The American Airlines Admirals Club at Los Angeles made the most of the space available, taking over the top floor of the Los Angeles Terminal Four concourse space. It offered a day light space in a pleasant and comforting atmosphere, along with a la carte food to order, available snacks and a full bar offering.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates. This trip was redeemed through American Airlines AAdvantage & Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

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Review: American Airlines Admirals Club, Los Angeles International Airport Terminal 4, California, United States of America

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“American Airlines Admirals Club offered among the better lounge spaces at Los Angeles International Airport, with excellent daylight windows overlooking the apron”

This review is of the American Airlines AAdmirals Club in Los Angeles International Airport Terminal Four. For another One World Lounge that you may have access to, please see our review of the Qantas International First Class Lounge Los Angeles International Airport Tom Bradley International Terminal.

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As we got off our American Airlines First Class Vancouver – Los Angeles flight, I stopped by the AA customer service desk in Los Angeles Terminal 4 in efforts to see if I could get my Qatar Airways Business Class Los Angeles – Doha boarding passes printed so that we could get into the lounge in Terminal 2. We had a six hour connection and there was no way that the Qatar check in desks were open and I wasn’t able to check in online. Unfortunately, the staff there was unable to help out; “you don’t have a seat assignment” was what I was told. Honestly, I think sometimes these staff don’t know, or don’t have access to all in formation in the ticketing reservation systems. I struck out again and despite MrsWT73 having success at getting her boarding cards, I was out of luck.

Locating the American Airlines Admirals Club:

We headed over to the Admirals Club in Los Angeles Terminal 4. The American Airlines AAdmirals Club is located in the early portion of the concourse and is hard to miss. The entrance is on your right as you walk down the concourse.

Accessing the American Airlines Admirals Club:

Access to the American Airlines Admirals Club is a little complicated and generally the most restrictive out of the three airlines alliances of One World, Star Alliance and Skyteam.

The most likely way into the American Airlines Admirals Club is through a qualifying First or Business Class flight to an international destination. The qualifying destinations include:

Flights between the U.S. and:

• Asia
• Australia
• Canada (not always on the eligibility list)
• Caribbean (not always on the eligibility list)
• Central America
• Europe
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• South America

If you’re in international first, you are entitled to bring one guest under this category.

You can also get in with Qualifying transcontinental flights as flights with seats ticketed as Flagship®, including flights from Los Angeles to:

• New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX)
• JFK and San Francisco (SFO)
• JFK and Orange County (SNA)
• LAX and Miami (MIA)

Qualifying AAdvantage® Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro and Platinum, and qualifying One World Emerald and Sapphire level members to the above international destinations are also permitted access.

Admirals Club® members, including annual and lifetime members, Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard^® primary cardholders, ConciergeKey^SM members and AirPass^SM members with Admirals Club privileges. If you have a paid annual membership, this allows you access to:

• Domestic and international Admirals Club locations
• All Alaska Airlines Lounges (when departing on flights marketed and operated by American or Alaska Airlines)
• All Qantas Clubs (when departing on same-day flights operated by Qantas, or operated by American out of Auckland, New Zealand or Sydney, Australia)
• Select partner lounges operated by third parties (on same-day flights operated by American)

You can also purchase a day pass for a visit in advance or at the counter for $59 USD. The day passes sales are based on lounge capacity constraints.

Getting back to our story, I was without an International Boarding Card for our onward journey on fellow One World member Qatar Airlines Business Class Los Angeles – Doha. Arriving to the counter, I plead my access and entry case with the lounge dragon. I didn’t know whether they would let us in given that we were flying Qatar in another terminal and I didn’t have any onward boarding cards, just a printed itinerary as proof of onward travel. The only difference between MrsWT73’s booking and mine was the ticket number. Fortunately, the lounge reception host was an AAngel (as they say) as she looked my ITIN and confirmed that I was eligible for access. We also got 2 free premium drink chits stamped with our onward journey on Qatar.

Inside the American Airlines Admirals Club:

I haven’t come to expect too much from airlines lounges at the Los Angeles International Airport. Thanks to the airport space being configured into separate terminals, there is a remarkable lack of physical space available to host a lounge. Thankfully, the American Airlines Admirals Club does an excellent job of occupying the top floor of Terminal Four at LAX and provides a spacious experience compared to many lounges at Los Angeles International Airport.

After were granted access, we entered the lounge. The lounge occupies a large space over the top level of the Los Angeles Terminal Four Concourse. It’s an oddly shaped space which is highlighted with floor to ceiling windows with fantastic window views over the apron.

My first impressions were that the lounge was a nice space and pleasant. The lounge wasn’t the best in the world but my gosh, it’s miles ahead of what I had come to expect from my United Club Los Angeles friend. Although the lounge looks busy in the photographs, there was a substantial amount of passenger turn over, making it easy to find seating.

The lounge had a labyrinth footprint, with corridors leading towards various areas of the lounge. Exploring the lounge, there was small double television area in the back that didn’t appear to be too busy this morning.

The place went on an on with many more seating areas that didn’t have a direct window view. The lounge crosses over to the other side of the terminal with overhead passageways.

Overall, there were ample places to sit. The majority of them had daylight views, making this lounge space a pleasant one to be in.

Food and Beverage:

The American Airlines Admirals Club had a reasonable amount of snacks available. There was food available to order (at cost) and actual unwrapped cheese cubes, unlike those wrapped Tillamook cheeses next door in the United Club.

There was also a full bar area that was actually a pleasant space to hang out in, unlike the dark counters at the UA clubs.

The only minus was that the lounge was a little light on reading materials. There was only the Financial Times and a few other in house newspapers and magazines.

The lounge also featured some nice air side views at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Today’s views included an Air Tahiti Nui Airbus 340; one day!!

My Thoughts the American Airlines Admirals Club Los Angeles:

We were able to kill a few hours here before headed over to check in at Qatar in Terminal 2 in among the nicest environments one could hope for at the Los Angeles airport. The American Airlines Admirals Club was a beautiful day light space amid some tight concourse space at Los Angeles airport. The lounge made the best of its available space, and was a pleasant place to hang out for a few hours. Having food available to order, along with a decent amount of snacks along with a full bar didn’t hurt either.

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If you’ve regularly fly out of Los Angeles International Airport, what is your preferred lounge ?

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