Centurion Lounge JFK: The Lounge, the Bar and the Door Marked 1850
Christian··5 min read
In my overview of the Centurion Lounges I described JFK as disappointing, and in principle that has not changed. I still go when I fly out of Terminal 4. The reason is written on a copper door on the lower level: 1850.
Where the lounge is and who gets in
The Centurion Lounge at John F. Kennedy Airport is in Terminal 4, past security, right next to the Chase Sapphire Lounge. The entrance is a tall, backlit white cube with the Centurion head on the wall. You cannot miss it.
Access is for Centurion and Platinum cardholders (including Business Platinum) and for holders of the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card. For German Platinum cards, the guest rules Amex publishes for the US Centurion Lounges apply; if you bring company, read the current version first, the guest rules have been tightened several times in recent years.
The lounge itself
Two levels, a lot of wood, a buffet, a bar, workspaces. The problem is not the fit-out, it is the load: JFK Terminal 4 is a Delta hub and home to many international airlines, and the lounge is full at peak times. If you are looking for a quiet armchair, you often will not find one.
The bulldog on the Amex crate: a motif from the early days of American Express that hangs in many Centurion Lounges.
Compared with Mexico City, this is a different category. There, a restaurant with table service. Here, a good buffet in a crowded room.
1850: the bar behind the copper door
And now the reason I still go. On the lower level of the lounge, past the regular bar, there is an unmarked copper door with the number 1850, the year American Express was founded. No sign, no hint. Behind it is a speakeasy-style bar: dark, wood panelling, small booths, a bartender mixing cocktails from a menu of its own.
The menu was created by Jim Meehan, founder of the New York bar PDT, and it rotates. The espresso martini arrives with "1850" dusted in cocoa on the foam. This is not an airport bar, this is a bar that happens to be at an airport.
The room is not Centurion-exclusive. It is just hidden, and most guests in the lounge do not know it exists. That is exactly why it is quiet.
Verdict
As a lounge, the Centurion Lounge at JFK is average: a solid buffet in a room too small for the crowd. The 1850 bar is the one reason to still prefer it over an airline lounge. If you have an hour before departure, go straight downstairs, through the copper door, and order a cocktail. The rest of the lounge is scenery.
If you want to see what a Centurion Lounge looks like when Amex takes the concept seriously, read Mexico City. And if you are looking for a table with a view in New York itself, you will not find it at the airport but on the 55th floor of One Vanderbilt.