Roundup
“A Busy Bus Stop”: The Centurion Lounge Complaint Amex Should Take Seriously
One traveler’s blunt complaint raises an awkward question: what are cardholders buying when the retreat comes with a waitlist?
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The Centurion Lounge
JFK · Terminal 4 · New York
4.7/5 overallRelated lounge guide: compare location, facilities and current access requirements.
Amex opened this Centurion Lounge in Terminal 4 in late 2020. At about 15,000 sq ft, it is one of the largest in the network.
Get in with: Centurion Lounge
The Centurion Lounge
LGA · Terminal B · New York
4.5/5 overallRelated lounge guide: compare location, facilities and current access requirements.
Amex's lounge in Terminal B sits on level 4 past security, near the entrance to the pedestrian bridge to the Eastern Concourse. It is open daily from 5 am to 10 pm.
Get in with: Centurion Lounge
The Centurion Lounge
DEN · Concourse C · Denver
4.8/5 overallRelated lounge guide: compare location, facilities and current access requirements.
Denver's Centurion Lounge is on the mezzanine of Concourse C, just past Gate C46. Passengers in Concourses A and B can reach it, but need the train to get to C.
Get in with: Centurion Lounge
Analysis and opinion · Sources checked October 4, 2026.
“A busy bus stop” is a brutal description of a room marketed as an escape from the airport.
It is also one traveler’s description, not the result of a network-wide inspection. In a public LinkedIn post, Zach Bartholomew described waiting about 20 minutes before finding a cramped seat in a Centurion Lounge. He argued that the experience no longer felt premium. Lounge Frog has not independently verified the visit. Read the original post.
My take: The comparison stings because a lounge has one job before the cocktails and design details enter the picture: make waiting for a flight feel better.
If getting inside becomes another airport chore, the product has started working against itself.
A digital queue is still a queue#
American Express now provides a digital waitlist for eligible cardmembers at participating Centurion Lounges. The app can notify customers when space becomes available. Amex also says an eligibility code does not guarantee admission because capacity restrictions still apply. Amex’s digital waitlist guide.
This is useful. Being able to move around beats standing beside a reception desk.
It also deserves an honest description. The technology makes waiting easier to manage; it does not mean a chair has appeared. A more convenient queue is progress, but it is not the same thing as reliable access to a comfortable room.
That distinction gets lost when lounge discussions become arguments about which customers deserve to enter. Everyone who satisfies the rules is using the product as sold. Cardholders did not create the room’s capacity plan.
Premium should describe the visit#
A lounge can look beautiful in photographs and still disappoint during the hour you need it. The missing information is often operational: how long entry usually takes at your departure time, whether two people can sit together, and whether staff can keep the food and tables ready.
These are not glamorous features. They are what determine whether the benefit improves a trip.
A worthwhile response from Amex would prioritize clearer wait expectations, dependable service during busy periods and capacity where customers actually travel. Announcing another decorative flourish would not answer this complaint.
Travelers can make their own evaluation more honest, too. Record whether you got in, roughly how long it took, and how much usable time remained. A visit that produced a coffee after a long wait should not be valued like an unhurried meal and a quiet hour.
One irritated post cannot tell us that every Centurion Lounge has failed. It can expose the standard the brand needs to meet.
The room does not have to be exclusive enough to impress strangers. It has to be useful enough that paying customers want to come back.
Related lounge guides#
The Centurion Lounge (JFK) · The Centurion Lounge (LGA) · The Centurion Lounge (DEN).
Putting this into practice#
What matters to me is usable time. A promised lounge benefit is less valuable when most of the available visit disappears in a queue. I'd measure the experience from arrival at reception to departure for the gate, rather than count only the pleasant minutes after finally getting inside.
Related reading#
Cite this article
Lounge Frog Editorial. ““A Busy Bus Stop”: The Centurion Lounge Complaint Amex Should Take Seriously.” Lounge Frog. Published 2026-10-04. Updated 2026-10-14. https://www.loungefrog.com/news/busy-bus-stop-centurion-lounge-complaint
Wikipedia citation
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Quick answers
Which lounge networks get you into these lounges?
Centurion Lounge opens 3 of the 3. Each lounge's page lists every program and card that admits you.
Written and checked to our editorial standards. Scores follow our methodology. Join the discussion below.
