American Express Centurion is the most popular airport lounge brand in the U.S., according to the inaugural J.D. Power Airport Lounge Benchmark survey.
Among branded airline lounges, Delta Sky Club leads the way.
The survey of 1,430 travelers who visited a U.S. airport lounge in the past year was fielded from September through October.
Another interesting finding: Access to a preferred lounge has become a major driver of airport and airline selection.
The survey included seven airline lounge brands: Centurion, Sky Club, Capital One, Chase Sapphire, American Airlines Admirals Club, Alaska and United Club. Sizeable lounge networks The Club and Escape Lounges weren't included in the published report because survey sample size wasn't large enough, said Michael Taylor, J.D. Power's managing director of travel, hospitality and retail.
The survey also didn't include the United Polaris, American Flagship or Delta One premium lounge brands, nor did it include international airline-branded lounges.
Airport lounge brands, by the numbers
The Centurion Lounge brand led the way with a customer satisfaction index of 782 on J.D. Power's 1,000-point scale.
Capital One and Sky Club brands were next with 773 points, followed by Chase Sapphire with 771 points. In the bottom half of the survey were Admirals Club with 753 points, Alaska lounges with 748 points and United Club with 705 points.
Food and beverage offerings are the biggest draw of lounges, J.D. Power found, with 74% of respondents citing F&B as a reason for going to a lounge. More than half of those, 38%, said they visited an airport lounge to avoid expensive airport eating and drinking options.
Among lounge visitors, 34% said they gained access from a credit card perk, 21% gained access due to elite status with an airline and 18% had lounge memberships.
Notably, 47% of respondents said access to a preferred airport lounge is a driver of airport and connecting airport selection.
Taylor said he was surprised by how high that figure was. But he also said he was among the flyers whose flight selection is shaped by lounge access. He likes to fly early on Delta out of LaGuardia so he can take advantage of his favorite Sky Club.
"It definitely does impact the flights I take," Taylor said.