Scoop: American Airlines Is Reopening Its Exclusive LAX Dining Room Next Week After 6 Years—Here’s How To Get In

American Airlines is reopening its Flagship Dining inside the business class lounge at LAX next week, a spokesperson confirms to me. What was First Class Dining has been closed since March 2020, and when it returns, qualifying American business class passengers will be able to use it with their tickets, and there are other paths to entry too. That’s great news. When it was open it was fantastic. Flagship First Dining was a restaurant inside the Flagship Lounge. There were tables, booths, a bar and a window looking out toward the aircraft. The room had 59 seats, but when I visited there were never more than two other passengers at once. The food was excellent, too. I especially liked the miso black cod, and the pork belly came with cauliflower tempura that I still remember. American has since dropped “First” from the name. As the airline removes international first class from its Boeing 777-300ERs and replaces its three cabin Airbus A321Ts, they’ve decided to open the dining rooms to a much larger group instead of doing away with them. Since September 15, qualifying Flagship Business and Flagship Business Plus passengers have been able to use Flagship Dining in Dallas and Miami. Los Angeles is next. Access covers qualifying American Airlines long haul international, premium transcontinental and Flagship Hawaii itineraries. That includes eligible Flagship flights between Los Angeles and New York JFK, though an ordinary domestic first class ticket doesn’t get you in. The qualifying flight must be marketed and operated by American. Business class access doesn’t include a guest. Getting into the Flagship Lounge based on AAdvantage or oneworld status doesn’t get you into the separate dining room. Eligible partner first class access continues, and there’s also a way in with miles. AAdvantage Platinum Pro members can redeem 25,000 miles and Executive Platinum members can redeem 20,000 miles for a Flagship Dining pass. It includes the member and their immediate family or up to two guests on an eligible same day American or oneworld flight, even when flying coach. It includes the Flagship Lounge, too. I’ve thought this was one of the best uses of miles when traveling as a family. American has introduced a new dining menu and a wine and chocolate pairing featuring KHK Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon and K+M chocolate, co-founded by chef Thomas Keller. The cabernet retails for about $125 a bottle. Here’s American’s photo of the pairing. The new Dallas wine list also includes Bollinger La Grande Année, which retails for around $200 a bottle. American even listed it as an ingredient in a cranberry orange spritz. That seems like an expensive way to make it harder to taste the champagne. I’d ask for it in a separate glass. And the food has improved in the broader Flagship lounges, not just in the separate dining rooms. On a recent visit to the Dallas Flagship Lounge, I found a better buffet, a staffed charcuterie station and an improved chef station. I ordered from the lounge’s menu using a QR code, and the food arrived at my table in four minutes. It was a relatively quiet Tuesday evening, but I was impressed. That menu ordering is available in Los Angeles, too. When I last wrote about the rollout, the QR codes were in the theater seating and across from the secondary beverage station. Delta still offers the more ambitious food. It now has two Delta One lounges at LAX, with table service throughout, while United’s Polaris Lounge has a sit down restaurant. I’d still put the food in American’s main Flagship Lounge behind Delta, even though the gap has narrowed. But American makes the larger Flagship Lounge available to many more passengers, including eligible elites traveling in coach. And now a regular qualifying Flagship Business fare comes with the separate dining room. United’s base Polaris fares don’t include Polaris Lounge access. Delta’s Basic Business fares will lose Delta One lounge access for travel beginning January 19, 2027. If the American fare is cheaper and includes Flagship Dining, that’s a competitive advantage. The tradeoff is that First Dining was so special because almost nobody was there. Opening it to business class is a big improvement for those passengers, but it also means many more people competing for a table. American uses an electronic waitlist when the dining room is full. If you’re traveling before a busy departure period, I’d check in with the host when you first arrive. Topics on this page