The Best Airport Lounges in the World — and How to Get In

From Paris to Sydney, these amazing airport lounges offer gourmet restaurants, relaxing spas, and more.

Forget fluorescent lighting, stale buffet food, and spotty Wi-Fi. These days, the best airport lounges feature amenities like yoga studios, detox bars, spa treatments, and dining rooms with menus by celebrity chefs. Of course, you generally have to pay for the privilege of luxuriating in these wonderful way stations by flying business or first class. But some premium credit cards will also grant you access. Here are 13 of the world’s best airport lounges, and how you can get into them.

Some of these lounges might be closed at the moment, but all are expected to reopen. Before any intended visit, be sure to check with your airline about what facilities and amenities are available, and what cleaning and health protocols are in place.

Air France La Première Lounge, Paris

Air France’s La Première first-class cabin is one of the most fashionable flying experiences in the world, and the airline’s ground game is très chic, too. The airline reopened its flagship first-class lounge at Charles de Gaulle in May after an extensive refurbishment that included freshening up the cozy cocktail bar to be brighter and more inviting, adding semi-private relaxation areas and installing new pieces of art. Fliers can still expect cuisine created by star chef Alain Ducasse in the dining room.

Hopefully, the Biologique Recherche spa treatments will resume soon, too.

Access: If you’re one of the lucky few departing or connecting in Paris in Air France’s La Première cabin, you’re golden. You can also purchase access if you’re departing on a long-haul Air France or Delta flight that’s not equipped with La Première cabins for 500 euros ($600), or 75,000 of the airline’s Flying Blue frequent flier miles, per person.

American Airlines Flagship First Dining

Although they are currently closed due to COVID-19, American Airlines fields its most exclusive lounges, Flagship First Dining venues, at its hubs in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York JFK. Once inside, guests are seated at their own individual tables and can order from gourmet menus that might include seasonal dishes such as roasted beet and burrata salad, or free-range beef tenderloin with peppercorn crust and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. The airline also typically serves Krug Champagne along with other premium vintages from France and the U.S., as well as handcrafted cocktails.

Access: Getting into a Flagship First Dining lounge requires passengers to be traveling in the airline’s first-class cabin on international routes, or one of its transcontinental flights in a three-cabin plane (meaning, economy, business, and first class). The Miami location is set to reopen in September, with the others to follow.

American Express Centurion Lounges

American Express has been steadily expanding its network of chic Centurion Lounges, even opening new locations throughout the pandemic in airports like New York JFK and Charlotte. It will soon count 40 locations, including both Centurion Lounges and freshly rebranded Escape Lounges — The Centurion Studio Partner (read: smaller outposts with fewer amenities) around the world. Although the services and facilities vary from lounge to lounge, guests can expect consistent touches across the network, including place-specific décor and installations by local artists, fine-dining menus created by up-and-coming regional chefs, and both signature cocktails as well as more unique options like Napa wines in San Francisco and Colorado microbrews in Denver.