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The Centurion Lounges by American Express were the first lounges operated by a credit card issuer. They set the bar for great food, amenities, and decor with offerings that blew away what the airlines in the United States provided passengers. That was 2013 and with time the luster faded a bit at many of the locations. Overcrowding and declines in food quality plague some locations. They seem to be back on the upswing, but looks can be deceiving. The Centurion Lounge by American Express at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is the second location to fail a health inspection in December 2024 and apparently it did so quite handily with a rank of number five worst in the entire city.
Looks like ATL AMEX lounge didn't do so good on it's health inspection: pic.twitter.com/YA5Ri1xm4F
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) December 18, 2024
The Centurion Lounge by American Express at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) failed its health inspection back in December 2024. It’s a beautiful space with great amenities (my full review here), but inspectors found uncovered foods, build-up in ice machines, and temperatures not being maintained. A spokesperson quickly reached out when I wrote about it and provided this update:
Delivering a great experience in the Centurion Lounge is our top priority. We take these inspections seriously and have taken immediate steps to address the report. The Centurion Lounge was reinspected on December 18 and has now passed the health inspection.”
Charlotte Amex Centurion Lounge fails much of health inspection
byu/OscarWins inamex
The Centurion Lounge by American Express at also racked up quite a list of violations in a recent inspection. These include:
- The PIC chef in the kitchen had several priority item violations and is does not have food protection manager training.
- Observed employee handle raw chicken then proceed to use a fryer utensil that is used for other RTE food items.
- Observed dented cans stored with food supply that is in use and not in the designated damaged food bin.
- Observed raw sausage stored above overnight oats.
- Observed raw hamburger stored above salad.
- Observed raw eggs stored above cheese.
- Observed a salad with berries that did not cool to 41 F within 4 hours, cooked farrow that had been held out for a period of time in the kitchen that did not cool properly (observed a lot of condensation in the container indicating improper cooling), and melons prepared this morning that had a zero degree cooling rate.
- Observed cooked apples used at 8:30 this morning ant 48 F in a covered container.
- Observed garlic and oil mixture on preparation table at 70 F. Item discarded.
- Observed Piquat on the stove at 110 F, per PIC the product had been prepared over 4 hours ago.
- Observed cooked vegetables sitting on a sheet rack in the kitchen awaiting to be placed in the oven at 55 F.
- Observed tofu at 41-42 F sitting at the fryer and no staff actively working on the food preparation of the item.
- Observed TPHC logs not being maintained for milk at beverage stations, food in warming cabinet, and in low boy refrigerator for salads.
- Observed beef roast being prepared and was cooked to 110 F.
- Observed melons, farrow, salads cooling in covered containers.
- Observed several containers of dry goods with no labeling.
The Charlotte location opened in 2020 and should have its act together. Efficiently running the lounge doesn’t include practices that could get visitors sick. This lounge also looks gorgeous and hopefully the inspection will make some Amex brass take note and pressure lounge management to fix these issues. Does this mean I won’t go to Centurion Lounges? Absolutely not. I’ve managed restaurants and know how difficult it is to maintain every standard, but some of these are pretty basic and can have health consequences.
Anthony’s Take: The Amex lounge in Charlotte follows Atlanta in failing a health inspection. Hopefully, it remedies these issues quickly and moves forward with a space that is safe and clean.
(Image Credits: American Express.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
1 comment
The American Express Centurion lounges have declined steadily under Stephen Squeri’s leadership. I remember the days where the Centurion lounges (food, drinks, amenities, etc) were so good, that they felt like the destination rather than part of the journey. I now find the Centurion lounges to be behind Chase Sapphire’s, Delta’s , and Capital One’s lounges. My platinum renewal is now and I have to decide whether or not to renew.