The American Airlines Admirals Club at John Wayne Orange County Airport is located in terminal A near gate 8. Open to Admiral Club card holders and those wishing to pay the $50 entrance fee, the Admiral Club is small but offers a quiet place to relax and be productive before your flight. You do not need to fly American Airlines to use this lounge.
There are only two lounges at John Wayne Airport. The other lounge is the United Club located near gate 9. They are both about the same size and offer the same type of snacks and amenities. You can read my review of the United Club here.
The mezzanine style lounge is one single room located on the second floor. There is no separate area for first class passengers or those holding oneworld elite status. The lounge is more traditionally decorated, has plenty of natural light and a decent amount of seating and work areas for you to spread out. The lounge looks down at the gates below and there are also views of the two runways. There are several electrical outlets located throughout the lounge to keep your devices powered and WiFi is provided complimentary. There’s a work center located in the back of the lounge with a couple of PC computers and access to printers, fax and copy machines.
There’s a single snack station with a small offering of fruit, crackers, cookies and a coffee/cappuccino machine. The bar offers a basic selection of complimentary house drinks, beers, sodas and (tap) water. Other items such as hot soup, chips, premium alcoholic drinks and bottled water can be purchased from the bar for a fee.
There are no showers facilities available and they do not make any boarding or flight announcements inside the club. However, you can hear the gate and boarding announcements from the individual gates below. There are two flight information boards, televisions and bathrooms located inside the lounge. Newspapers and magazines were provided for you to read during your visit (but not take).
The lounge was kept clean and there were employees constantly cleaning, bussing dishes and refilling the snack counter.
Overall, this lounge is decent but it’s a smaller lounge located in a smaller airport. Even though it was on the smaller side, it was not crowded at all and it allowed me to get some work done before my flight. On this trip, I was flying Alaska Airlines to Seattle and used my Admiral Club membership to gain entry. I only used the lounge because I had free access and I don’t think I would pay $50 to use it for the day.
