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If youve ever sprinted through an airport only to land in a standing-room-only lounge buffet line, you know that the state of modern travel perks is competitive. As credit card companies and airlines rush to expand their lounge footprints, American Express is looking to double down on what it believes sets it apart: consistency, exclusivity, and culinary experience. This summer, Amex is rolling out two major updates that signal how it plans to maintain its lead in the fast-growing airport lounge landscape. The first is “The Culinary Collective,” a chef-driven revamp of food and beverage offerings at Centurion Lounges nationwide. The second is “Sidecar by The Centurion Lounge,” a brand-new, fast-format lounge experience thats set to launch at Las Vegass Harry Reid International Airport in 2026. Together, these updates offer a glimpse at Amexs evolving strategy: appealing to both high-end leisure travelers and time-crunched business flyers, all while keeping its signature level of luxury intact. A new flavor of exclusivity Rather than chasing square footage like Delta Air Lineswhose newest Sky Club in Atlanta can seat over 500 guestsAmex is banking on curated experience over capacity. Thats where The Culinary Collective comes in. Featuring rotating menus from a team of James Beard Award-winning chefs, including Mashama Bailey and Kwame Onwuachi, the initiative aims to bring restaurant-level meals into the airport setting. Youd be lucky to get into each of their restaurants on a normal day, Audrey Hendley, president of American Express Travel, tells Fast Company. Now, you can try them all in one trip. Through the Collective, new menu items will be available in all 15 U.S. Centurion Lounges beginning July 29, 2025. The focus on thoughtful dining mirrors Capital Ones approach, which leans into local partnerships with regional bakeries and breweries to create an experience that feels like stepping into a citys best café, not another airline lounge. Amex, in turn, is opting for hospitality as theater: chef-driven menus, cocktails developed by Overstorys Harrison Ginsberg, and lounge layouts designed to feel more like boutique hotels than waiting rooms. Introducing Sidecar: A lounge for the layover-challenged But what if you only have 45 minutes until boarding? Enter Sidecar, a new lounge format designed to give travelers a premium experience even if theyre short on time. Set to launch in 2026, the space will offer table-side service, curated small plates, and a speakeasy vibeall within close proximity to the main Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas. Think of it as Amexs answer to the crowding crisis thats plagued lounge operators in recent years. Rather than just add square footage like Delta or increase access fees like United, Sidecar is an attempt to diversify the experience based on how travelers actually use lounges. Were seeing a significant segment of travelers who only spend 30 to 45 minutes in the lounge, said Hendley. Sidecar is our way of honoring that time with the same level of care and service. That echoes Capital Ones design philosophy for its growing lounge network, which includes grab-and-go options, regionally inspired food, and perfect airport beers crafted in collaboration with local breweries. As Capital Ones Jenn Scheurich put it: It doesnt really matter whether you have 15 minutes or an houryou still want a great lounge experience. Travel benefits for the TikTok generation The updates come as American Express embarks on its largest Platinum Card refresh in company history, with new perks targeting millennial and Gen Z cardholders, who now make up 35% of the companys U.S. consumer spending. With over 1,550 lounges worldwideincluding 29 Centurion Lounges and new ones coming to Salt Lake City, Newark, Tokyo, and AmsterdamAmex already boasts the largest global lounge network of any U.S. card issuer. But in a post-pandemic travel boom where lounge access is no longer a rarity but a battleground, the pressure to keep experiences differentiated is high. While Delta is betting big on footprint and familiarity, leaning into hometown-inspired art and hospitality in its new Atlanta Sky Club, Amex is betting that its brand of curated luxury still wins loyaltyeven if that means skipping the buffet for a quick cocktail before boarding. More than perks: a play for emotional loyalty For American Express, lounges like the new Centurion Sidecar in Las Vegas arent just about creature comfortstheyre part of a broader strategy to build what the company sees as lasting, emotional loyalty. Yes, the lounge has yuzu cocktails and espresso crme brlée. But it also has something harder to measure: the feeling of being taken care of when everything else about air travel is chaos. Were always looking for ways to better understand how customers travel and what theyre looking for in the experience, says Hendley. Theres nothing better than settling in at a Centurion Lounge and starting your trip with a great meal and a great drink. Whether youre going on vacation or traveling for work, we want to make that moment count. For now, Amex is staying tight-lipped about the specifics of its Platinum Card refresh. What it has made clear is that the refresh is aimed squarely at younger travelers. Theyre not just looking for benefitstheyre looking for a brand that gets them, Hendley said. That means spaces that feel modern and intimate, perks that are easy to use, and partnerships that feel aspirational but not out of reach. To stand apart from its rivals, American Express is banking on design, consistency, and culinary clout to keep members engaged. And in Sidecars case, its also about speed. Many of our visitors spend less than an hour in our lounges, and weve created Sidecar specifically for them, Hendley said. You still want a great lounge experiencejust in a shorter window. Ultimately, the lounge is the hookbut the goal is bigger. Amex wants card members to feel like wherever theyre going, the brand is already there, holding the door open and mixing the drink.
