For my morning trip to Houston which was leaving from Terminal B, I thought “hey let me see what the American Airlines PHL Lounge looks like in Terminal B/C” since I had recently visited the Terminal A lounge. The B/C lounge was a bit tricky for me to find.  I knew it required an elevator and had to be immediately after security before you entered the long walk in the terminal.  I passed the bakery kiosk and stopped to look at the monitors to see what gate I needed to be at (the last gate as always).  Walking a bit further into the terminal, I realized I was away from the elevators so turned back to see a small sign on the elevators for the lounge.

While I had my free lounge pass on me (a benefit as a USAirways Barclaycard Visa holder), I didn’t need to use it as I recently qualified for British Airways Silver status which gives me Sapphire benefits with all OneWorld carriers. This means free lounge access which is awesome!   I can now access all the AA lounges in Philadelphia as well as the British Airways lounge in Terminal A (I bring the printout of benefits as BA staff were unsure if I could enter if not flying BA – I most definitely can!).

The elevators open up diretly to the reception area which was quite nice.  In the morning, there was a couple ahead of me who waved me by as they had “issues” and would be awhile.  I gave the agent my BA Silver Card to gain access to the lounge (always good to carry your airline elite card in my opinion). It was early on a Thursday and I was surprised to see the expansive lounge pretty much empty.  Just like the Terminal A lounge, there are high ceilings and lots of glass looking out to the runways.  It is very open feel with muted colors that I would expect in a corporate environment (blue, tans, creme, wood, glass).  The long lounge had a similar reception area on the other end and many areas mirrored each other to meet in the middle. There are many seats with different arrangements if you are traveling solo, with a guest or with a group. In terms of comfort, I would rank it cushy leather chairs, bar stools, chairs to watch television next to bar and workstation chairs.

There are two workstation rooms for those who need to fire up their laptop and be connected (at this time of day, the rooms were empty as folks could work in the comfy chairs of the main lounge).  There is one conference room and two sets of bathrooms.  One nice sized bar with many seats and two food/drink areas.  Standard magazines, newspapers and televisions were in the lounge.

Many seats were occupied by those working on laptops, it didn’t feel busy and everyone had a space (and power) to themselves.  The bar had help yourself juices and the breads, coffee/tea and yogurts were arranged nearby.  I was surprised that you could cobble together a nice breakfast if needed.

There is also a Quiet area of the lounge where cell phone use is not permitted.

Having experienced the overseas lounges which always seem packed and the British Airways boutique lounge in Philly,  the American Airlines lounge at PHL in Terminal B/C was a nice change.  Maybe it was an off day for me that the lounge was empty this early, so I can’t promise you will have the same experience, however, it is a relaxing space for a little bit of time before you need to pack in and board your domestic flight.