On June 26, 2024, Delta Air Lines will open its first Delta One Lounge, a 39,000-plus-square-foot Delta One Lounge at New York (JFK). Delta has now revealed access rules for its Delta One Lounge.
Delta One Lounge Access Rules
We were all wondering what Delta One access rules would be. Will it be like Air Canada Signature Suites where only revenue business class passengers have access (no access on awards or upgrades)? Will it be only for Delta One passengers and not partners or other SkyTeam members?
Not quite. While the lounge will be restricted to premium cabin travel only, Delta will allow passengers flying on five of its key partners to access the lounge on departure. However, only Delta One passengers will have access on arrival.
The following passengers will have access to the Delta One Lounge at JFK:
- Same-day departing or arriving Delta One ticketed passengers (i.e., seated in the Delta One class of service);
- This includes Delta One domestic transcontinental passengers
- Delta 360 Members departing or arriving on a same-day ticket in Delta First Class;
- Same-day departing or connecting flights operated by the following Delta partners in their respective first and business class cabins specified below:
- Air France La Premiere and Business Class (Long-Haul);
- LATAM Premium Business Class;
- KLM Business Class;
- Korean Air First Class and Prestige Class; and
- Virgin Atlantic Upper Class
- Other credentials, such as Delta Sky Club membership or qualifying credit cards, cannot be used to access the Delta One Lounge
No guests will be permitted, with the exception of Delta 360 members, who can bring their immediate family (spouse or domestic partner, and children under the age of 21) or up to two companions, for an entry fee of $100 or 10,000 Delta SkyMiles per person.
Delta wants to keep Justin Ross Lee out:
- Usage of a Delta One ticket to access the Delta One Lounge without good faith intent to fly on the ticketed itinerary is a violation of these House Rules and may result in permanent disqualification from accessing the Delta One Lounge and the Delta Sky Club.
Finally, a note on hours. The lounge will open late tomorrow for travelers, but be open daily at 4:30 AM going forward:
- JFK: Opening Day Hours (June 26, 2024): 11:00 A.M. – 11:00 P.M.
- Regular Operating Hours (Daily): 4:30 A.M. – 11:00 P.M.
I won’t be at the opening party tomorrow but look forward to visiting the new lounge soon. Delta One Lounges in Los Angles and Boston will also open this year and I’d imagine the access requirements will be identical.
image: Delta
My initial take:
1) With the exception of some private rooms for work, they’ve eseentially copied the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse and arrivals lounge at LHR, right down to an ala carte menu, pressing and shoe shine services. I wonder if they’ve brought physical newspapers back?
2) Will Delta loosen Sky Club entry requirements? 500 fewer people in the Sky Club every day should make the Sky Club significantly less crowded, though some people might prefer the location of the main JFK Sky Club over the location of the Delta One lounge.
3) I’m really surprised they are allowing passengers from partner airlines to access the lounge. Air France/KLM and Virgin Atlantic each have their own lounges at JFK. Air France also just opened a new LAX lounge.
4) This really confirms that 360 is the new diamond. Previously, 360 was never codified. Increasingly, we’ve seen 360 benefits defined in a tangible way. It would be nice if Delta was more transparent about earning requirements for 360.
All excellent points.
In my opinion the Virgin Atlantic arrivals lounge at LHR is pretty underwhelming. It does its job as an arrivals lounge but there is nothing to brag about. The showers are outdated, breakfast is limited and just OK and there is not much else to say. Now, the Clubhouse on the departure area is very different and a fantastic lounge.
I wonder why Delta has no plans for ATL as it is their main hub. I doubt MSP will ever get one of these but to be honest most people flying out of MSP are probably local and do not really need an access to a lounge like this. I prefer to eat and shower at home rather than in a lounge 10 miles away.
@Santastico, ATL is a fortress hub…people are captive to DL there. Not so in JFK/BOS/LAX.
I think ignoring fortress hubs is pound foolish. There’s a large portion of the US (and those visiting it) who live in secondary cities. If I need to fly to London and I can choose to layover in Atalanta, Dallas, or Houston with all else being equal I think I’ll take American or United and have a better lounge experience.
