Southwest Airlines Is Planning Two Austin Airport Lounges—One Could Become A Chase Sapphire Lounge

The new Southwest Airlines airport lounges are going to have a very interesting Chase tie-in. These new spaces blend Southwest’s signature hospitality with the proven success of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Lounge Network. Travelers can expect locally inspired dining, high-quality amenities and curated benefits. They’re pitching these as Sapphire lounge quality so not bare bones and presumbly nicer or at least better food than the median United, Delta or American lounge. It’s not yet clear what access will look like. We know there will be a premium Southwest credit card product from Chase that bundles access Presumably Southwest will sell memberships These could be co-branded lounges so that Sapphire Reserve cardmembers get in perhaps only when flying Southwest Currently Southwest status and a $500 Southwest travel credit are spend threshold benefits on Sapphire consumer and business cards, could access to these lounges be bundled when flying Southwest as well? Chase Sapphire Lounge DFW Airport But there’s something else. I was first to break the news that Southwest had committed to lounges in Austin (having FOIA’s new airport’s new use and lease agreement) and also the specific space they were using. What is especially interesting is that Southwest is effectively taking two different lounge spaces. Southwest’s new lounge is being built in the recently-opened ‘West Infill’ space above the new security checkpoint. That’s central in the main concourse. When the airport’s new concourse opens in the 2030s, Southwest’s gates will move out there. Southwest is taking lounge space at the entrance to that concourse. Chase had space in the Austin airport for two years – a ‘Sapphire Terrace’ which closed last March. Chase clearly wants back into the airport, and the airport says they do have plans for an RFP for bank lounge space (the West Infill lounge space Southwest took was originally supposed to be a bank lounge space – my hunch is that it still could be, but an RFP would be for different space). Chase Sapphire Terrace, Austin Chase Sapphire Terrace, Austin When Southwest moves to the new concourse and opens a new lounge there by their gates, they really won’t need the West Infill lounge they’re building today. I have to expect that the Southwest lounge – built to Sapphire Lounge standards – simply becomes a Chase Sapphire Lounge. Chase Sapphire Lounge Bar, Philadelphia I’m hoping that Chase’s Sapphire products gain access to cobranded Southwest lounges. Southwest is about 40% of the seats out of my home airport in Austin, so I’ll want access to these lounges… ideally without getting another Chase card to do it. That’ll make flying Southwest a little bit more likely for me. Topics on this page