The news: American Express debuted a co-branded airport lounge at YUL Montréal-Trudeau in partnership with Aspire Executive Lounges, per a press release.

Diving deeper: This is Amex’s first co-branded lounge in Canada and the airport’s first common-use lounge in the domestic zone. Spanning 3,700 square feet, the lounge boasts 100 seats in a variety of layouts—dining spaces, bar stools, lounge areas, and workstations—to optimize functionality for travelers. 

Amex cardholders can anticipate Québécois culinary touches and aesthetic design choices as they pass through the space.

Why this matters: Amex is taking a page out of Capital One’s book with open-use third spaces, like Capital One’s cafes. By broadening its appeal to travelers, it could encourage signups across its lower-tier card offerings while maintaining premium lounge exclusivity for Platinum members.

By building more lounges, Amex can make sure cardholders are more likely to feel the experiential value tied to their cards, cementing their loyalty and avoiding attrition to issuers who are also experimenting with the airport lounge concept.

Premium perks: Amex is also preparing for the highly anticipated Platinum card refresh. As issuers chase after card volume from wealthy spenders, Amex needs to distinguish itself in terms of rewards offerings. 

Expanding its international lounge footprint and tightening eligibility requirements for access—a change likely to come with the refresh—could return a sense of exclusivity to its airport lounges and bolster the issuers’ rewards outlook. 

Our take: All eyes are on Amex as the Platinum card refresh draws near. 

Amid a steady drip of card teases, it’s no surprise that international locations are getting extra love from the issuer: International consumer card volume increased 15% YoY per Q2 earnings, over double US card volume. Strengthening its rewards to align with international cardholders’ taste has huge return value for Amex.

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