Amex’s Sidecar is the next big thing in small airport lounges

For decades, the first rule of the airport loungescape has been “bigger is better”. And that’s understandable, given the continued growth in business class travel and the swelling ranks of frequent flyers.

But not every traveller wants to spend long hours sitting in the lounge ahead of their flight.

Many – especially business travellers, and doubly so those on domestic itineraries – are pressed for time, and deliberately arrive at the airport perhaps just 60 minutes before boarding commences.

This, in part, is driving a new trend in airport lounges: smaller, secondary spaces designed for a quick pit stop rather than a three-hour residency.

These don’t replace a larger, primary lounge in the airport. Instead, they supplement it with variations on a ‘mini-lounge’ theme for the short-stay passenger.

American Express debuts the Sidecar lounge

Now open at Las Vegas is the first in a family of compact American Express Sidecar lounges.

Officially called Sidecar by The Centurion Lounge, it looks less an airport lounge and more a hidden outpost of some members-only club with a fine dining focus.

American Express' new Sidecar lounge at Las Vegas.

Capacity at the scaled-down Sidecar lounge is limited to just 33 travellers holding an Amex Platinum or Centurion card, who can enter the Sidecar lounge only within 90 minutes of their flight’s departure time.

In practice, allowing for boarding and time to get to the gate, this means less than one hour of lounge time – and the Sidecar concept is very much built around this.

American Express' new Sidecar lounge at Las Vegas.

Every item on the extensive à la carte menu is delivered to your table in under eight minutes, and a focus on Chef-designed small plates encourages you to sample several dishes as time permits.

The seasonal menu changes every 30 days, with the current offering including avocado brioche toast, açai breakfast bowls, chicken parma sliders (this month’s entry from the rotating Signature Sandwich selection), mini lobster rolls, charcuterie plates and parmesan truffle fries.

Dining at American Express' new Sidecar lounge at Las Vegas.

Add cocktails, mocktails, spirits and small-vineyard wines, and you can appreciate how Sidecar elevates the ‘small airport lounge’ model into an intimate and exclusive experience.

“When we looked at customer behavior in the lounges, there’s a lot of customers who come on their own, or two people, without a lot of time,” explains Audrey Hendley, president of American Express Travel.

American Express' new Sidecar lounge at Las Vegas.

“They want an elevated experience, something to eat, something to drink, and to get themselves on their way. So we designed the lounge in a smaller space to suit the needs of those customers.”

“Sidecar is not designed for big groups,” who are more likely to be accommodated in the terminal’s much larger American Express Centurion Lounge.

American Express' new Sidecar lounge at Las Vegas.

The design of the lounge cleverly embraces Sidecar’s small footprint by adopting a speakeasy-inspired aesthetic of dark wood, emerald green-tiled walls, brass accents, plush seating and low lighting – all a world away from the neon glare of Vegas.

Also read: Qantas launches non-stop flights to Las Vegas

Grab-and-go for those on the go

Sidecar is the most upmarket spin we’ve yet seen on this "mini-lounge" idea.

An Air Canada Cafe lounge.

Air Canada was an early pioneer with its Air Canada Cafe concept, launched in 2019 in Toronto and now also featuring at Vancouver and Montreal.

An adjunct to the crowded Maple Leaf lounges, each Air Canada Cafe ditches the heavy meals and bar service for barista coffee, fresh pastries, and a "grab and go" pantry.

An Air Canada Cafe lounge.

It proved that a significant portion of the premium market doesn't actually want a full lounge experience every time they fly. Sometimes, they just want a quiet corner and a decent flat white.

Other US carriers are now experimenting with their own versions of this strategy, including United’s Club Fly (at Denver and Houston) and American Airlines’ Provisions by Admirals Club (at Charlotte).

A United Club Fly lounge.

Driving this foray into smaller-footprint lounge concepts are the competing factors of real estate and crowd control.

Airport terminal space is at an all-time premium, so finding 1,000m² for a flagship lounge is nearly impossible in an established terminal.

But finding 150m² for a cafe-style outpost – especially where there might not be the need for a full kitchen or even a bathroom – is a much easier sell.

More importantly, it allows lounge operators to segment their customers.

By funneling the “short stay” travellers into a Sidecar or Cafe lounge, they can keep their main lounges for those on longer international connections.