Delta Air Lines has opened a second Delta One Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport, giving premium cabin passengers another dedicated space at LAX as Delta continues its multi-year investment in Los Angeles.
Delta Opens Second Delta One Lounge At LAX, This Time In Terminal 2
This new lounge is located in Terminal 2 and is now open as “Phase One” of a larger Delta One Lounge project. It is not as large as the Delta One Lounge in Terminal 3, which I reviewed earlier and found to be excellent, but it does bring Delta’s premium ground experience closer to passengers departing from the Terminal 2 gates.
The new Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge offers:
- 4,000 square feet of space
- Seating for 75 guests
- Dedicated full-service dining at every seat
- Four private cabana-style restrooms
- Three dedicated shower suites in the adjacent Delta Sky Club space (more on that below)
- Daily hours from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm (the Terminal 3 Delta One Lounge opens earlier, at 4:15 am, and stays open later, until 11:30 pm(
Delta One Lounge Access Rules At LAX Terminal 2
Access rules for the new Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge mirror the rest of the Delta One Lounge network. You can enter if you are traveling the same day on a departing, connecting, or arriving Delta One flight (that includes transcontinental and Hawaii flights marketed as Delta One)
Delta 360° members also have access when traveling the same day on a departing, connecting, or arriving domestic first class ticket. Finally, passengers traveling the same day on a departing or connecting longhaul flight operated by select Delta partners also have access when booked in first or business class. Eligible partners include Air France, KLM, Korean Air, LATAM, and Virgin Atlantic.
Some pictures:
This is a small lounge which you might recognize as the former Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, but Delta is emphasizing à la carte dining at your seat, a premium beverage menu with destination-inspired cocktails, beer, and wine, pastries and jams from Los Angeles favorite Sqirl, chocolate from Milla, and coffee selections from California-based Verve Coffee.
There are a couple drink stations, a dessert table, and a bar at the lounge, but otherwise all food is a la carte.
Here’s a look at the menu:
Cool Perk: Portable Monitors
One cool thing this lounge has is Espresso Displays portable monitors that you can check out – they hook into your laptop via USB-C and effectively double your screen size. Nice!
Unique Shower Setup
The lounge will have showers, but like the Terminal 3 Delta One Lounge, the showers are not (yet) in the lounge itself. Instead, you will be escorted across the mezzanine to an umarked door. Inside, are three shower suites:
The lounge has its own private restrooms in the lounge itself, marked with LA-themed artwork.
A Second Delta One Lounge, But Really A Temporary First Step
The key thing to understand is that this is only the first stage.
Delta says Phase One of the Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge is now open, but the larger transformation will unfold over the next couple of years. In the second half of 2027, Terminal 2 is also expected to get a new 11,000-square-foot Delta Sky Club, replacing the prior club that closed in 2024 for renovation (old review here).
Once that new Sky Club opens, the existing Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge will close for renovation. The final version of the Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge is then scheduled to reopen in 2028.
So this is not the finished product. It is Delta getting premium passengers a dedicated space now while it works toward a larger buildout ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games. Delta is a founding partner of LA28 and has every incentive to make LAX feel polished before the world arrives…it’s also recently added service to Hong Kong and has announced (or will soon announce) additional domestic expansion.
Premium From Curb To Lounge
The lounge is also part of Delta’s broader “curb to cloud” premium push at LAX.
Delta One passengers can use the exclusive Delta One curbside check-in area and dedicated private security lane. From there, customers take an elevator to the third floor and can walk directly to the Terminal 2 lounge in about five minutes.
Delta will also operate a golf cart shuttle between the two Delta One Lounges for connecting customers who do not want to walk between them.
LAX is finally becoming much more connected airside, but not everyone wants to schlep between terminals…it’s a decent walk if you do it yourself (you can work off all the delicious Milla chocolate!).
Delta’s LAX Investment Continues
Delta has invested heavily in LAX over the last several years, not just in lounges but also in gates, terminal connectivity, check-in, and route growth. The airline continues to describe itself as LAX’s leading global carrier and premier West Coast gateway, and while that sort of language can easily sound like corporate fluff, it has pulled ahead in the LAX horserace.
Delta says that by December 19 it will offer peak-day departures to 50 destinations from Los Angeles, supported by a growing international network. New nonstop service to Hong Kong and Chicago O’Hare has already commenced, and Vancouver (YVR) service starts November 21.
Add in the first Delta One Lounge in Terminal 3, this new Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge, the coming 11,000-square-foot Sky Club, and the final 2028 Delta One Lounge transformation, and the strategy is clear enough: Delta wants LAX to be its premium West Coast showcase.
Not every Delta route from LAX will work, and not every addition is revolutionary. But the infrastructure investment is real.
CONCLUSION
Delta’s second Delta One Lounge at LAX is now open in Terminal 2.
At 4,000 square feet with seating for 75 guests, this first phase is not huge, but it brings à la carte dining, premium drinks, private restrooms, access to shower suites, and a more polished premium experience to passengers using Terminal 2.