But maybe these types of travelers are less savvy and won’t know the difference. But eventually word will spread.
Now if United keeps serving frozen TV dinners onboard maybe people will still prefer better meal onboard over lounge
The Virgin Atlantic arrivals lounge may not be impressive but it serves its purpose. Shower, change your clothes, get your suit pressed if you have one, have a decent breakfast, grab a newspaper and maybe kill an hour or two before you can get into a hotel in central London.
I doubt ATL would get anything. ATL, MSP, DTW etc still have 5 inch paper plates and recycled plastic utensils, while competitive markets like BOS, JFK, LAX, SFO uses real silverware, plates and glasses…
…though aren’t there rumors of DTW getting a D1 lounge?
The “new” (not really new anymore) lounge at DTW that functions as a spillover lounge was purpose-built as a Delta One lounge. It has real silverware and real china. Sadly, the food isn’t any better than the main lounge. But it does have a premium bar. The main lounge at Delta is supposed to be updated this summer or early far with a full, premium bar and a better food area. I anticipate the overflow lounge becoming a Delta One lounge by the end of the year.
The newest Delta lounge at the G Concourse at MSP is awesome. It has a much better food and drinks variety than the other Delta lounges, real china and metal utensils. It is a very nice lounge with an outside seating area, gelato bar, etc…
I would also be shocked if the F concourse Sky Club at ATL doesn’t become a Delta One lounge. Back in 2015, Delta tried ala carte food, for example, at this very lounge.
If F is to be one, then they need to at least triple its size, or at least give an appearance of size; that club feels so cramped, even on the open area to the right. i’ve mentioned it before but they need to add more mezzanine lounge space, like Emirates Lounge at DXB, at ATL F.
There are a lot of AF/KL passengers who connect at JFK to other destinations via DL. It’s a nice touch especially for those flying in J or LP as when they’re connecting and try using a SkyClub, they often get turned away even if they’re following the rules because the agents at SkyClubs don’t know the rules very well. Even happened to me after flying into JFK in AF LP and having a two hour layover before my connection to YYZ with DL in F. Took them a while and calls despite me showing them my FB Ulti/Plat status and my LP boarding pass.
In my opinion, I think it’s nice that DL 360 members get tangible perks because for me, despite being an FB Ulti, there are almost no perks and/or it is very inconsistent as there aren’t necessarily hard guidelines for them.
I couldn’t imagine flying through JFK for a domestic US connection with just two hours of time. I’ve never gotten through border control in less than 20 minutes. You figure another 20-40 minutes for your bag, another 10 minutes to drop off your bag, and another 15-20 minutes to get through TSA. That’s 90 minutes easily. And domestic flights are mostly boarding 40 minutes prior to departure.
Why no Global Entry?
Last week, Global Entry was 15 minutes at JFK Terminal 4. Mobile Passport was 12. Regular was 25.
The extent to which Delta personalizes its lounges is unmatched by any airline in the world. You can’t build in NYC what artistically fits in MSP.
The sheer number of guests will mean there has to be plenty of staff; many may be contractors but the expected service level will be high.
And the fact that only some of the SkyTeam joint venture airlines are in T4 likely indicates that there will be a terminal rearrangement when T1 is finished, DL and its partners take up more of T4 and non-DL/partner carriers will move out of T4.
Unmatched?!
You need to fly more than Delta…
Remember who you are talking to, Matthew…
Excited to see the comparisons – one “minus” that counts against DL according to some people is that they don’t have a premium lounge (even if some also claim that newer SkyClubs are closer to a Polaris/Flagship than a United/Admiral Club)
Also @Matthew I’d like to see you visit it, esp.. as a UA guy; Day 1/media day will have armies of shills, probably the Brians and the Sam Chuis etc, singing useless praises.
I was invited but declined (same with the new AF Lounge at LAX). I’ll visit the lounge when I actually fly and I’ll also visit the LAX one. I look forward to reviewing it. I’ll have another post on this shortly with pictures nad menus. It looks like a fabulous lounge.
