American Express Las Vegas (LAS) Centurion Lounge Review

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I have finally visited a Centurion Lounge! After three years of holding the American Express Platinum Card, I went to an airport that had a Centurion Lounge. While, I have been through HKG, LGA, IAH, and SFO during the last three years, I always had access to better lounges or arrived just in time for boarding.

I always heard Centurion lounges were very crowded. That alone made me not care about visiting them. So, I took the opportunity to visit the Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas and wow, it felt like I was at the commons building at my university, but I would visit again.

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American Express Las Vegas Centurion Lounge

The American Express Las Vegas Centurion Lounge is a “true” Centurion Lounge and not merely an international Amex Lounge. The difference is that the international lounges aren’t typically as nice and equipped as the Centurion Lounges are. For example, they are often smaller and may not have the same level of food and drink options.

I highly recommend you can check out our article about Centurion Lounges here.

You can find the locations for all true Centurion Lounges below:

• Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
  • Location: Terminal D, opposite Gate D17 on the mezzanine
  • Hours: 5:30am to 10pm
• Intercontinental Houston Airport (IAH)
  • Location: Terminal D, access via elevators near Gate D6
  • Hours: 5:30am to 9pm
• Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS)
  • Location: Concourse D, opposite Gate D1)
  • Hours: 5am to 11pm
• Miami International Airport (MIA)
  • Location: Concourse D, near Gate D12)
  • Hours: 5am to 11pm
• New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
  • Location: Terminal B, pre-security, on the upper level),
  • Hours: Sunday – Friday 5:30am to 8pm, Saturday 5:30am to 6:30pm
•  Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
  • Location: second level at Terminal A-West, near gate A14)
  • Hours: 5am to 9pm
• San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
  • Location: Terminal 3, near Gate 74
  • Hours: 5am to 11pm
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
  • Location: Concourse B, opposite Gate B3
  • Hours: 5am to 10pm
• Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
  • Location: Terminal 1, take the escalator just before Gate 60
  • Hours: 5:30am – 12:30am
  • Read our review here

Fun fact: Las Vegas Centurion Lounge was the very first Centurion Lounge to open!

American Express Las Vegas Centurion Lounge Access

You can get access to the American Express Hong Kong Centurion Lounge if you have one of the following Amex cards:

• Personal Platinum Card
• Business Platinum Card
• Corporate Platinum Card

The personal Platinum Card is one of the best cards for frequent fliers and comes with the following perks.

• 60,000 miles after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months (75K offer in Google Incognito and there are even methods to get 100K offers)
• $200 annual airline credit
• $200 annual Uber credit
• Priority Pass access for you and two guests
• Centurion lounges access for you and two guests
• Delta SkyClub access when flying with Delta
• Hilton Honors Gold elite status 
• SPG Gold Preferred elite status (and therefore Marriott Gold and Ritz-Carlton Gold), and rental car status as well
  
• 5X on airfare and 5X on hotels booked through the Amex Travel portal
• TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry $100 credit
• Annual fee: $550 (NOT waived first year)

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Guest Policy

You’ll be allowed to bring in two guests with you on a complimentary basis if you have the Platinum Card. Centurion members may enter with up to two guests or immediate family (spouse or domestic partner, and children under 18) at no additional charge.

Platinum Card and Centurion Members may purchase a day-pass for any additional guests for $50 USD at the time of entry.

Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge Location

The Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge is in Terminal 1 Concourse D (also known as D Gates) near gate D1. D gates are served by American, Delta, Air Canada, Frontier, Hawaiian, Sun Country, Thomas Cook, and United. If you’re flying Southwest, you’ll be flying out of Terminal 1, B and C gates.

The Las Vegas airport is easy to navigate, unless you’re hungover from your time in Vegas. 😉

Once you take the Blue Line Tram or Red Line Tram from Terminal 1 or 2 to Concourse D, you will find yourself on level zero. Go up the escalators and follow signs for gates D1. Right across from gates D1 you will see the pure white Centurion wall with their beautiful blue doors.

To connect to other Concourses it’s only accessible by the tram after security. It takes about 5 minutes in each direction. The tram connects D Gates to A, B, C Gates and Terminal 3 E gates.

Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge Hours

The American Express Las Vegas Centurion Lounge is open between:

• 5am to 11pm every day.

Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge experience

About 9:00 in the morning I arrived in Las Vegas and made my way to Concourse D to visit the Centurion Lounge. I arrived and saw the beautiful blue doors and white walls with no sign about capacity. Full marks to Amex on the white walls with the blue doors, I love the contrast and minimalistic look.

I walked in and found myself greeted by 3 check-in attendants. I verified if I could access the lounge even though I was arriving. The lounge attendant explained how they weren’t at capacity and that I would be allowed in.

When they are limiting guests, there will be a sign at the entrance that will typically read that you can only access the lounge 3 hours before departure and cannot access the lounge as an arriving passenger.

After scanning my boarding pass, checking my Platinum card and ID the attendant gave me the wifi and feedback card telling me to enjoy the lounge.