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E-Commerce
When an emergency happens in Collier County, Florida, the 911 calls go to one of the most high-tech communications centers in the U.S., where callers can send text and video from the scene to dispatchers.Moving to what’s known as an NG911or Next Generation 911system is a journey Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and Bob Finney, the county’s director of communication, have been on for much of the past decade.It’s a long way from Feb. 16, 1968, when Alabama’s then-House Speaker Rankin Fite made the nation’s very first 911 call in Haleyville, Alabama, on a bright red, rotary-style landline telephone. That ceremonial call came just 35 days after AT&T announced plans to use 911 as a nationwide emergency number.Today, most calls to 911 originate with cellphones, with dispatchers in upgraded centers using geo tracking to get accurate geographic locations from callers.But the response time in an emergency depends on the type of technology being used at any of the 6,000 emergency communications centers in the U.S. that receive 911 calls. There is no uniform emergency system in the U.S., so individual cities, counties, states or geographic regions are responsible for operating their own 911 call centers.While some states have fully updated to NG911 systems, others are still using legacy 911 systems that rely on antiquated equipment.“We’re just reminded in these last two weeks, with the flooding in Texas, just how important the work of 911 is,” said Michael Martin, CEO of RapidSOS, which provides infrastructure that passes critical data to emergency centers across the United States. The future is now for 911 The Collier County Sheriff’s Office covers 911 calls from an area of about 2,030 square miles (5,258 square kilometers) that stretches from sandy beaches at the southernmost tip of the Gulf Coast on Florida’s peninsula inland to the Everglades.It’s a region that has been ravaged by hurricanes this century, including Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricanes Ian and Milton most recently.That’s why Sheriff Rambosk wanted a high-tech emergency operations center.“We just believe that when we can reduce the response time using technology, it will improve safety and survivability of those calling in,” said Rambosk, who has been sheriff since 2009. “And that’s really what we’re all about, keeping people safe and rescuing them when they need it.”Today 61 full-time employees and three part-timers staff two emergency operations centers around the clock. They rely on data that RapidSOS collects from connected buildings, devices, vehicles and even smart watches to send first responders to emergency scenes. The baseline data is provide free of charge to all 911 centers, Martin said. Mixing technology with emergency response As Hurricane Helene was tracking toward north Florida last September, forecasters were predicting it could hit Tallahassee as a major Category 3 storm. Officials in Leon County, which serves the state’s Capitol and nearby counties on legacy 911 equipment, reached out to Collier County, some 430 miles (692 kilometers) to the southeast, to see if they could take over emergency calls if the storm knocked their center out.Helene moved to the east of Tallahassee, but Collier County was prepared to help if needed.“Because of the partnership with Rapid SOS, they were able to create a map to where not only did we see our own calls, but we could see exactly where the calls were coming in Tallahassee,” Finney said.Collier County has also partnered with Charleston, South Carolina, as a backup 911 center. Each region is fully prepared to take on 911 calls for the other in case their emergency system goes down for any reason.It’s a similar story in North Carolina, where legislation in 2017 helped establish funding for a next generation 911 system, said Pokey Harris, who serves as president of the National Association of State 911 Administrators and executive director of the North Carolina 911 Board.Harris said Hurricane Helene provided validation for the upgraded system by being able to direct 911 calls from areas that were devastated by the storm to other parts of North Carolina that were not affected.“During Helene, if a citizen could reach a dial tone, even though their local 911 center may have been impacted because of infrastructure devastation, another center somewhere in the state could answer their call,” Harris said. No federal funding for next-generation systems Next Generation 911 systems aren’t cheap.“There has been no federal funding for 911,” Martin, of RapidSOS said. “It has been in various draft formats as long as I’ve been doing this and it’s never gotten through Congress.”There is also no federal oversight of 911, he said.“It’s really quite remarkable how well 911 works despite those challenges,” Martin said. “I think it’s a testament to the people of 911, not the technology.” Freida Frisaro, Associated Press
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Organizers of the recent “No Kings Day” and “Hands Off” pro-democracy protests against the Trump administration have planned another nationwide day of action, dubbed “Good Trouble Lives On,” for this Thursday, July 17, which will focus on promoting racial justice and voting rights. The organizers chose this date to commemorate the five-year anniversary of Congressman John Lewis’s passing, a civil rights leader who frequently used the phrase good trouble,” and famously said, “get in good trouble, necessary trouble and help redeem the soul of America”meaning, when necessary, one should protest injustice. Lewis, who served in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 2021 representing Georgia’s 5th congressional district, was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, participating in the first mass sit-ins and Freedom Rides. He spoke at the March on Washington in 1963 alongside Martin Luther King Jr. His speech on that August day ended: “‘Wake up America! Wake up!’ For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient”a sentiment echoed by many speakers at the many protests this year. Heres everything you need to know about the “Good Trouble Lives On” July 17 protests. What is the ‘Good Trouble Lives On’ July 17 protest? Nationwide protests in all 50 states are aimed at carrying Lewis’s legacy forward with a flagship event scheduled to take place in Chicago, and key additional events to be held in Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; Annapolis, Maryland; St. Louis; and tentatively San Francisco. “Good Trouble Lives On: John Lewis National Day of Action is rooted in justice and peace,” Christine Wood and Allison Pulliam, codirectors of Declaration for American Democracy Coalition, one of the main organizers of the event, told Fast Company. “For the past five years, we have fought to protect our civil liberties that generations of marginalized Americans have worked tirelessly to secure.” “In only his first few months in office, Trump has pulverized that progress, attacking our right to vote, cracking down on free speech and our right to protest, deporting people without due process, cutting crucial programs, and DEI initiatives, defunding livesaving research,” they added. Who is behind the July 17 protest? The main organizing groups of the “Good Trouble Lives On” protests are the Transformative Justice Coalition, Black Voters Matter, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, League of Women Voters, the Declaration for American Democracy Coalition, and Mi Familia en Acción, along with a coalition of other groups. How big is the ‘Good Trouble Lives On’ protest? We expect at least several hundred thousand people will attend across the country, a spokesperson for “Good Trouble Lives On” told Fast Company. As of Wednesday, July 9, some 1,200 events and rallies were already confirmed. Since Trump took office in January, millions of Americans have taken to the streets and organized rallies across the nation in record numbers from big cities to rural towns, in both blue and red states. For more information about the July 17 protests and other scheduled events in your area, go here.
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