Gate 42, Terminal 8, John F Kennedy Airport, New York

Introduction

This is my review of the American Airlines Admirals Club at JFK’s Terminal 8.

I guess you could describe the Admirals Club as the ‘starting point’ of American’s lounges in JFK’s Terminal 8 in terms of tiers. The next ‘step up’ would be the Greenwich Lounge.

This is one of American’s newer Admirals Clubs, and in my view really good!

Opening Hours

The lounge is open daily from 04:30 to 22:30.

Entry Conditions

This is where I always get a bit confused!

Flying international Business Class or First with any OneWorld airline, you’re in! But you may prefer some of the other lounges available, such as the Greenwich or Soho Lounges.

OneWorld Sapphire or OneWorld Emerald members are in! But you may prefer some of the other lounges available.

Flying ‘qualifying’ for access such as Transcontinental and Domestic, you’re in!

Admirals Club members are also in.

Or, you can pay on the door for around $79.

I am sure there are many other ways to gain access, but these are generally the ways you can get in.

How to Get There

This Lounge is by Gate 42, which in the Sub-Terminal around a 10 minute walk via underpass from the Main Terminal 8.

In my experience, most domestic flights land/depart in the Sub-Terminal of Terminal 8 and most international flights land/depart from the Main Terminal.

This means that if you’ve landed domestic and heading international (or technically vice versa), this Lounge may not be in the same terminal as your flight.

Once you’ve found Gate 42, you can go via the stairs or elevators – and once you’re checked in, you’re all set!

Layout

This is one of the ‘newer’ Admirals Clubs and is very light and airy, with large windows overlooking the apron of the airport.

As usual, there is a large range of casual and lounge seating.

There is, of course the usual Admirals Club bar! Around the corner from the bar is a sort of seating/dining area.

Anyone who knows me knows that somewhere to work is important in a lounge for me! There are plenty of places to work in the lounge, with work stations, phone booths/rooms, and most importantly a printer!

Food and Drink

Drinks

As with all Admirals Clubs there are some limited drinks available for ‘free’, with other drinks being available from the bar.

Unlike many other Admirals Clubs I’ve visited, soda (soft drinks if you’re British) are available at the bar – but there are no soda fountains.

Food

Lunch/Dinner

The usual help yourself offerings are available in this Admirals Club; some hot dishes, cookies, cheese cubes, pretzels, etc, – the usual!

Alternatively, you can order from the menu at the bar.

One thing I did find was the Deli Counter in the Lounge – however when I visited (around 4pm), there was nothing there. I’ve never seen an Admirals Club with this before, but a leftover price sign for $10 for a pastry was indicative of this being another opportunity to buy food.

Additionally, placed on the Deli counter was some nachos, with many other Admirals Clubs having a nachos cart.

Wifi

As always, the Wifi was excellent, I managed to get all the work I needed to done very quickly! So thanks for that AA!

Showers

There are (I believe) 4 showers in this Admirals Club. On the one hand, this doesn’t seem quite enough for its size – but on the other hand many other Admirals Clubs all over America don’t have showers – so it’s definitely a bonus!

The showers look brand new and are in excellent condition!

There are no Dyson hairdryers here – but still the showers were very good indeed!

Conclusion

This is another impressive lounge in JFK’s Terminal 8! American have really done a great job on their investment in lounges in JFK.

The deli counter was a little odd, and I felt compared to other Admirals Clubs there wasn’t that much variety of food – but other than that, it’s a great place to be!