American Express is cutting one of its longstanding but lesser known lounge arrangements, and it’s a change cardmembers likely won’t be happy about.
Amex loses access to select Lufthansa lounges
The Amex Platinum Card and Amex Centurion Card have what’s known as the Global Lounge Collection, whereby your card gets you access to a variety of airline lounges.
Up until now, this program has included access to select Lufthansa lounges. Specifically, when flying any Lufthansa Group airline, you could access Lufthansa lounges under the following circumstances:
- Those with the Amex Platinum Card can access Lufthansa Business Lounges when flying economy
- Those with the Amex Platinum Card can access Lufthansa Senator Lounges when flying business class
- Those with the Amex Centurion Card can access Lufthansa First Lounges, regardless of the class they’re traveling in; Lufthansa only has First Lounges in Frankfurt and Munich, and the First Class Terminal is excluded from this agreement
Unfortunately this benefit won’t be around much longer, as reflected in the terms & conditions of Amex’s lounge program. As of October 1, 2026, Amex and Lufthansa will be ending their lounge agreement, meaning that the Amex Platinum Card will no longer offer access to any Lufthansa lounge locations (unless they participate in Priority Pass, in which case there’s still potentially indirect access).
I don’t like to see this change, but on the plus side…
I’m obviously not a fan of this perk being cut. It was pretty awesome for those with the Amex Platinum Card (since we could even get a lounge “upgrade” if traveling in business class), and I know those with the Amex Centurion Card also loved their elevated lounge access.
I’m curious if Amex or Lufthansa pushed for this agreement to end. I have to imagine that Lufthansa either didn’t want to extend the agreement anymore, or demanded more money than Amex was willing to pay. Then again, I have a hard time imagining Lufthansa turning down a revenue stream, so I’m not sure what to make of that.
I do think some actual Lufthansa frequent flyers will be happy about this policy change. Lufthansa lounges tend to be very crowded, so this should reduce crowding in some small way. However, I think only a very small percentage of passengers access Lufthansa lounges this way, so I wouldn’t expect it to be a game changer, or anything.
Bottom line
As of October 1, 2026, premium Amex cards will no longer offer access to Lufthansa lounges. This was a longstanding agreement, so I’m sad to see it finally pulled, after so many years. Ultimately these kinds of partnerships do change over time as strategic interests evolve, so this isn’t actually too surprising. But still…
What do you make Amex & Lufthansa cutting ties on lounge access?
