My Delta One Lounge Experience: Premium Perfection, 10/10, Bravo!

I’m just finishing off my review trip to Hong Kong, with a quick side trip from New York to Los Angeles in Delta One business class. While I’ll share my initial thoughts on the flight in a separate post, in this post I want to talk about the Delta One Lounges in both New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX), which I visited on both ends of my flight.

We’ve seen the opening of Delta One Lounges in recent times, which are Delta’s new premium lounges, intended to compete with American Flagship Lounges and United Polaris Lounges. The lounges looked great, so I had high expectations, but I was curious to experience them firsthand.

I can’t even begin to say how delighted I was by both of these facilities. Honestly, they make American Flagship Lounges look and feel like school cafeterias, by comparison. And they even leave United Polaris Lounges in the dust. Hell, I’d argue that the Delta One Lounge JFK is among the world’s best business class lounges… and very high on that list, to boot.

Anyway, enough of that. Below are my initial thoughts, and then soon I’ll have a full trip report.

The Delta One Lounge JFK sets the standard in the United States

The Delta One Lounge New York (JFK) was the first in the network to open, and it’s also by far the largest, at nearly 40,000 square feet, with seating for over 500 people. Design-wise, the lounge is gorgeous. It really doesn’t feel like an airport lounge, but really feels more like a high-end hotel, or something.

I also love Delta’s commitment to having outdoor terraces, which are even open year-round, and have direct apron views.

I also love the dining concept. There’s no self-serve food in the entire lounge, but instead there’s the market area, which is essentially an all-day buffet with people in the kitchen who serve you, with endless cold and hot options. Honestly, you’d probably be very happy if this was the extent of the dining, as this alone has more food than most business class lounges.

But then you also have an a la carte restaurant, which really feels more like a “real” restaurant than an airport lounge restaurant.

Here’s the thing — some airport lounges have what’s supposed to be a restaurant style dining experience, but in reality, it’s only good by airport standards. In this case, the food was honestly so good that I would’ve been happy to pay for it at a high-end restaurant in a major city.

Pulling that off in an airport, especially with the number of guests being served, is nothing short of amazing. Every time I’ve dined in a United Polaris Lounge, for example, I’ve thought that the food was quite good for an airport, but not actually full-on restaurant quality.

As an appetizer, I had the tuna crudo with avocado, shaved radish, sesame snow, and black bean sauce. YUM!

For the main course, I had the pan roasted branzino with exotic mushroom, tomato fondu, and herb butter. Again, so good!

Then for dessert, I had the opera cake with coffee crumble and chocolate sauce, and my excellent server brought a side of ice cream, just because she said she likes it that way. Love it!

The lounge has plenty of other amenities, like a wellness area, with everything from rest pods, to massage chairs, to spa treatments.

The Delta One Lounge LAX is small, but packs a mighty punch

The Delta One Lounge Los Angeles (LAX) is “only” around 10,000 square feet, with seating for nearly 200 people. I’ve gotta be honest, after visiting the JFK location, I thought the LAX location would be underwhelming, given its small size. To my surprise, I actually liked the experience just as much, though admittedly they both have their advantages.

Much like the Delta One Lounge JFK, the LAX location is also beautifully designed, though it’s definitely scaled down, since it’s only around one-quarter the size.

Here’s what makes the Delta One Lounge LAX unique, though. While the Delta One Lounge JFK has a dedicated dining area, the entire LAX lounge has table service. So it doesn’t matter where you sit — whether it’s at the bar, or on the terrace, or on one of the couches — there’s a table setting, and a server who constantly looks after you.

Want a drink, or a three-course meal, or sushi? They’ll take care of it for you! I don’t know another widely accessible business class lounge with that level of service at every single seat.

I had an incredible mezcal negroni, which was as good as you’d get at an expensive cocktail bar, down to having a big cube.

While there’s a large menu you could order off of, I was most intrigued by the lounge’s sushi selection, as there’s a legit sushi bar with chefs who freshly prepare all orders.

You don’t expect to be served an unagi hand roll in an airport lounge, and honestly, typically if you’re being offered one, you should probably be skeptical and run the other way. But gosh, Delta really pulled it off, and the selection was very good.

The desserts were also pretty indulgent, with everything from a little bar with sweets, to the popcorn ice cream sundae I had. Yum.

Despite its much smaller size, the lounge also has a wellness area. While there aren’t any “human” treatments, there are seats for resting, and also some of the most intense massage chairs I’ve ever tried.

Delta One Lounges have amazing & passionate staff

I want to touch on one other aspect of the Delta One Lounge experience that really impressed me — the staff. Simply put, every single person working in the lounge really makes you feel welcome, and like they’re happy that you’re there, and want you to have a good time.

Delta has also tailored the experience in such a way that they’ve put thought into every aspect of the passenger experience. When you enter the lounge, you’re given a card with all the amenities available, the staff explain what to expect, and they even offer to store your luggage (at least at JFK).

Whether at JFK or LAX, I couldn’t have been more impressed by the service level, and the friendliness and attentiveness of the staff. Where do I even begin?

Often I feel sheepish taking lounge pictures, and like I get the evil eye from staff (even when I do it in empty lounges, to respect the privacy of others). At the JFK location, one of the servers stopped me to say “I’m always so happy when I see people taking pictures, it means they like what we’re offering.”

I overheard another guest tell the server in the restaurant how great the service was, and how it was better than any lounge he had been to. He responded with “when we started working here, Delta explained to us that the number one reason people choose the airline is because of the service, and we want to be part of that, and make sure we go above and beyond so that you have a great time and leave happy.”

I also had amazing service in both restaurants — at JFK I was being served by Alex, and at LAX I was being served by Trey, and the were both rockstars.

Just to give an example, I asked Trey which of the specialty cocktails weren’t too sweet. He was honest and said that he finds them to all be on the sweet side, but he asked me what kind of drinks I like, and insisted on making a special drink for me. I love that level of personalization and passion.

There’s one other consistent theme I heard, which gave me a chuckle. At both lounges, staff members kept asking if people had visited the other lounge (so in JFK they asked if people had visited LAX, and vice versa). As it was explained to me, there’s a bit of a rivalry between the two lounges, as to which is better. I kind of love that, because it certainly motivates people to deliver a great experience.

No matter how nice a lounge looks, if you don’t have great people working there, it can really take away from the experience. In the case of Delta One Lounges, it makes the experience. I don’t know how the airline is finding such good people (especially since most staff don’t work directly for the airline), but keep it up.

Bottom line

The new Delta One Lounge concept is a winner. While Delta may be the last to the game among the “big three” carriers with this concept, it left other carriers in the dust. As an American flyer, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to even go back to a Flagship Lounge, because it’s not even slightly comparable.

Delta has done a commendable job with its lounge concept, from beautiful design, to thoughtful amenities, to restaurant quality food and drinks, to perfect service. Well done, Delta, and I can’t wait for future visits to these lounges! I hope this level of service can be maintained.

If you’ve visited a Delta One Lounge, what was your experience like?