Just ahead of the holidays, on a not-particularly busy travel day, Pearson Airport was actually doing pretty well.
Security moved quickly. The terminal felt calm. No chaos, no holiday crush — at least not yet. For anyone flying out of Toronto today, especially to the United States, this was about as smooth as it gets.
And then you hit the American Express lounge.
Despite the quiet terminal, there was a lineup of at least 25 people waiting to get in. Possibly more. No clear timeline. No real sense of whether you’d be admitted in five minutes or 45 minutes. Just a barcode you could scan to put yourself on a waiting list that didn’t seem to meaningfully change anything.
It didn’t matter how many American Express cards you had.
In my case, that’s two Business Platinum cards — cards that are aggressively marketed on the promise of lounge access as a core benefit. There are posters everywhere suggesting that lounge access is part of the value proposition. Sign up. Travel better. Be rewarded.
But at Pearson’s U.S. departures terminal — the most heavily used terminal in Toronto for business travel — that promise simply doesn’t hold.
This is Terminal 1’s U.S. transborder area, the place where Toronto’s business travelers pass through day after day. Bay Street to New York. Tech to Silicon Valley. Finance, media, consulting — this is the artery. And yet, the American Express lounge experience here feels like an afterthought.
A single overcrowded lounge. A digital waitlist that offers little clarity. No prioritization for cardholders paying thousands of dollars a year in fees. And no realistic alternative once you’re airside.
To be clear: American Express is a strong program in many respects. The points ecosystem is solid. Customer service is generally excellent. The cards offer real value — just not here, and not when it matters most.
If you’re considering an Amex Platinum primarily for lounge access at Pearson, especially for U.S. travel, don’t.
This is Canada’s largest city and its busiest travel hub. Thousands of business travelers move through this terminal every day. If Amex wants to keep positioning lounge access as a marquee benefit, it needs to materially improve the experience at Pearson — whether that means expanding capacity, adding another lounge, or rethinking access altogether.
Right now, “Membership has its privileges” rings hollow when the privilege is standing in a long line, scanning a QR code and hoping for the best.
At Pearson, at least, lounge access is not one of them.
