American And British Airways’ New Joint Premium Lounges In JFK Have Fresh Kosher Meals From Fresko!

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United isn’t the only airline upgrading its kosher food lounge offering this month.

AA and BA joined together this month to open 3 premium lounges in JFK’s Terminal 8, thanks to BA’s move from T7 to T8.

They are branded as the Chelsea Lounge, Soho Lounge, and Greenwich Lounge. The Flagship lounge in JFK has closed and is rebranded as the Greenwich Lounge.

DansDeals reader Jay B. shares that the lounges are offering fresh Fresko kosher meals upon request. The meals are certified kosher by the Star-K and Tartikov.

Jay shares that the lounges don’t currently have kosher wine, but they plan to have that available next month.

American tells DansDeals that “Our Chelsea, Soho, and Greenwich lounges all offer Fresko meals, however our Greenwich lounge may have limited selections and select options from the menu at times, while Chelsea and Soho offer the menu in full.”

The full kosher menu is:

• Breaded Pollock, with harvest rice medley and vegetable medley
• Baked Ziti
• Herb Chicken Skewers, on basmati rice with carrots, currants, and potato
• Meatloaf, with mashed potato and roasted vegetable medley
• Chocolate Chip Cookie
• Cinnamon Danish

The JFK Admirals Club has frozen Spring Valley herb roasted chicken. While that may be better than nothing, it’s a shame that the Admirals Club doesn’t offer fresh meals from Fresko as well, as those clubs are much easier to access than the joint lounges.

American uses frozen Borenstein/Regal meals on its flights from the US, except for Emuna meals from Los Angeles. That’s not competitive compared to the fresh Borenstein meals served by El Al from NYC and fresh Fresko meals served by United from Newark. Other American flagship lounges still use frozen Spring Valley or Borenstein/Regal meals.

Delta lounges also serve frozen Spring Valley or Borenstein/Regal meals in their hub lounges.

The access rules for the joint lounges are complicated.

The most exclusive is the Chelsea Lounge, located above gate 14.

To enter the Chelsea Lounge you’ll need to either:

• Have Concierge Key status and fly on AA in any class to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Hawaii via Chicago or Dallas, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or deep South America.

• Fly AA Flagship First Class, BA First Class, or AA Flagship Business Plus Class to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or deep South America.
  • Note that regular business class does not qualify for Chelsea Lounge access, this is only for purchased Flagship Business Plus fares:

The mid-tier club is the Soho Lounge, also located above gate 14.

To enter the Soho Lounge you’ll need to either:

• Fly in First Class on any OneWorld flight to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or South America.
• Have AA Executive Platinum/Platinum Pro status or Alaska MVP Gold 75K status and fly in any class on an AA flight to Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or deep South America or any non-AA OneWorld flight to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or South America.
• Have OneWorld Emerald status from an airline besides for AA or Alaska and fly in any class on any OneWorld flight, including AA and Alaska flights.
• Have Concierge Key status and fly in any class on any OneWorld flight.

If you have access to the Chelsea or Soho lounges, you can also use the new T8 joint premium checkin facility:

The lower tier club is the Greenwich Lounge, located above gate 12.

To enter the Greenwich Lounge you’ll need to either:

• Fly in Business Class on an AA flight to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Hawaii via Chicago or Dallas, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or deep South America.
• Fly in Business Class on any non-AA OneWorld flight.
• Have AA Platinum status or Alaska MVP Gold status and fly in any class on an AA flight to Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or deep South America or any non-AA OneWorld flight to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, or South America.
• Have OneWorld Sapphire status from an airline besides for AA or Alaska and fly in any class on any OneWorld flight, including AA and Alaska flights.

Will premium kosher food in airport lounges change how you travel?