Advertisement Disclosure
The JFK Terminal 4 Chase Sapphire was recently launched in 2024 and has quickly cemented itself among the top Priority Pass lounges in the world. In this article, we will review the interesting origins of this lounge, the beautiful & well-thought out design, the fantastic array of food, and the other amenities available at this lounge.
The Origins Of This Particular Chase Sapphire Lounge
For long time fliers who frequented the nearby American Express Centurion lounge, the Chase Sapphire lounge is actually located exactly where the Etihad Airways Lounge is. In fact, my understanding is that Chase & The Club take turns running/operating the lounge between cardholders & Etihad business/first class customers. One of my unfortunate friends actually went to the Sapphire lounge when it was being closed down for just Etihad premium fliers—a pretty sucky discovery.
Since this lounge is being built on the infrastructure of the underlying Etihad lounge, many features of the original lounge remain. We’ll explore some of them later in this article.
How To Access the Chase Sapphire Lounge
There are two primary ways to access the Chase Sapphire Lounges:
- Have a valid Chase Sapphire Reserve, J.P. Morgan Reserve, or Ritz-Carlton Credit Card (unlimited access)
- Have a valid Priority Pass (limited access)
Those with the Chase Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve cards can bring up to two guest for free. However, the Ritz-Carlton card can bring an unlimited number of guests, which is an extremely powerful feature to have on hand.
Since the Chase Sapphire lounge is technically a Priority Pass lounge, you can access it even with a non Chase card. However, do note that your access via a non Chase card Priority Pass is extremely limited—you can only visit a Chase Sapphire lounge once per year for free. Any visits after that will incur a massive fee of $75/person (including guests).
Checking Into The Lounge
When I arrived, there was already a wait for the lounge. I waited my place in line and then showed the attendant my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. She asked for my phone number to notify me when the waitlist (about 15 minutes) would clear.
I got my text clearing me off the waitlist about 13 minutes afterwards. I showed the check in attendant my text and she let me go through to actual check in desk. There, I verified my boarding pass, identity, and card. Funnily, the desk attendant asked me if I knew I was flying from Terminal 8 (I was flying on American Airlines that day).
The Lounge Design: A Modern, Clean Feel
The lounge has a very modern, sleek feel to it. They used a lot of black, brown, and whites in their design of the lounge, which I think helped to give it a very clean and aesthetic feel to it. The emphasis on the blacks in serving areas and countertops gave a very bold feeling, which helped to highlight the brightness of the foods, etc. that they were displaying. Overall, was very impressed with the visuals of the lounge.
It definitely helped that the lounge is so new. There was no significant wear and tear evident anywhere. Additionally, given that this is an Etihad lounge, the former prayer rooms were rebranded as “reflection rooms.” I suppose this counts as a unique amenity, although I wouldn’t rank it very strongly in the amenity tier there.
The Food: A Fantastic Variety With A Made To Order Menu
The food options at this lounge did not fail to impress me. They have an area dedicated to small plates of foods with fantastic variety. When I was there, they were serving chicken tagine, braised beef, paprika potatos, apricot burrata, fresh fruit, and more. Overall, a really awesome spread of food items, served in cute black bowls that continued to accentuate the design theme the lounge was trying to drive.
The lounge also came with an “all day” made to order menu. I thought this was a pretty cool concept, where you can place orders using a QR code system tied to where you were sitting. This is very similar to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at JFK, where you can also place orders using a QR code there. Since I was a bit hungry, I ordered the Sapphire burger and an IPA.
Using the QR code ordering system was super simple. You first needed to login into the lounge Wifi and then place your order as you would anywhere. Once you place the order, it will arrive to where you are sitting because each QR code automatically has a location/number associated with it. This is why the desk attendants assign you a specific seat to stay in during the course of your stay; otherwise, your made to order requests might never arrive!
Since I was seated at the bar, my beer actually came out pretty quickly. So, while I was enjoying that, my burger came shortly after. It was a pretty solid burger and they did a pretty good job cooking it. Fries were solid as well; not overly soggy and still had a good, solid crunch to them. Pretty satisfied here all things considered!
A Clean, Sleek Bathroom With Incredible Toiletries
I was further pleasantly surprised by the bathrooms. They had a very clean smell to them and were kept in very good shape. The lighting was great and the faucets all behaved for the most part. They also had Apotheke toiletries, which run about $25 a bottle in the general market. Overall, was very happy with the bathroom, as even some American Express Centurion Lounge bathrooms can be a bit gross at times, with random toilets being broken and covered in plastic etc.
My Overall Rating Of This Lounge: 8/10
I rate lounges based on a few general criteria (these are subjective and you may, of course, have differing opinions than I do):
- Food Quality & Variety: 8/10
- Cleanliness: 10/10
- Interior Design: 8/10
- Unique Amenities: 3/10
- Value for access difficulty: 10/10
This lounge is overall great, but I think it lacks a few strong amenities that would really push it over the edge. Additionally, while the on demand dining is good, it is not the same as some first class lounge experiences out there. However, all things considered, given you can access this lounge simply by having an eligible card makes it quite accessible—you don’t even need to have a business or first class ticket.
Conclusion
The new Chase Sapphire lounge at JFK Terminal 4 is overall a fantastic lounge. With a wide variety of foods, a modernized design, clean bathrooms, and an overall lux feel, this lounge is worth visiting whenever flying from JFK. Now, should you hop terminals like I did to check it out? That’s definitely going to be more up to the individual user if anything :D