But that’s just the start. A new 11,000-square-foot Delta Sky Club is scheduled for Terminal 2 in the second half of 2027, the current Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge will then close for renovation, and the final version of the lounge is expected to open in 2028.
Delta’s LAX premium strategy is becoming clearer: two Delta One Lounges, a private check-in and security experience, more international routes, and a much more serious effort to monetize the wealth and flight discretion that characterize Southern California.
color me old-fashioned but I really don’t like the a la carte style dining that inevitably results in a tip expectation in a club — something D1 clubs have seen happening.
I prefer the nicer buffet set ups where you go at your leisure, not trying to flag down an underpaid service worker.
I like the a la carte concept, but detest our tipping culture. The good news here is that these workers are well-paid…they are least paid a living wage of $32.65 per hour (or $25/hour with health care benefits), as are all workers at LAX per local ordinance. So no tipping from me…
Even bartenders at the standard domestic lounges?
None of Delta’s lounge employees ANYWHERE are on “tipped” wages.
https://liveandletsfly.com/delta-one-lounge-tipping/
Tip screens at JFK D1 lounge and Matt mentions personal Venmo QR codes at the LAX d1 lounge (though he does mention that it seems like a rogue event) but it does just get at what I’m saying — you don’t see this kind of thing at Polaris or Flagship lounges (or I haven’t read or seen it) since it’s a different food set up and there isn’t a charge for the group. D1 has set the lounge up for tipping culture.
I’m not saying anyone should or should not, but the lounge is set up where your average American would feel bad about not tipping (unless you happen to follow local LAX wage ordnances like Matt in which case the employees probably just think you’re cheap)
Matt does mention tipping at the Polaris club bar. Suppose it should be mentioned. But to me there is a difference between bar tipping and the free food
Here’s hoping this makes AA improve the Flagship Lounge at LAX and United improve the LAX Polaris. Both need some expansion/refurbishment
For real! It’s a shame AA has kept Flagship First Dining at LAX closed since the pandemic.
This was such an easy lounge to open. It was renovated not long before it closed as a mere Sky Club. All they did is put new carpet down and install new tables and chair. Maybe some back-of-the-house kitchen work too. It’s actually in a very good location for someone arriving on a domestic connecting flight. Better than the current Sky Club and Delta One lounge.
Offering a highly successful experience with its top-tier restaurant-quality service, this brand-new, exclusive lounge is definitly worth several visits…
* Revised Comment *
Offering a highly successful experience with its top-tier restaurant-quality service, this brand-new, exclusive lounge is definitely worth several visits… Kudos to DL!
Do you think UA will ever catch up to DL at LAX? As a UA status flyer and former LA resident, it makes me sad to see DL pulling ahead of UA at LAX. But Cranky Flier’s recent analysis makes it seem like DL’s advantage is inevitable due to gate allocation.
Discussing LAX in isolation is always a little misleading.
Some Angelenos will fly out of LAX all the time but many fly LAX, when necessary, then fly from their local airport otherwise (LGB, BUR, ONT, SNA). In other words, LAX size can matter less than local relevance in the market. That’s where DL struggles.
If you consider that, Delta is still smaller than United in Southern California for capacity and seats. United is more relevant since United has useful connecting hubs like DEN, IAH, and SFO whereas DL has smaller hubs like SLC that simply don’t connect to many markets like DEN/IAH do and only ATL would connect to for DL.
On that same note, OneWorld has nearly double the relevance in Southern California airports vs United and Delta. Nearly twice the seats and flights and that’s before AA has already said they’ll grow back to be the biggest at LAX passing Delta.
Delta does a lot of marketing and their fanboys love to isolate markets to claim “biggest” that often have a bigger story. Delta is currently the biggest at LAX but they also still have the least useful JV partners there and are the smallest in terms of relevance in Southern California
“On that same note, OneWorld has nearly double the relevance in Southern California airports vs United and Delta. Nearly twice the seats and flights”
Bad math by me today. not double. But about 50% more relevance vs UA and DL in Southern California
You can see examples of this in how Matt travels. Without going back to count, he clearly prefers going out of BUR but is well aware of the utility of LAX, when necessary.
On Delta, out of BUR he’s going to SLC or ATL.
On UA, he can connect to Asia in SFO or to most of the US in DEN vs the more limited connectivity at SLC without flying over half the US to get to ATL.
On OneWorld, he could fly to HNL, SEA, EUG, PDX, STS, DFW, PHX, RDM, and BOI while still having loyalty recognized, rewarded, and accrued out of BUR.
That’s really what I’m getting at with relevance in the local market. Matt is clearly someone who makes flying decisions based on LAX but also has a loyalty component in his flying that is based on marketshare outside of the LAX airport itself.
The network set up of DL out of Southern California is lower relevance vs just their pure size at LAX.
Nothing says ‘premium,’ like having to exit the lounge, walk across a mezzanine, and shower behind an “umarked door” (sic)…
Clearly, the O.G. D1 at LAX is far superior. What is the incentive to even use this one? Over-crowding at the other one? Gate nearby? Novelty?