- Over the past decade or two, airport lounges have become increasingly important to many travelers.
- Airlines must work harder to differentiate themselves from the competition and meet the ever-changing expectations of travelers.
- Many airline-branded credit cards include access to lower-tier lounges on partner airlines.
Delta Air Lines last month opened the newest lounge in its network, the Delta One Lounge, at New York’s JFK airport, which is a departure from the airline’s existing Sky Clubs: It’s only available to passengers in premium cabins and has much stricter access requirements than the airline’s other lounges (sorry, American Express Platinum cardholders).
While I don’t necessarily think that lounge visits are the best use of a traveler’s time, I will admit that if I can get to the airport early and use the lounge, I often go anyway.
Aviation industry experts and executives say lounge services have become increasingly important to many travelers over the past decade or two, and airlines must work harder to differentiate themselves and meet travelers’ ever-changing expectations.
“We’re focused on hospitality, the genuine care of our employees, the service they provide, and the culture we’ve created in our lounges,” Claude Roussel, Delta’s vice president of Sky Clubs and Lounge Experience, told me. “A culture of service, a culture of making sure every guest is taken care of.”
In some ways, the evolution of airline lounges mirrors the evolution of airplane cabins, with premium service becoming more flashy in some ways and more accessible to the average traveler in others.Achievable luxury and tiered, differentiated products at various price points appear to be the driving forces behind most major airlines today, both in the air and on the ground.
A brief history of airport lounges
American Airlines opened the first U.S. airport lounge at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in the late 1930s, but there was little innovation or access in the first few decades, even as other airlines followed American’s model, according to Henry Harteveldt, president of travel industry analytics firm Atmosphere Research.
“These lounges were comfortable but barely utilitarian by today’s standards,” he said. “Until 1972, airport lounges were limited to travelers flying in premium cabins and, in the United States, were invitation-only.”
Harteveld said basic food and drink options were standard in most lounges, and in the early days of widespread internet adoption, lounges were often among the first places in an airport to offer Wi-Fi.
But for nearly 60 years, the lounge remained more like a mid-range hotel lobby than the luxurious escape it is today.
“Let’s fast forward to the 1990s, which is when airlines really started to invest in the lounge experience. Virgin[Atlantic]basically said why should a lounge be stuffy and boring,” Harteveldt said. “Virgin had a handcrafted cocktail program, they had a full buffet, they had a spa. I think their London Heathrow clubhouse originally had a putting green and games.”
And then the appeal of lounges began to explode: Delta led the way in revitalizing U.S. airport lounges, Harteveld said.
Delta’s Roussel said it started with a simple instruction he received from his boss about 10 years ago.
Shortly after joining the airline, Roussel was told, “We want the Sky Club to be a reason to fly Delta,” so he and his team set out on a mission to make the lounges a more valuable part of the traveler experience by improving the lounges’ amenities, food and beverage offerings, and more.
“In my opinion, Delta Sky Club has played a huge role in evolving the company from an airline position to a lifestyle brand,” Hartfeldt said.
Cruising altitude last week:Don’t fly often? You should still get a loyalty account. Here’s why:
Why Airlines Value Lounges
Many travelers have a strong desire to have access to a lounge before, during and after their flight, and not being able to accommodate their requests puts you at a competitive disadvantage.
According to data from Atmosphere Research Group’s Q1 2024 U.S. Travel Online Survey, 43% of business travelers and 37% of leisure travelers said lounge access is important, and roughly half of travelers said they base their travel itinerary on whether or not an airline has lounge access.
“This is a competitive imperative,” Hartfeldt says. “If your competitors have something and you don’t, and it’s perceived as meaningful to travelers, then you’re perceived as deficient.”
As more people gain access to lounges thanks to credit card partnerships and the expansion of premium cabins, airlines are being forced to tier their offerings.
United Airlines introduced its Polaris Lounges in 2016, available only to premium cabin passengers, in addition to its Clubs, and then American Airlines rolled out its Flagship Lounges in 2017, in addition to its Admirals Clubs.
Delta Air Lines was a bit slow to introduce its Delta One Lounge, which is exclusively available to premium cabin passengers.
“In the Sky Clubs at our hubs, you essentially have a mix of customers who are paying $10,000 for a ticket and customers who are paying $500 or $600 for a ticket,” Roussel said.
In other words, dedicated premium lounges act as a kind of curtain between business class and premium economy class on long-haul flights: big spenders don’t always want to avoid crowds and prefer a more exclusive space.
Airlines have also come under pressure recently with overcrowding in lounges and long lines at peak times, and Roussel said the new Delta One Lounge has already helped alleviate some of those issues at JFK since it opened.
British Airways is also overhauling its global lounge network to meet changing passenger demands and demographics.
“The way people travel has changed – people are arriving at the airport earlier after the pandemic, more people are flying for leisure, and people want more. That means we have to adapt what we offer to meet our customers’ needs,” Callum Laming, British Airways’ chief customer officer, told me at an event the airline held in New York this spring to preview updates on different parts of its business.
Laming said the airline wanted to combine Britishness with the local flavour of the places it serves to give premium customers what they want wherever they go.
He added: “Britain is all about bars and with new clubs opening and old ones being refurbished, you can expect great bars in every location.”
How to access the lounge
For those who only travel once or twice a year, a lounge membership may not be worth it. But if your travels include long layovers, a day pass may be worth considering. If you’re a frequent airport visitor, you’ll need to decide for yourself whether the lounge perks available to you are worth the cost.
Airlines are increasingly reserving their most exclusive lounges, like the new Delta One Lounge, to customers traveling in premium cabins on long-haul routes or to their most elite frequent flyers, by invitation only (a throwback to a bygone era of lounge access?).
But that doesn’t mean all lounges are inaccessible to budget-conscious travelers.
Saf Dogan (@proudpassport) in the thread
Many airline-branded credit cards include access to lower-level lounges on partner airlines, plus premium travel cards like the Chase Sapphire and Amex Platinum come with Priority Pass membership, which gives you access to a variety of airline lounge networks as well as non-affiliated lounges at many airports.
But as with most things in air travel, the more you pay, the more you get.
Zach Wichter is a New York-based travel writer for USA TODAY. He can be reached at zwichter@usatoday.com.
