Will it live up to my experience in previous Centurion Lounges, like one of my favorites at London Heathrow Terminal 3? Read on to find out. Sydney and Melbourne’s domestic and international terminals are completely separate with their respective Centurion Lounges located in the international terminals.Īfter several domestic flights around Australia without Centurion Lounge access, I finally got to visit the Sydney location before heading to New Zealand for a long weekend. version of The Platinum Card ® from American Express and the access it affords me into Centurion Lounges around the world. According to airport spokesperson Mandy McClendon, the contract to build a new lounge “was canceled and is not anticipated to let again at this time.Spending time in airport lounges before a flight is something I probably enjoy more than most.īefore every flight, I check the various options I might have access to at my departure airport, whether that be through a premium ticket, an airline alliance elite status, my Priority Pass, or, saving possibly the best ’til last, my U.K. There are no independent lounges in Austin, and the largest carrier at the airport – Southwest – has no lounges.Īnd that’s the way it’s going to stay, at least for some time. In the meantime Austin airport has only Delta, United, and American lounges – all of which now restrict use to passengers actually flying those airlines on the day of departure. The City Council decided not to act on the lounge award, “to withdraw the airport lounge item and to have it reposted at another meeting with new wording once they have had more time to learn about the issues at hand.” The MAG bid guaranteed nearly twice as much revenue to the airport as the second place Airport Dimensions bid.Īirport Lounge Concession Bid Scoring Sheet In addition to MAG and Airport Dimensions, there were also bids from Plaza Premium (which Capital One is working with on its lounges) and Turkey’s TAV Operations Services which runs Prime Class lounges. Locally-owned is an impermissible decision-making criteria under federal rules in any case. Airport Dimensions is part of… the U.K.’s Collinson Group which owns Priority Pass. Airport Dimensions also, oddly, claimed they’re a Texas-based company while MAG are a bunch of U.K.-based fer’ners.Airport Dimensions, which came in second and operates The Club lounges, had offered a 20% ownership stake to a local minority-owned business.In addition MAG partnered with local Mozart’s coffee, which is minority-owned. The MAG contract hit 13% ACDBE by turning over operations of the lounge (but not ownership) to “D&B Mitchell Group, a Dallas-based, Black-owned business” which would take a percentage of revenue off he top.Airports score bids on the basis of whether they meet the goal, not on the basis by by how much. Austin airport has a Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise goal of 11.06%.The City Council was expected to formally approve the lounge space award to MAG in January 2020 however this was delayed because Airport Dimensions, which operates lower quality ‘The Club’ lounges, filed a protest arguing that the city should accept lower rent from them since they are better positioned to meet government Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise standards. Downtown District, South Congress Café, Rainey Street.” Designed “with a ‘Zoning Concept’ theme ach zone will be named after a recognizable Austin neighborhood and will feature Austin inspired design, e.g.Featuring a local Austin chef curating the menu.On the mezzanine level of the main terminal across from gate 16, which is six gates away from the American and United clubs and squarely in Southwest Airlines territory.However the City Council balked in a dispute over minority contracting rules. The airport solicited bids to run a new independent lounge, and selected MAG (“Manchester Airport Group”) USA which runs Escape lounges. It started off as an Escape lounge, that was supposed to be co-brand with Amex, and now of course the relationship between Escape and American Express has been formalized (‘Centurion Studio’). The Austin airport was supposed to be getting a new lounge accessible by American Express Platinum cardmembers.
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