American Express is going big in New Jersey. The planned Centurion Lounge at Newark Liberty International Airport has been expanded by more than two thirds, from the roughly 18,000 square feet first announced in 2021 to over 30,000 square feet across two floors. When it opens in 2027 in the redeveloped Terminal A, it will dethrone the current flagship in Atlanta as the largest lounge in the entire Centurion network.
The catch: it's a year later than originally promised. But the extra wait buys cardholders considerably more space, plus some quirky touches. Travel & Leisure reports three separate bar concepts, including one inspired by a classic New Jersey diner, a terrace bar, and a Blue Roast coffee and wellness bar. The food programme will lean on Amex's Culinary Collective roster of chefs, which includes Kwame Onwuachi, Mike Solomonov, Mashama Bailey and Sarah Grueneberg.
The New York angle matters too. Once Newark opens, American Express will be the first card issuer with its own lounges at all three major New York-area airports — Newark, JFK and LaGuardia. That said, location is worth thinking about: Terminal A serves American, Delta, JetBlue and Air Canada, while United's huge operation sits in Terminal C, connected by a post-security shuttle. United passengers will need extra time to schlep over for a visit.
Newark is just one piece of Amex's biggest-ever lounge build-out. Philadelphia's existing lounge closes in mid-October and reopens by late 2027 at more than double its size. Houston's will nearly triple by 2028. Heathrow gets a second Centurion Lounge, in Terminal 5, making Amex the first card issuer with two proprietary lounges there. Add in the new Amsterdam Schiphol lounge that opened in September, a planned Boston facility and a network now spanning 33 locations worldwide, and the scale of the investment is obvious.
Why the spending spree? Competition. Chase is rolling out Sapphire Lounges in cities like Phoenix and San Diego, Capital One has its own lounges and Landing restaurants, and the airlines themselves — Delta One Lounges, American's upgraded Flagship Lounges — keep raising the bar. Bigger lounges also help Amex tackle a real problem: overcrowding. Guest access is already restricted for most US Platinum cardholders unless they spend $75,000 a year, guests cost $50 (or $30 for kids), and since July guests must be on the same flight as the cardholder.
For anyone holding a Platinum card or planning premium travel through the New York area, this is genuinely good news — more seats, more food options and a serious answer to United's dense United Club footprint at Newark. Just temper expectations on exclusivity: bigger lounges mean more room, but eligibility keeps widening too. Until 2027, the perks live at Atlanta's 26,000-square-foot flagship or the new Salt Lake City lounge, and note that San Francisco's Centurion is closed until 2027 for its own rebuild.
