The AMEX Centurion Lounge at LAS

As an intrepid travel blogger, it is my obligation to extol the virtues of airport lounge access, especially the revered escapes that are the American Express Centurion Lounges. Accordingly, behold the Centurion Lounge at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport:

I was granted admission not because of my overwhelming fame, but for carrying an overpriced metal card. Two guests can join a cardmember for free on these luxurious adventures. Additional guests have to pay $50 each. The Centurion Lounge at LAS is located in the D concourse, not far from the security access point. I confirmed with the attendant that cardmembers can access the lounge on both arrival and departure, a major concern for lounge enthusiasts. All that is required is that you have a boarding pass displaying travel for that day. This is the kind of hardline reporting you get here at TFB.

Once inside, you’re greeted by an array of plush couches and daybeds upholstered with some of the finest material on which you’ll ever place your tush. It’s clean and pristine, but if you brought in grime interacting with the lowly folks in the terminal, there is a private shower to help you wipe clean any remnants of the penurious populous outside.

One of the most exciting features of Centurion Lounges is the care taken to preserve local culture. The LAS lounge, for example, boasts of a “locally-inspired menu“. The breakfast buffet was exactly that. Vegas is famous for many culinary traditions. On my visit, I enjoyed cereal flour discs with a maple reduction. You may know them as “pancakes”. Locally-inspired indeed. They took me back to years long passed, when my Abuela would grind raw grains using a stone roller and heat the hand kneaded flour into the circular treats I grew to love. This is how it was done for generations by indigenous Las Vegans. Her neighbor, being the generous aborigine she was, would let us tap her maple tree to round out the ancestral meal. The eggs were good too.

If you’re indulging in the afternoon or later, a bevy of bottomless beverages awaits you at the well-stocked bar. Glad-handing other economic elites is no problem with the generously sized social spaces. It was quite crowded on the May day that I visited, but I assume it is because word got out of my arrival. I was able to enjoy my exceptionally speedy wifi in peace while marveling at the departing and arriving aircrafts, unobstructed thanks to the floor to ceiling windows.

One whiff of the refined air in an Amex Centurion Lounge is a catalyst for deep, internal reflection. You’ll wonder why you haven’t treated yourself like this before. It will motivate you to elevate your socioeconomic standing. Never again do you want to be associated with the miscreants in the main concourse, sweating over a pile of soggy fries while praying to the Boarding Gods that the B-12 position on your Southwest ticket allows for the coveted exit row. It won’t. You’ll be seated next to a sweatpants-clad pre-teen who doesn’t believe in headphones and an uncouth loudmouth on the wrong side of 40 who thinks the flight attendants are her personal barkeeps. Start your journey off right. Come live the good life with me and the other trendy travel bloggers.