American Airlines' Secretive Top-Tier Elites Receiving Passes to Flagship First Dining

American Airlines has made an impressive investment in its lounges in the past few years. And while refreshed Admirals Club are nice, the way AA has really impressed is with its new Flagship Lounges. The airline has opened four (New York JFK, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles) of these new premium lounges since May 2017, and there are three more on the way: Dallas/Fort Worth (opening in April 2019), London Heathrow and Philadelphia.

While the food and drink in these Flagship Lounges are solid, first-class passengers have access to an even better dining experience. Tucked away in the JFK, Miami and Los Angeles Flagship Lounges is an exclusive sit-down restaurant experience called Flagship First Dining, which is restricted for first-class passengers flying in three-cabin aircraft (A321T or 777-300ER).

Most of AA's top-tier invitation-only Concierge Key elites are likely already familiar with the Flagship First Dining, as the revenue requirements to get an invitation indicate these passengers have likely flown first class quite a bit. Now, these elites are getting a couple more chances to dine at AA's most exclusive dining rooms.

TPG's resident Concierge Key "Flight Wonk" alerted us to an email that he received Wednesday with two Flagship First Dining passes:

Next time you visit the Flagship Lounge, enjoy our new Flagship First Dining experience — even when you're not flying in Flagship First.

As a ConciergeKey member, we've deposited 2 complimentary Flagship First Dining visits into your American Airlines AAdvantage account.

Here's how it works:

• Visit the Flagship Lounge in Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK) or Miami (MIA)
• At lounge check-in, tell us you want to use one of your visits for dining (when you're not flying in FlagshipFirst)*
• We suggest you arrive at least 2 hours before your flight to enjoy the full experience
• Use your complimentary visits through January 31, 2020

It's our way of saying thank you for being our best customer.

Concierge Key elites that received the email are directed to view these Flagship First Dining passes in their AAdvantage wallet.

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This is the second time that the airline has sent these passes out to Concierge Key members. In April 2018, CKs received two passes to Flagship First Dining. These had to be used by Jan. 31, 2019, which is the end of AA's elite status membership year. These new passes are good through Jan. 31, 2020.

With reports that AA is demanding Concierge Key elites spend more or be booted and cutbacks in service, it's nice to see that AA is continuing this benefit for a second year. Hopefully for Concierge Key elites, this will become a standard benefit each year.