There’s a lot to like about Salt Lake City Airport (SLC)… if you’re a Delta flyer. For premium passengers, one of the frustrating things about the airport is how the only lounge is a Delta Sky Club, as there are no contract lounges or lounges from other airlines. Fortunately that’s going to change.
In this post:
Salt Lake City Airport getting first non-Delta lounge
The Salt Lake Tribune reports how a United Club is expected to open at Salt Lake City Airport. The 6,700 square foot lounge will be located in Concourse B, and will be part of a 16-gate expansion at the far east end of the concourse.
The bad news is that the lounge is only expected to open in October 2026, which is when that gate expansion is due to be complete, so travelers will have to be patient. Given how airport construction projects usually go, I think it’s likely there will be an additional delay there.
United is expected to operate five gates in this portion of the terminal. While Delta is of course the dominant carrier in Salt Lake City, United has grown its presence quite a bit in Salt Lake City over the years. It’s also pretty common for airlines to open lounges at hubs of competing airlines as a way of attracting customers. It’s the same as how American has an Admirals Club in Atlanta (ATL), Delta has a Sky Club in Dallas (DFW), etc.
Salt Lake City Airport needs a non-airline lounge
I’m happy to see that Salt Lake City Airport will finally be getting a non-Delta lounge, though I sure wish it weren’t yet another airline lounge. For context, the airport currently has a 28,000 square foot Sky Club in Concourse A, and in 2025, Delta plans to open an equally large Sky Club in Concourse B.
So while it’s nice that another airline will be opening a lounge at the airport, it would be even better if we saw a non-airline lounge open, so it would be more widely useful for travelers. How about a typical Priority Pass lounge, or an Amex Centurion Lounge, Capital One Lounge, or Chase Sapphire Lounge? That seems like it would have a lot more appeal.
I know that eventually Salt Lake City Airport will start construction on the new Concourse C, but that’s still many years from opening. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe there’s any more space in the current terminal setup for another lounge. It’s one of the largest airports in the country without any sort of a contract lounge.
Bottom line
Salt Lake City Airport will finally be getting a lounge that isn’t a Delta Sky Club, which is exciting. What’s a bit less exciting is that it will be a United Club, so it will once again be an airline specific lounge. It would benefit the most passengers if the airport finally saw a non-airline specific lounge, so that it could be used by more passengers. So this is better than nothing, but that’s about it…
What do you make of the United Club Salt Lake City?
You do not consider the percentage of Delta flights there....If almost all are Delta then there is little need for another lounge...
The author said we should expect delays. The fact is SLC is, and has been, a very well run construction project. It hasn’t been delayed at all. I don’t foresee any delays as they’re already building the east part of B. I just was hoping United would be more in the middle to shorten my walk from security.
I for one, am looking forward to the new United Club. I fly them the most out of SLC.
Not that it applies much to your lounge discussion but concourse A (great location) also has a limited USO lounge. My mother was disappointed that they didn't serve the usual hot dogs and pasta dish...
Delta has SkyClubs in most UA hubs - IAH being a notable exception - so it makes sense for UA to have a hub in DL's mountain hub which does compete with DEN - where DL also has a SkyClub. The mountain west market is strong and growing and DL and UA are both well-positioned to grow. DL just has a much better position in the local market than UA at DEN, even if the...
Delta has SkyClubs in most UA hubs - IAH being a notable exception - so it makes sense for UA to have a hub in DL's mountain hub which does compete with DEN - where DL also has a SkyClub. The mountain west market is strong and growing and DL and UA are both well-positioned to grow. DL just has a much better position in the local market than UA at DEN, even if the local market is smaller.
Since the hub carrier generally pays the bulk of the price of an airport expansion/rebuild, DL has been very careful to not overbuild SLC.
And DL will use B fairly extensively or wouldn't have bothered to put a decent size SkyClub in it.
SLC and DEN are not quite comparable. The UA hub in DEN is significantly larger than DL's SLC hub. DEN is a much larger metropolitan area, with a larger catchment area than Salt Lake City, and there is enormous room for growth. Delta has a significant if not overwhelming presence) in SLC, an important market for sure, but an airport that doesn't need the type of infrastructure growth that DEN has and will continue to...
SLC and DEN are not quite comparable. The UA hub in DEN is significantly larger than DL's SLC hub. DEN is a much larger metropolitan area, with a larger catchment area than Salt Lake City, and there is enormous room for growth. Delta has a significant if not overwhelming presence) in SLC, an important market for sure, but an airport that doesn't need the type of infrastructure growth that DEN has and will continue to experience. The main difference is that UA has competition at DEN from WN, the other significant airline there (F9 doesn't really count any longer). DL does not have that issue at SLC. In short, DL doesn't need to overbuild SLC for the foreseeable future.
I said in my comments that SLC is a smaller market and it shouldn't be a surprise that it has a smaller airport.
DL has a higher share of the local market but DL and UA both are well-represented in the majority of flow markets that go through DEN or SLC. WN is a significant competitor to UA at DEN but much less so to DL in SLC.
The SLC rebuild would not...
I said in my comments that SLC is a smaller market and it shouldn't be a surprise that it has a smaller airport.
DL has a higher share of the local market but DL and UA both are well-represented in the majority of flow markets that go through DEN or SLC. WN is a significant competitor to UA at DEN but much less so to DL in SLC.
The SLC rebuild would not have gone forward if DL had not agreed to it and it is more costly than the DEN expansion since DEN is basically expanding existing concourses while SLC was a whole rebuild.
The bigger piece relative to this discussion is that DL has a SC at DEN so it isn't a surprise that UA sees a need for a club in SLC. the bigger piece of this is that there doesn't appear to be any desire for AA to build a club at SLC.
I highly doubt this is some tit-for-tat competitive thing re: DL at DEN. It's much more likely UA is looking at their FF travel patterns and there is now a lot of tech business going back and forth from the SFO area to SLC.
nobody said it is tit for tat.
DL and UA both have considerable strength and advantage in the mountain west region.
DL and UA both do a good job of attracting business revenues - the primary user of clubs.
As Ben notes, there are no other clubs besides DL's at SLC. UA makes a lot of sense to be the next.
Unlike ATL which is a far larger market, the chances of a card-related lounge at SLC are low.
Aren't most passengers at SLC inherently premium by virtue of the airline they're flying?
Yeah Concourse C requires Delta hangar and a bunch of maintenance / support facilities to be torn down first. Long time out.
This is the first I’ve heard about a new delta sky club in concourse B… Delta only operates very very few regional flights out of Concourse B (as overflow) - even CRJ’s use gates at the east end of A. I didn’t think Delta was planning any presence in B now that A expansion completed last fall.
It was reported in the SL tribune that DL is building a club in B. Seems curious to me since the hard stand operation concluded, there are not many DL flights in B.