I arrived at Charlotte airport quite early at 3:30pm as my flight to Atlanta was not until 6:30pm. My colleague offered me a ride to the airport and said that if we had waited another half-hour, the traffic would have been brutal so I took his advice. I had some work to do anyway, so I assumed I would just go to the Centurion Lounge and get some work done.

First, I had to find the lounge. There’s quite a bit of construction at the security area of CLT and even with Pre-check, security took about 20 minutes. Then I set off in search of the lounge. I had a general idea that it was near the entrance to Terminal D, but it took me about 10 minutes of searching before I found the poorly-marked elevator.

I took the elevator up to the third floor and there was a line formed. They were on a waitlist, so I put my name down and was told it would be 45 minutes or so. I waited near the elevator (despite being told we had to wait back down on the first floor) and after 15 minutes I received a text indicating I could enter. I showed my Platinum card, boarding pass and ID to the not super-friendly check-in agent and accessed the lounge.

My first impression was that it was larger than most Centurion Lounges with a bit more of an open plan, which I prefer. I found a small table that had access to power outlets and noticed that there was quite a bit of empty seating, so the lounge access overlords were not doing a great job of policing the waitlist.

The food selection was much better than what I saw at LGA the previous day. There was a couple of hot food protein options, a tasty soup and a great dessert selection. There was also no wait at the bar.

I enjoyed my time at the lounge. Other than the entrance staff, the people working there were friendly and did a good job keeping the buffet stocked, the drinks filled and the tables cleared.

Despite the hard-to-find entrance and dubious waiting list policy, this may have been my favorite Centurion Lounge so far. I’ve been to Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Denver, and New York, and I think Charlotte had the best food selection. I look forward to the Atlanta and DC lounges opening next year, although I expect Atlanta to be particularly crowded as many people carry the Platinum card and/or the Delta Reserve card which provide access to the Amex lounges.

I left the lounge around 5:45pm and made the short trek to my gate for my ridiculously short flight to Atlanta. I think we taxied longer than we were in the air.

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