Amex Drops Lufthansa Lounges on 1 October 2026

This was the last big benefit that set the Centurion Card in Germany apart from every other card. On 1 October 2026, American Express ends its partnership with Lufthansa. After that, no Amex card opens a Lufthansa lounge.

I'm writing this with considerably more regret than the SmartBand piece. The SmartBand was an object. This was a benefit I used on almost every departure out of Frankfurt.

Who loses what, exactly

Centurion holders lose access to the Lufthansa First Lounges — regardless of the class booked. That was the real coup: you could fly economy and still walk into the First Class Lounge. First Lounges exist only in Frankfurt and Munich.

Platinum holders lose the Business Lounges (when flying economy) and the Senator Lounges (when flying business).

It isn't only the German locations. The list includes Athens, Paris CDG, Düsseldorf, London Heathrow, Milan Malpensa and Washington Dulles, among others.

One clarification that usually gets lost: the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, the standalone building with its own security control, was never part of this partnership. It hangs off a first class ticket or HON Circle status, not off a credit card. So nothing changes there, because there was never anything there for cardholders.

Why

Officially: no reason given. American Express informed its media partners that the cooperation is ending, and that's it.

Unofficially the range of guesses is narrow. Either Lufthansa didn't want to renew, or Lufthansa wanted more money than Amex was willing to pay. After years of cooperation it's a flat ending without an explanation, and that's the part that irritates cardholders.

What Amex offers instead

The line is: over 1,550 lounges worldwide, 32 of them in the Centurion Lounge network.

For a German cardholder that sentence is worth less than it sounds. There is not a single Centurion Lounge in Germany. The network is almost entirely American, plus Hong Kong and a smaller area at London Heathrow. Flying out of Frankfurt or Munich, you get precisely nothing from it. Details are in my overview of Centurion Lounge locations.

That leaves Priority Pass. It opens a few doors in Germany, but no Lufthansa lounge at First Class level. That's a class below, in some cases two.

What actually remains in Frankfurt

The most honest replacement isn't lounge access at all, it's a step above it: the Fraport VIP Service. At least four handlings per year are included in Centurion membership, worth roughly €2,180 net measured against the official price list.

That's no small consolation. A VIP handling beats a First Class Lounge on almost every count: your own area instead of a shared lounge, à la carte instead of a buffet, a limousine to the aircraft instead of a walk to the gate. The difference is availability. The lounge was open on every departure; the VIP handling is a few times a year.

The pattern that's slowly forming a picture

Within two years, these have gone:

• Emirates Skywards Gold status
• the Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter credit
• airport valet parking
• the chip in the Prada SmartBand, also on 1 October 2026
• and now Lufthansa lounge access

So on 1 October two Centurion benefits die on the same day. Coincidence, but a telling one.

What stands out: the benefits that disappear are always the ones with the firmest place in the real world. A status you use. A lounge you walk into. A parking service that takes your car. What remains are credits and programme statuses you have to activate, register for, and claim.

What to do before 1 October

Use it. If you're flying out of Frankfurt or Munich in the coming weeks anyway, go into the First Class Lounge, even on an economy ticket. It's the last chance, and it costs you nothing.

And if you hold a Platinum and your lounge maths was built on Lufthansa: the card still costs the same. It's a good moment to reopen that calculation.

My verdict

Card benefits come and go, that's part of the deal. But this one was different, because it was an everyday benefit and because it did something money alone couldn't buy: otherwise you get into a First Class Lounge only with the right ticket or the right status.

From 1 October 2026, in a German lounge, the Centurion Card is a card like any other. What remains is the VIP service on the ground, and it is good. But it's good a few times a year, not always.

Details on the lounge itself, while it's still there, are in my Lufthansa lounge guide.