a pit stop for a meal before a flight, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to stay here. Just a 5 minute walk away is the Capital One Landing, which is a much smaller space but a much better experience, which I’d definitely recommend as the better bank-run airport lounge at DCA.
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