American Airlines Lounge at DCA (C Gates) is a Sad Little Lounge

American Airlines has several lounges at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Washington D.C. In this post, I will review the lounge that is located in the concourse C. There is a better lounge in the concourse E, so if you have a chance of going there, please do. At any rate, American Airlines does not have any really really good lounges at DCA.

Location

The lounge is located in the concourse C. Just follow the signs towards C gates and you will find the lounge in immediately when you make a turn to the area with all C gates. The lounge is a bit hidden, so make sure you won’t walk right past it.

Food

You can have salad, delicious meatballs, pasta and some soup in the lounge. The option for food is limited, but it is not the worst. There are also some fruits and sweets. What I do not like is the menu they have in the lounge. There are many more options for food, but they cost money… In a lounge? You have to pay for some of the food? Unheard of! Why would I go to a lounge to pay for my meal if I can just have a tastier and cheaper meal in a McDonald’s?

I would like to draw attention to the use of plastic in the lounge. Why do they serve water in plastic mugs and why is the cutlery made out of plastic too? In this era when our planet is running out of resources and we should pay more attention to sustainability, it is outrageous that American Airlines would do anything like this.

Beverages

There is a sad section of beverages. You can have coffee and some soft drinks. One glass of wine was included, for more you will need to pay. The lounge did have a bar so you can expect to be served in style. But it costs money… The only place where I have seen lounges charging for alcohol has been in Russia. The more I experience the US and Russia, the more similarities I end up seeing between the supposedly different countries.

Conclusions

The lounge is quite sad… It is small and mostly everything costs extra. I think that this is a clear indication that American Airlines couldn’t care less about their domestic passengers. American Airlines does not even let their own AAdvantage members enter the lounge even if they had a status if they are only flying on domestic routes.