Even before boarding the flight, the airport lounge is the first step in separating regular travelers from those paying for a luxury experience. Depending on the class of lounge, one can enjoy everything from snacks, drinks and comfortable armchairs to all of that along with shower and massage rooms and buffets with increasingly premium foods and liquors.
Along with the lounges reserved for first-class travelers with a given airline, American Express (AXP) -)'s Centurion Lounges have also come to be associated with luxury. At 15,000 square feet, the one in New York's JFK Airport is the largest one in the world and regularly rotates top chefs and mixologists to put together menus for its guests.
Related: Get a first look at the glitziest new cardholder lounge at D.C. airport
While it is one of the three main airports serving the New York City area, New Jersey's Newark Airport has previously not had a Centurion Lounge — the first one is set to open in 2026.
American Express
A glitzy 'celebration of New Jersey's rich history' at Newark Airport
The 1,400-square-foot space in EWR's new Terminal A (after years of construction and renovation, the new terminal opened in the winter of 2023) is designed in the style of mid-century New Jersey many associate with Frank Sinatra. The space will have a jazz bar and piano lounge where performers will regularly play live music and a terrace offering views of planes taking off and the Manhattan skyline.
There will also be a small museum-style gallery in which visitors can view artifacts from that period in New Jersey's history as well as read about interesting facts and people from the state.
"The new Terminal A is the first step in a renaissance for Newark Liberty International Airport," Kevin O'Toole, chairman of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told TheStreet in a statement. "The addition of the Centurion Lounge, with its stunning architecture, incredible amenities and a celebration of New Jersey's rich history throughout will be a fitting capstone to an already world-class facility."
This is the main way you can get access to a Centurion lounge
The rest of the lounge falls in line with the Centurion standard — cubby-style armchairs where one can catch a quick snooze in between connections, an eating area with a buffet selection and rooms where one can take a shower or get a spa treatment. The exact food and spa service offerings will be worked out closer to the 2026 opening date.
As with other Centurion lounges, access requires one to hold the highest level of an AmEx card or the equivalent Delta SkyMiles Reserve card (DAL) -). The credit company's Platinum card has an annual fee of $695 and includes Centurion lounge access anywhere in the world as one of the many perks for the steep annual fee and eligibility requirements (to get approved, one generally needs several years of good credit history and a salary of at least $80,000.)
While Platinum holders can pay to bring their guests into the lounge, access to the lounges is generally restricted to those with some connection to the Platinum card. As lounges rely on creating a more "exclusive" experience and many lounges have been seeing overcrowding during the post-pandemic travel surge, there have also been some rumblings that there could be an even further crackdown on access.
At the end of August, travel website The Points Guy speculated that Centurion Lounge Access could potentially "be restricted to, say, 10 included lounge visits a year."