The shape of the lounge is a quarter of a circle; this allows lots of natural light in most areas of the lounge except the dining area. Even when I was in the dining area, I didn’t feel like I was in a cave because of the lack of natural light. Otherwise, the lounge is lovely if you want to plane spot.

When you first walk in the main part of the lounge, you see tables with chairs and some different seating options. The main part of the lounge is long and goes from the very entrance to the end of the lounge. Then you will see the dining room in the middle divided by a wall.

To the left of the check-in desk, you will find the member services desk for all your Amex needs. This is where you can ask them anything or act like a concierge of some sort.

The rest of the lounge is a mixture of different seats everything from tables and chairs to lounge chairs. Power outlets with USB ports are available throughout the lounge, and I didn’t have a huge issue finding one, even when it became busier throughout the time I was in the lounge.

Probably my favorite type of seat is the black chairs with the tall side walls or the wall benches that were so comfy (as seen below). They are secluded and offer lots of comfort from all the throw pillows. Each one has power outlets and of course a table. This type of seating is nice since the fabric will cut out some of the noise in the lounge.

Another thing that is great about the type of seating at the Las Vegas Centurion Lounge is how most seats can fit a couple, like in the wall benches or the black chairs.

You will notice one theme throughout the lounge; it’s crowded. Wow, it’s been a long time since I have visited a lounge where it was this crowded and noisy.

Yes, there are still seats available. Yes, I didn’t have an issue finding a seat during my two hours staying in the lounge, but the noise level of the lounge is the issue. Without noise canceling headphones you easily hear people chatting it up with others or on the phone. It feels like I am back at my university, which is not something I want to experience at a lounge.

Where are the phone rooms?

When I visited the JAL Sakura Lounge at NRT earlier this year, it was super crowded, probably worse than this. The noise level at the JAL Sakura Lounge was very minimal, and there were kids all around, especially in the dining area. However, it’s built so noise won’t bounce off the walls as much, there are phone rooms, there are different areas, not just one long room.

The Las Vegas Centurion Lounge is the complete opposite; the noise level is annoying without headphones. This is of course not only with Centurion Lounges themselves, but it seems to be a common problem that isn’t addressed at lounges. Add a phone room, and it could help reduce the noise from people talking on their phone.

But then there is the problem of how clean the lounge is.

Cleanliness

Stained seats, food all over the seats, stained tables, and dirty bathroom are just a few things that make this lounge one of the dirtiest lounges I have been to. Yes, dirtier than lounges within China.

When was that cleaned?

There is food, crumbs all over, and then white and brown stains. Some of which is sticky… don’t worry after touching that sticky stuff I used my hand wipes. No matter where you sat on this bench you will find it dirty and stained.

What are those stains on the table? I cannot remove them from the table at all. I tried to wipe them off with a wet wipe, but nothing happened.

And no, it was multiple tables that had this stain issue.

Where are all these stains coming from? I was amazed at how many benches were stained, chairs are to lesser of a degree dirty but still wowed me. Tables are even stained, but tables can be easy to replace.

The bathroom was dirty as well. I was standing in a puddle of liquid when using the toilet… (no I didn’t take a picture while I was in the bathroom since others were in there).

Amex, please clean.

Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge dining and bar experience

This is where this lounge shines. During my visit to the lounge, they had a good amount of hot and cold food out. It was breakfast, so they had food like french toast, eggs, hash, and oatmeal.

The lounge offers one wall where the hot and cold food is and the other wall you will find a full-service bar with a bartender. The bar isn’t too big, and I never waited for a drink while at the bar. The bar is where you will get soft drinks and acholic beverages. There are no cocktails till 10:30am, so I ended up only getting prosecco. I am in Vegas don’t judge me. 🙂

Right outside of the dining room, you will find an espresso machine and self-service water with 2 other juices besides it.

What is nice is they have a TV displaying all the flights departing in the dining room.

Everything in the lounge is proper tableware.

I ended up getting french toast, eggs, and charro hash with water. All of which were good for buffet style lounge food! I then got some prosecco later.

The lounge attendants were very attentive and cleared plates and glasses within minutes of finishing, but were not intrusive at all. When someone leaves a table, the lounge attendants usually do a quick wipe of the table. However, later on, the lounge got busier, and they wouldn’t wipe it off all the time since people were immediately stealing that table.

Actually, all the lounge attendants were friendly and pleasant. They always had a smile, chatting with guests sometimes.

During my 1 hour in the dining room, they refreshed the food when it got more than half empty. They also made sure the food looks presentable, which makes a huge difference in my opinion.

Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge WiFi

The wifi isn’t too bad for a lounge that is crowded. It’s on par with 4G speeds, which isn’t anything special though.

Final word

Crowded, noisy, and dirty. Why would I come back? Well, there are tons of outlets, and it’s easy to find a seat with a table to do some work. Some fancy seating for two people, which is nice while traveling with someone. Then there is the food, which is not the best lounge food but certainly very good. I still think it’s like a university commons area, but with a good pair of headphones, for the most part, you can ignore the noise. Just bring some hand wipes and find a clean seat. 😉

This article was originally published by Steve Smith.