Now Open: Airspace Lounge Cleveland

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I just arrived home from a 10 day stint in Kansas City with the in-laws for Pesach.

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Airspace Lounge CLE, free with your Platinum card (Coming soon…JFK T5!)

More after the jump…

One thing is for sure, for a tiny Orthodox Jewish population, Kansas City (well technically the suburb of Overland Park) sure thinks big when it comes to kosher food.

Last night I enjoyed awesome pizza from Johnny Brusco’s, a non-kosher pizza shop which became entirely kosher for the night as they do about once a month. Now granted that any pizza tastes great after not eating any bread products for 9 days, but it really was quite good. Seeing KC Vaad Executive Director Mendel Segal (who also organized the first annual KC Kosher BBQ event that I judged for and wrote about last August) keeping a watchful eye on the entire process was definitely comforting. The owners said the response has been awesome and they plan to expand the number of times they have kosher nights and possibly even open a dedicated kosher pizza shop there.

And today I had some mouth-watering fried chicken tenders and great sushi from the kosher counter at Hen House.

At any rate the flight was lots of fun…Rafi has been fighting a fever since yesterday and I finally coaxed him to sleep on the plane. Not 15 minutes into his slumber did the passenger in front of him decide to switch from the aisle seat to the window and violently slam his seat back repeatedly into Rafi’s carseat, seemingly oblivious to my objections and the fact that the seat simply not recline due to the carseat. Rafi was not amused…ah the joys of traveling with little ones.

A teenager in Cleveland Hopkins loved how Rafi lounged in his Cosco Scenara and GoGo Babyz Travelmate as we pulled him through the airport and asked his parents if he could go through the airport lounging like that.  It’s definitely the only way to travel with a kid.

Back on topic for the reason I decided to type up this post, I got to visit the new Airspace Lounge CLE that just recently opened.

I wrote about the Baltimore Airspace lounge in passing in my DC/Baltimore trip notes.

An Airspace lounge will also be opening in JFK’s Terminal 5 in May, serving JetBlue, Hawaiian and Aer Lingus.

The CLE Airspace lounge is located at the very beginning of Concourse B, so it’s roughly a 3 minute walk to American’s gates in Concourse A, an 8 minute walk to the United Club in concourse C, and a 12 minute walk to Concourse D.  It is open from 5am-8:30pm.

Entry is free with The Platinum Card® from American Express or the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN.  With the Platinum card you also get free entry for you and 2 guests or for you and your entire immediate family.  An arriving or departing boarding pass for all guests is required. Entry without a Platinum card is $20 per person. As a limited time promotion, entry is $16.50 if you are a member of a competing lounge but don’t have a Platinum card.

We received a $6 gift card upon entry to the lounge good for food items and alcoholic beverages in the lounge.  Unfortunately the lounge has not yet received its liquor license so there was no alcohol to be had.  They said it should be coming “soon.” The beer list looks great with many local specialties, so that’s definitely a nice perk over the United Club once they can actually dispense beer.

I was informed that the gift card would only be valid for today.  When I asked if my guests are also supposed to receive a gift card the agent said yes, but you have to request it.  I’m not sure why they don’t just give it to you upon entry…

There are free soft drinks and coffee, tea, etc. but that was it for free offerings.  The space itself was better than waiting the terminal, but don’t expect anything particularly special.

My biggest beef was that there is no bathroom in the lounge, you must go back into the terminal to use one.

When flying United I’ll definitely use the United Club for the convenience of location, the plethora of free newspapers and magazines, the better snacks and fruit, the bathrooms, and for the private cubicles that make for a great place to daven.

But when flying American with my Avios I’ll no longer have to shlep the 10 minutes to the United Club to have a decent place to relax and enjoy a cold one, so that’s definitely a good thing.

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10 Comments On "Now Open: Airspace Lounge Cleveland"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Bob

Will my canceled plat card work here as it does in airline lounges?

BWI_guy

I know you’re not bashing them or anything (it’s a net-net positive review), but the gist of it isn’t sitting well with me. I mean it’s *$50 for daily entry at United* or $500 a year and all you get is crackers, the worst coffee on the planet and very bad drinks; and you’re talking United up?

Shouldnt we be playing this new thing up more and supporting it? $20 for lounges that look really good and have real food included; that’s a really good thing. I’ve only been to BWI so I cant speak for CLE (but the pictures look great)…but for the love of Pete, we need to make places like this successful!

BWI_guy

Bob, maybe. When I had the Platinum, Delta would check my card to see if it was expired and also swipe it. I dont think they can tell if you’ve cancelled an unexpired card…but technology is improving all the time and that was a few years ago.

chaim

my canceled platinum card had worked perfectly in the airspace lounge as well as american delta and usairways lounges.

Steve

Looks amazing. I am going to book a trip to Cleveland just to experience this lounge.

Dan

@BWI_guy:
I guess it depends what you’re looking for in a lounge.
You can get free United club access along with a card that gives 1.5 miles per dollar spent.

I personally prefer the United Club for the reasons stated in the post, however this lounge is a great addition to CLE and I love the fact that they have better beer (and better coffee though I’m not a coffee addict).

As I said, when I fly from B or C I’ll probably just use this lounge.
Unless I’m in the mood for cereal and fruit and newspapers in which case I’ll still make the haul to the United Club.

chilzech

The guy in cle told me yesterday that the liquor license should be in “next week”.

rhughes

Thanks Dan. Went there Thursday. Nice people, nice lounge, very nice looking bar and the sandwich perk is the clincher. Wish it had a bathroom. A good deal at $20. .

menachem

was there last week nothing was working , there where a few drink options no shower’s or work space very tight seating space not worth the while walking from gate 1 united there is a option to take a golf cart

BWI_guy

Finally got to CLE last week flying BWI-CLE-SFO so I was able to go to 2 Airspace’s on the trip.

The CLE lounge is the nicest looking place in CLE…perhaps all of NE Ohio…lol. It’s nicely designed and I’d say it’s a noticeable notch better than Airspace BWI; though there’s no bathroom in-lounge which is the one thing that I’d definitely put in the con column other than the fact that they are waiting on the liquor license (which they disclose to you before you enter almost like they’re proud of it! lol. I suspect they just want to avoid disappointment later). But wow is this bar nice. Not sure I have seen a better bar setup in a domestic airport lounge. It’s big and is center stage with a direct view of the apron w/power outlets right there too. Looking fwd to drinking there when they get their license. I had the cheese plate and it was very good and well ahead of any domestic DL/UA/AA lounge. I sampled the coffee quickly and it was just like BWI; Peet’s and it was good & strong….aka it’s real coffee and it’s good.

Nothing in this lounge would make me change my mind from my post above; if you spend any money on anything in CLE, this is the best value. If you have the Amex Plat, then of course you’re in for a treat-of-a-free-perk at an airport where you otherwise wouldnt expect such a nice experience. .

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