Curious to see your take on the new Skyclub at ORD.
I can assure you, Jan, that I will not be one of those “Brians”.
Talk about ignorance. Tim Dunn has obviously flown on nothing but Delta. There are a significant number of lounges both in the US and throughout the world that blow them away…..
Actually I just saw Ben’s take on this (with more rendered pics), and it looks unbelievably “premium” in a anon-sarcastic way.
The lounge looks great. I am surprised DL is charging for premium alcohol.
They have to pay for all that food somehow. The wine prices, based on a photo posted at The Points Guy, aren’t that high by New York City prices but it’s extremely disappointing that whatever “free” wine offered will be barely better than the free wine at the Sky Club. The fact that have to charge for a New York riesling is unbelievable. You would think a local/regional New York wine would be the house wine at a JFK Delta One lounge.
The funny thing is Delta doesn’t even need to serve a champagne. There are some excellent American sparkling wines from the champagne method that are going to be better than the cheap house champagne Delta is serving. I’d rather have a Gruet from Mexico, Schramsberg from California, or a Roederer from California than a $30 champagne.
I’m just hoping that somehow United decides to match these and American’s access policies and grants more access to Polaris for GS fliers. It’s never going to happen unless the Polaris lounges can double in size given overcrowding would be a nightmare but I will dream.
Or at least Chairman’s Circle.
the number 1 rule about CC is to not talk about CC
we don’t know what CCs get, because none of them talk
I was wondering if Delta One passengers between JFK-SFO or JFK-LAX were also qualified to access this lounge
Yes. Domestic Delta One, which would also include Honolulu from JFK. In the past, Delta has also sold JFK to Seattle, Phoenix and Las Vegas as Delta One — or at least some of the flights as Delta One.
@Peter: Yes, Delta One domestic passengers will have access.
Making UAs transcon and long haul HI flights very uncompetitive by not branding them as Polaris and prviding Polaris Lounge access
There just isn’t the space in the current lounges.
they easily could allow long haul HI pax Polaris access since those flights are in the morning not with the main banks of int’l departures
Premium transcon already get UC access, so UA could easily allow those pax free premium booze
-FLY DELTA AIRLINES-
“Air Canada Siganutre Suties”
‘Delta wants to keep Justin Ross Lee out’
LOL
So true that 360=DM now!! With Zone 2 boarding– the Diamond M status is a joke.. A GA told me recently that DM is really not an Elite status anymore….
Decided to give DeltaOne a try at JFK very recently and what a huge letdown! Given that I live in NJ and am thus a ‘captive’ United customer since there is no competition left in most of the markets, my basis of comparison is the rather poor United offering from EWR.
First of all, the supposedly premium experience – or is service to South America automatically deemed not worth of being called premium! – is severely dented when there is no TSA-pre service after 9 pm: it took more than 40 min to get through security (!?), which is just as poorly laid out as it is at EWR (I did not think that was actually possible!). Delta just cannot allow this!
Second, the existing lounge is a joke. There was literally no food left, and the employees basically shrugged their shoulders saying that it’s always like that at night!? In addition, the lounge was not particularly clean either.
Third, the gate agents were crazy rude. Is it not possible to answer a question calmly? Why be rude to a (DeltaOne) passenger? And there was no separate boarding line for business class passengers…
Lastly, and most importantly, DeltaOne on A330 is VERY uncomfortable – no sufficient padding on the seat (for either sitting or sleeping) and very awkward layout of the pod, which makes it basically impossible to sleep.
I was also very disappointed with the fact that there was no free high speed wi-fi on the plane since all Delta ads have been all about that for a very long time, so quite reminiscent of the whole United Fauxlaris disaster over the last several years.
While the new lounge appears to be a step in the right direction, it takes much more than just putting lipstick on a pig, so highly unlikely that I’d schlep to JFK again.
If arriving from CDG on AF in J, connecting on DL in economy. Would I have access? Thank you!