Over the past several months, Delta Air Lines has very nicely been growing its network of Delta One Lounges. So far, we’ve seen lounges open in New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), and Boston (BOS). In this post I wanted to take an updated look at what we can expect from the next lounge in the network to open, especially as more details are being made available.
In this post:
Delta One Lounge coming to Seattle in 2025
Delta is expected to open a Delta One Lounge at Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SEA) in 2025. Initially the lounge was supposed to open in early 2025, but that timeline has now shifted to the spring of 2025, so I’d assume the lounge will open in the second quarter.
It’s pretty impressive to see the pace at which Delta is able to grow its network of Delta One Lounges, given how hard it can be for airlines to find real estate at major airports. The focus so far has been on more competitive airports. Within a year of the lounge concept launching, all four of Delta’s coastal hubs will have these lounges.
You’ll notice that Delta has no firm plans to open Delta One Lounges at its biggest fortress hubs, like Atlanta (ATL) and Detroit (DTW), even though they have considerable long haul business class flying. However, there are plans for a Delta One Lounge in Salt Lake City (SLC), though there’s no opening timeline.
While plans for a Delta One Lounge in Seattle were announced some time ago, I imagine Delta is especially happy about having made that decision now, given that Alaska plans to turn Seattle into a global gateway, initially with Hawaiian A330s. The airline even plans to open a new international lounge. The battle in Seattle really is heating up.
What exactly is the Delta One Lounge plan for Seattle?
Where will the Delta One Lounge Seattle be located, and how big will it be? The expectation is that Delta is building a combined Sky Club and Delta One Lounge in the Concourse A expansion. This expansion is adding 52,000 square feet to the terminal, with 36,000 square feet of that being additional lounge space.
Delta will be opening a two floor lounge, with the first floor having a Delta Sky Club, and the second floor having a Delta One Lounge. The new Sky Club is expected to be 21,000 square feet. That leaves a total of 15,000 square feet for the Delta One Lounge, and also for The Club at SEA, as a new location is opening.
So I’m curious to see what Delta comes up with in Seattle. Will the airline use a similar concept to what we’re seeing in Boston, where the Delta One Lounge is on the small side, and has a heavy focus on dining, while the Sky Club is large? Based on the math of the square footage, that’s the sense I’m getting.
Bottom line
A Delta One Lounge is expected to open in Seattle in the spring of 2025, which will make it the fourth location for the lounge network. I’m happy to see the pace at which Delta is opening these lounges, as they make Delta’s business class ground experience more competitive (which is particularly important in Seattle right now).
What do you make of the plans for a Delta One Lounge Seattle?
This is unfortunate but honestly if the quality of this lounge comes anywhere close to the one at LAX then it will be well worth the wait.
One big difference from LAX will be the entry, or lack thereof. What makes LAX so special is that it feels like you've never truly entered the main airport. It's akin to entering a fancy hotel lobby. With SEA you're still going to face a frustrating security experience, even with PreCheck and Clear.
And the security experience is going to get worse, since they will be moving the closest security area (checkpoint 1) downstairs. So for Precheck, you will either have to walk from the check-in desks, away from the lounge towards checkpoint 4. Or go from the check-in desks, downstairs to the new checkpoint 1, then back upstairs.
Bummer… so it’s getting delayed again. They used to have a pop up sign in The current skyclub saying it was coming by the end of 2024. And then they announced online that it would be early 2025 and then Q1 2025 and now it sounds like Q2. I’m travelling thru SEA on DL ONE in Feb and march and was hoping to have it open by then as I have long layovers.
Ben: In a TPG article on the Boston D1 lounge opening, Claude Roussel confirmed there are plans to open an ATL lounge, but it years away. He also said the SEA D1 club opening would likely be in the latter part of Q2. I guess the last day of Spring is technically 6/20/25. Keep in mind that prior to announcing the D1 lounge, the new SEA Sky Club was on the list for 2024 openings, so this is not the first delay in opening.
Have we entered the "Lounge Wars" to the point they become passé. Each airline or credit card trying to out do the other. Yet, disappoint with noise, clutter, sleeping on benches, stale selections, etc.
