I arrived at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport a few hours before my flight to Columbus, OH so I decided to check out one of the four Admirals Clubs the airport has to offer. You could say American runs the airport with flights departing from 4 of the 5 terminals. This makes it guaranteed you will have at least one Admirals Club within easy walking distance to your gate. However, since I arrived so early I decided to check out the Admirals club in Terminal B. Since my flight tonight was leaving out of terminal C I used the convenient Skylink, which comes by every two minutes, and made the quick hop over to Terminal B. One of the many things I like about DFW is that once you go through security in one terminal you have access to every terminal via either the Skylink or the walk ways. I personally prefer the Skylink but it is nice to know if anything goes wrong and it breaks down you can still make it to every terminal walking.

The hours for the DFW Terminal B Admirals Club are as follows:

Daily: 6 a.m. – 9:30 pm

The location of Terminal B is probably my least favorite of all the Admirals clubs at DFW. It is at the very end of the terminal near gate B4. You could almost argue it is a second Admirals club for Terminal D if you are leaving out of gates D36 – D40, since it is right around the corner. The club entrance has frosted glass and automatic doors that open upon approaching. While the area around the club and leading up to the entrance is rather dull, they did a good job of making the entrance appear inviting and inclusive.

The front desk had only one person working and she was on the phone when I entered, so after a slight wait she checked me in and pointed me towards the bar area. I was free to check out the Club. While Terminal B is by far the smallest of all the Admirals Clubs in DFW it offers all the amenities you need while waiting for a flight.

My first stop was the bar and as you can see on the left they have a departures board to keep track of your flight. As is the case in every Admirals Club, house wine, well spirits, and certain beers are complimentary. I decided to grab a Bud Light on draft and check out the rest of the lounge.

In the far back of the lounge, around the corner, there are a series of empty cubicles for business travelers who need a place to catch up on work. There are also printers and conference rooms for anyone who just cannot wait until arriving for that business meeting.

I did not actually go into the conference rooms but they seemed wide open for use, just as the rest of the club, since only about 10 other people were sharing it with me at the time. After checking out the business center perks of the club I decided to relax and check out the views. Being one of the two Admirals clubs at DFW with windows facing the gates and runway, the seating area offered a decent view. Granted, it is very low as there is no elevator to enter this club so you do not get the higher up view looking down on the airplanes or out to the runway like one would find in Terminal D. Nonetheless, if someone wanted to feel as if they were at an airport and look at planes this would do the trick.

While I was sitting there surfing the internet (the Wi-Fi in this club was more than adequate) the shades on the window slowly started lowering. This was perfect timing as the sun was starting to shine in and give a glare bouncing off everything. Most of the Admirals Clubs have this feature, but as always, I think it is a nice touch.

I continued to enjoy my complimentary Bud Light and then snapped another picture from my seat facing towards the bar area. The snacks they have laid out are on the left in this picture below about halfway between where I was sitting and the bar.

After a few more minutes of working on my laptop I decided to go check out the snack area and grab a plate. As you can see, the food options are very similar to the other clubs, just in a smaller amount since this was a smaller Admirals club.

The food selection, which American has been working to reinvigorate, involved a choice of two different types of soup, cheese, vegetables, chips, humus, apples, bananas, cookies, and brownies. I went with a cup of soup, humus with chips and carrots, and a brownie. I have to say, even though this was a very limited selection, everything I ate was very good. I realize soup, humus, and brownies doesn’t exactly scream gourmet dining but for what they were, they were very good. And to be quite honest the brownies in the Admirals Club are quite possibly some of the best around. I’m almost tempted to bring in some vanilla ice cream and mix in the brownies for a little pre-flight brownie Sundae treat one of these days. After my light snack I relaxed a little more before heading to my gate. Before leaving I snapped another picture of the lounge to cover another angle.

Overall I was very surprised with the lounge in Terminal B. I would never call it top tier in terms of airport lounges but for its purpose it is does a very good job. The ambiance is nice, it doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of wear and tear (presumably because it has less visitors than the other 3 lounges) and the snacks are good enough for eating before the short flights most people will be taking out of Terminal B. However, if I had a longer layover I would probably make the short walk over to Terminal D to use the Terminal D Admirals Club. I would love to hear what everyone else thinks of the Admirals clubs at DFW and how they stack up to other clubs in different cities. Until next time!