American Express has opened a new Centurion Lounge at New York JFK’s Terminal 4, featuring a speakeasy-style bar and Equinox Body Lab.
The two-floor facility is located “just beyond the TSA checkpoints to the left of the escalators that take passengers downstairs to the gate level”, and is the largest Centurion lounge to date at around 1,400 sqm.
Features include speakeasy bar 1850 (a reference to the year American Express was founded), concealed behind a copper-panelled wall and offering a rotating cocktail menu “that is experiential in nature and gives a nod to some of the city’s greatest bars”.
The lounge dining menu has been created by New Yorker Ignacio Mattos, with signature dishes including a caciocavallo and egg sandwich with tomato marmalade, fennel salad with castelvetrano olives and provolone and steak with romesco and taleggio sauce. Food is currently being served by Amex representatives rather than buffet-style due to Covid-19.
Lounge design pays homage to New York’s past and present, with a mosaic art mural inspired by the city’s subway murals, vintage New York City taxi meters and architectural renderings of Manhattan landmarks.
Amex has also partnered with “high-performance lifestyle leader Equinox” to offer the Equinox Body Lab, which is described as follows:
“The Equinox Body Lab, normally only accessible within Equinox clubs, will offer performance-driven restorative therapies including custom, self-guided meditation and stretching sessions using the Variis by Equinox app, a vibro-acoustic chair to help fliers relax before takeoff, and more. When the lounge opens, these sessions will be offered to individuals, in a self-led format to prioritize health and safety.”
Earlier this year American Express opened a Centurion Lounge within Los Angeles International airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal, and in 2018 the group unveiled plans to open a facility at Heathrow T3.
This Heathrow lounge has yet to open, and with T3 currently closed “until further notice”, it’s unlikely that it will debut any time soon.