I would be more focused on the onboard experience which has headed downward for the last decade or so. That's where loyal develops into repeat bookings.
Not building Delta One lounges in ATL, DTW, or MSP for the indefinite future certainly seems insulting to those captive markets.
Also a bit short-sighted on competitive grounds.
Someone heading to a non SkyTeam hub in Europe from MSP, for example, often faces a choice of which side of the Atlantic to transfer on. Fly to Amsterdam, and onward to Brussels, or fly to Chicago and take a nonstop to Brussels.
Delta’s arrogance toward...
Not building Delta One lounges in ATL, DTW, or MSP for the indefinite future certainly seems insulting to those captive markets.
Also a bit short-sighted on competitive grounds.
Someone heading to a non SkyTeam hub in Europe from MSP, for example, often faces a choice of which side of the Atlantic to transfer on. Fly to Amsterdam, and onward to Brussels, or fly to Chicago and take a nonstop to Brussels.
Delta’s arrogance toward hub passengers unless you are a top tier 360 probably would steer me to steer overseas travel to another carrier/alliance.
Regarding Delta One transcon, to me, the hard product on AA T-Birds (old as it is) is superior to Delta's B767-300s. I sense that when the AA's XLRs roll out, my preference will be reinforced. Service in F on T-Birds has always been top notch. Others might disagree but, as a consumer, that's my preference. What makes financial sense for Delta is another thing.
It's Seattle, we're talking A330-900s and (soon) A350s. Not sure how 767s fit in the picture here.
Ben has to be trolling at this point, right?
Hey @Ben, it's worth noting that Delta is actively blocking Air France and KLM passengers from the BOS lounge, and it's their official stated policy on the website.
Given that SEA's lounge is probably designed to be similar to BOS, it'll be interesting to see how Delta handles it at SEA or if it's unique to BOS.
@ yoloswag420 -- Have a post scheduled about that shortly, standby!
This is not unexpected and is similar to other airlines. AA reserves Flagship First Dining to its own passengers -- at JFK, there's the Chelsea Lounge for its own passengers (and BA's) and a separate lounge for One World Emeralds. BA reserves the Concorde Room to its own passengers while maintaining a separate first class lounge for One World Emeralds. Qatar reserves a distinctive first class lounge for its own passengers while maintaining a separate...
This is not unexpected and is similar to other airlines. AA reserves Flagship First Dining to its own passengers -- at JFK, there's the Chelsea Lounge for its own passengers (and BA's) and a separate lounge for One World Emeralds. BA reserves the Concorde Room to its own passengers while maintaining a separate first class lounge for One World Emeralds. Qatar reserves a distinctive first class lounge for its own passengers while maintaining a separate first class lounge for One World Emeralds.
@ Fred -- Right, but the published Delta One Lounge access rules are that the lounge is open to business class passengers on Air France, LATAM, KLM, Korean Air, and Virgin Atlantic. That's different than the examples above, where the airlines never claimed to open those lounges to other passengers.
@Fred, that's also completely different. OWE are not necessarily first class passengers. If someone was on any OW F flight, then they would also get access to Al Safwa.
It's an increasingly common practice to limit access to passengers actually flying in that cabin class like Polaris lounges are for business class only.
Afaik, Delta's Delta One lounges already have the most restrictive access for business class passengers, where only a select set of JV...
@Fred, that's also completely different. OWE are not necessarily first class passengers. If someone was on any OW F flight, then they would also get access to Al Safwa.
It's an increasingly common practice to limit access to passengers actually flying in that cabin class like Polaris lounges are for business class only.
Afaik, Delta's Delta One lounges already have the most restrictive access for business class passengers, where only a select set of JV partners are allowed in and now on top of that Delta is further restricting access because they didn't plan enough capacity.
Interesting. Of course, if one is flying Air France F, I'm not certain one would pass up the La Premiere Lounge for a Delta One Lounge. Ha.
Ah. So noted.
This might just be the most premium airline lounge in history.
And that might be your most hyperbolic and provably wrong post in history.
beware of frauds.
The real Tim Dunn has diamond next to his name.
This person has "fraud" next to his name