Update 7/8/26: These are now live.
According to information shared with TPGAmerican Express will be making changes to Centurion Lounge access starting July 8, 2026. The changes are as follows:
- Guests of card members must travel on the same flight as the card member.
- There will be a new time-based restriction on vacations. You will be able to access a lounge up to five hours before your departure flight (Current terms are: Members must arrive within 3 hours of flight departure and present the following to The Centurion Lounge agent after each visit”. This has never been enforced for same-day breaks, although some individual lounges are now limited to 5 hours)
Our verdict
Can’t see the first change making a big difference to congestion, but the five-hour limit on stops could make a difference in some places. What you think of these changes will really depend on whether you benefit from them or not. Overcrowding is certainly a massive problem in Centurion lounges (indeed all lounges).
Small update: apparently there is/was a tiktok tendency to bring people you don’t know into the lounge. It may partly explain why the same flight restriction was added. I’d be surprised if it made any significant difference, but it shouldn’t be a problem for most regular cardholders.
