American Airlines just announced plans to 1 take the current business class Flagship lounge and fold it into the gate D30 Admiral’s Club space and 2 build a brand new business class lounge.
American hasn’t said where this new lounge will be located.
Or whether this will mean the end of Flagship First Dining at Miami although I would guess that it does.
Credit: American Airlines
One Mile at a Time notes,
I still haven’t actually found a Miami-Dade County document with details of the new Flagship Lounge contract being awarded, so if I’m missing something, please tell me, as I’m mighty curious where it will be located.
I see two possibilities.
Unused shell space inside Concourse D there is a mezzanine area between D‑22 – D‑26 that was rough‑finished during the North‑Terminal build‑out. They’re currently building a lounge in E.
The mothballed oneworld premium lounge/Admirals Club in Concourse E. American already leased it once.
The fact that we don’t know for certain where this is is because there’s likely only a term sheet for it – if there was a lease or lease amendment it would appear on a public docket, however nothing referencing American and new lounge space has appeared in 2025 files yet. They just work out a lease amendment or new agreement with the county. That’s what they did for the 2015-2016 lounge expansion where Flagship and reallocation of space between it and the Admirals Club, and work on the D15 Club, added nearly 20,000 square feet of club space of its VIP lounges in Concourse D. That’s because the space was part of American’s leased operational area.
What’s also interesting is what can go into the D concourse and what cannot with American’s signoff.
Amex has a lounge in D, outside of American’s leased space, so American didn’t have to approve it.
However, CLEAR cannot set up in D without American’s signoff and they won’t allow it.
Under the 2018 Airline Use Agreement and Preferential Gate Use Agreement, American has preferential control of 61 gates and the landside and airside space that feeds them in the North Terminal. Any vendor that needs real estate there must get American’s signoff. But American doesn’t control the real estate there, so CLEAR could be added.,
