Delta’s first-ever premium airport lounge opens its doors this week at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. It’s a major milestone for the Atlanta-based airline, which has struggled with overcrowding and long wait times at its Sky Clubs.
Now, the carrier is offering an airport lounge exclusively for passengers traveling in the Delta One cabin, the airline’s long-haul business class product available on international and select domestic routes. (More on who can access the lounge later.)
We got a tour of the new Delta One lounge at JFK—the airline’s largest and most exclusive lounge to date. Here’s what it’s like inside.
What is it like in the Delta One Lounge?
The premium experience begins curbside with a special Delta One check-in area, where passengers are greeted by a team of Elite Service agents with warm towels and light refreshments. Starting this fall, the check-in area will connect to a private TSA screening lane.
“It’s no secret that the TSA security checkpoint, from an anxiety perspective, is the highest anxiety point,” Dwight James, Delta’s senior vice president of customer engagement & loyalty tells Condé Nast Traveler. “What this [lounge] does is alleviate it, because curbside we’re effectively taking away a lot of stress. And then when you’re getting into the lounge we’re preserving this welcoming, elevated experience.”
Once through security, the lounge is a short walk from the Terminal 4 security checkpoint, located between Concourses A and B. The chic, brightly-lit space is immediately welcoming: complete with a designated wellness area and spa, eight shower suites, a full-service brasserie restaurant, and a sunny outdoor terrace with a retractable glass ceiling.
Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, there is a space in the lounge designed intentionally for your needs. Business travelers can request extra monitors and take meetings in sound-proof phone booths I’m assured are, in fact, sound proof. Or, freshen up after a red-eye in the spacious shower suites (guests can leave their clothing inside the suite’s closet and a valet attendant will steam and and return them while you shower). And in the spa, weary travelers can be pampered with complimentary facial and massage treatments with Grown Alchemist products.
