For the next couple flights, we’re going to take a break from longer flights and talk about a couple short flights. This next trip was from Richmond, VA to Oklahoma City via Charlotte. When I booked the ticket, first class was available for only $90 more than economy, and since that $90 would cover two flights, it seemed very worth it to me. I might’ve been able to clear a complimentary upgrade on at least one of the flights, but I’ve been relatively unlucky with upgrades recently. This first article will be about the flight from Richmond to Charlotte and the Amex Centurion lounge in Charlotte. The second article will cover American’s new “provisions” lounge concept in Charlotte and the flight to Oklahoma City.
Richmond Airport has very little in terms of interesting amenities, so I usually make it a point of getting to the airport as close to departure as possible. In this case, I arrived about 12 minutes before bag drop closed (which was earlier than was necessary). It took a while to get my ID checked to go through security though (not to go through security; the bottleneck was getting IDs checked), so it was fine I guess.
Since Richmond Airport doesn’t have any lounges (or enough seating at its gates for A321 aircraft), I boarded immediately when First Class was called and took my preferred seat: 1D.
American has started calling for First Class as pre-boarding before it starts calling out its nine groups, so they now have over 10 groups total, including other extra time passengers.
On the A321, interestingly, seats 1D/1F have airbags in their seatbelts, but seats 1A/1C do not. I have to assume it’s because seats 1A/1C are slightly closer to the bulkhead. As is standard on flights in the US, the forward cabin was completely full, with a long upgrade list.
Immediately after sitting down, I was offered a pre-departure beverage, which was welcome because we were likely going to spend more time boarding the plane than actually in the air. I just had a sparkling water.
Once in the air, I ordered a coffee with ice in it. The flight attendant was mildly confused by the order but happy to oblige. Apparently, I was the first person who had ever ordered that from her, which does make sense because it’s not really a particularly good drink. The actual flight time was only about 45 minutes, but the flight attendant really stood out; she even had time to offer refills before we landed. Three offers of drinks on a 45-minute flight is a record for me.
Upon arrival, I headed over to the Amex Centurion Lounge. I’ve visited the Centurion Lounge in Charlotte previously, but not since 2022 apparently, so I was looking forward to checking it out again. It’s not the most exciting lounge, but it does have one of the better food offerings in the airport, and I was ready for lunch.
As is the case with many Amex lounges, it was very busy right at lunch time. I was clearly not the only person who had the idea of getting lunch between my flights. Because I’ve been flying American/Alaska (or even Delta) out of Terminal 1 at SFO recently, I haven’t been to any Centurion Lounge since 2024 (which is also part of the reason that the Amex Platinum has been on the credit card chopping block lately).
That being said, the buffet selection was decent (though it was very hard to photograph it with the number of people there). There were a couple of hot options including grits, mixed vegetables, and chicken. There was also a salad bar area and a dessert area.
Coffees and water were available self-service, and then there was also a full service bar from anything more interesting. I got a water and a small sampling of the buffet, including the chicken, the vegetables, and the grits. I also grabbed a cookie and what I thought was a parfait but was actually a panna cotta.
Although the buffet was very busy, the dining area was less crowded (but a lot of tables were taken by single travelers).
In summary, the flight itself was actually great. It was one of the best domestic 45-minute flights I’ve had in the US. The ground experience on either side was lacking, but I wouldn’t expect an exciting ground experience in Richmond, so we’ll give it a 2/5 taking everything into account. The seat was great for a short flight (4/5) and the service was amazing given the duration (5/5). The IFE was good: I was able to watch an ad in exchange for 20 minutes of WiFi (half the flight), and it had the normal streaming options (4/5). The actual snack service was lacking, with only one option, but the flight attendant made sure we were never low on drinks (3/5). Overall, the fight gets a middling score of 17/25, but I’d take this flight again any day it was offered as part of a connection.
My pro-rated price for this leg of the trip was $59, which earned me 432 AA miles and about 300 Amex points, for an overall return of about 18%, which is a solid return. And realistically, the upgrade only cost about $20 for this leg, which is also great.
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