American Airlines operates three Admirals Clubs at Chicago O’Hare: One in Concourse G, one in the connector of Concourse H and K, and one in Concourse L.
The Concourse H/K Admirals Club is the biggest of the three, offering substantial space with multiple bars and dining areas. Let’s go over this Admirals Club.
Admirals Club Access Rules
There are several ways to access an American Airlines Admirals Club:
- Fly First or Business on a qualifying flight. On American Airlines, on another Oneworld airline, or on Aer Lingus, fly First or Business on a premium transcontinental route or an international route. For American Airlines flights, these flights must be ticketed as Flagship.
- For South America: access excludes flights to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
- Qualifying Status with AAdvantage or Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards. On American Airlines, on another Oneworld airline, or on Aer Lingus, fly a qualifying international route.
- For South America: access excludes flights to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
- Guest access: 1 guest
- Oneworld Sapphire, Emerald. Fly any flight on American Airlines or on another Oneworld airline.
- Does not apply to passengers with Oneworld status via AAdvantage or Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards.
- Guest access: 1 guest
- Admirals Club Membership. Annual and lifetime members, ConciergeKey, and Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard holders on a same-day American, Oneworld, or Aer Lingus flight.
- Guest access: Immediate family, or up to 2 guests
- One-Day Pass for $79, or 7,900 AAdvantage miles. Fly any flight on American Airlines or on another Oneworld airline, purchased at any Admirals Club location.
- Based on lounge capacity.
I access Admirals Clubs with my Citi AAdvantage Executive Card. Its annual fee of $595 is a substantial discount compared to the $850 it would cost to pay for an Admirals Club membership outright. The card also comes with numerous other benefits I like, such as the 10,000 Loyalty Points bonuses when you hit 50,000 and 90,000 Loyalty Points.
Related: Guide to American Airlines Flagship Lounges
Admirals Club Chicago O’Hare, Concourse H/K Review
This Admirals Club is located in the Concourse H and K connector, near gates H6 and K6. The entrance is shared with the Flagship Lounge. I’ve also visited the Flagship Lounge previously; read the review here.
The Admirals Club is located on the 3rd floor.
This Admirals Club spans nearly the entire connector between Concourse H and K; it’s a big space. The layout is quite similar to the Flagship Lounge downstairs.
Given its central location at O’Hare, it can get quite packed during peak hours. However, I’ve never seen it so busy that I had trouble looking for a seat.
Upon entering, you’ll find a bunch of seating spanning across the space:
If you head left, you’ll find one of two dining areas and one of two bars in the lounge.
Notably, the Flagship Lounge downstairs does not have a bar. This is one thing the Admirals Clubs have that Flagship Lounges don’t, if this is something you prefer having. However, some of the better booze here is for purchase; you’ll find a better selection downstairs at its self-service wine and liquor station.
(The Greenwich Lounge in New York is the only AA Business Class lounge that I know of with a sit-down bar, if I am not mistaken)
Food options are typical for an Admirals Club. They aren’t the greatest selections, but I always find them to be more than enough to get a bite in before a flight. I’m not overly picky about lounge food.
This particular visit came during breakfast, and they were serving French toast and biscut and gravy at this time.
The lounge had several other foods like fruit, several kinds of bread for toast, yogurt, and your typical cheese and veggies.
Soft drinks, tea, and coffee:
On this day, I settled for some French toast with berries, yogurt, scrambled eggs, and orange juice.
On another visit during lunch time recently, they were serving this roasted chicken that I like:
Aside from the bar and dining area, you’ll also find a kids room on this left-hand side of the lounge (relative to the entrance).
Moving over to the other side of the lounge, you’ll find another bar and another dining area. The food offerings on this side are the same as what you’ll find on the other side of the lounge.
This entire seating area spans from one end of the lounge to the other:
This Admirals Club offers sweeping views of the ramp, taxiways, and runways in the distance. There’s no shortage of airplane activity when looking outside here.
While I didn’t use them during this visit, this lounge also has shower suites and a couple of conference rooms down back.
Related: American to Open New Admirals Club in Chicago O’Hare’s Concourse L
Bottom Line
This Admirals Club is one of the bigger ones American operates. It offers a substantial amount of space and a solid selection of amenities to spend time before a flight. While I’d definitely choose the Flagship Lounge downstairs whenever I have access, this Admirals Club still does the job in offering a comfortable space before a flight.
Additionally, if you ever find this Admirals Club uncomfortably busy, try the one in Concourse G. That one is reliably quiet.
All photos taken by the author.
