Last But Not Least: Delta One Lounge Opens In JFK Today

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American has long had Flagship lounges and United has had Polaris lounges for business class passengers since 2016.

American’s Flagship lounges can be found in Chicago, Dallas, JFK, Los Angeles, and Miami, with Philadelphia coming next year.

United’s Polaris lounges can be found in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington/IAD, with Denver coming soon.

And now Delta is finally joining the game, a surprisingly late entry for an airline that considers itself to be premium.

At 11am today Delta will open a lounge for its premium cabin passengers with a Delta One Lounge in JFK’s Terminal 4, located between concourses A and B. It will clock in at a whopping 39,707 square feet, significantly larger than any other Delta Club. It will feature 515 seats, 8 shower suites, 8 soundproof booths, 9 relaxation pods, 140 seats at the restaurant, and year-round terrace seating for 40.

It should also relieve overcrowding in the regular Delta Sky Clubs.

The lounge will be open daily from 4:30am-11pm.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian says the lounge will be the nicest in North America.

Later this year, Delta will open Delta One lounges in Boston and Los Angeles and early next year they will open one in Seattle. Along with JFK, those are Delta’s more competitive hub airports, as opposed to the fortress hubs in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City. I’d have to imagine that at least some of the fortress hubs will eventually get a Delta One lounge, but it’s clearly not a priority.

• The Delta One lounge is only accessible to:
  • Passengers departing, connecting, or arriving in Delta One that day.
  • Delta 360° Members departing or arriving on a same-day ticket in Delta First Class
  • Same-day departing or connecting flights on Air France long-haul business or first class, LATAM business class, KLM business class, Korean Air First or business class, or Virgin Atlantic business class.
  • No guests are allowed, unless you have Delta 360° status in First Class or Delta One, who can bring in 2 guests or their immediate family flying on Delta that day for $100 or 10K miles per guest age 2 and over.

Those access rules are interesting? While American and United include all alliance airlines, Delta excludes Skyteam carriers like China Airlines, China Eastern, ITA and Kenya, as well as non-alliance partners like El Al.

On the other hand, even domestic Delta One passengers will have lounge access and 360° members have access when flying First Class, something that is leagues ahead of what United Global Servies offers. However, it does trail the flagship access that American provides even to Executive Platinum members.

Delta One passengers in JFK will receive warm towels and refreshments at airport check-in and this fall, a private Delta One TSA lane will be operational.

The lounge features inspiration from NYC landmarks and design and accessories from Italian fashion house Missoni.

There are 9 reservable relaxation pods with full-body massage chairs:

The 8 shower suites, feature towels, bathrobes and slippers, Grown Alchemist products, and more. In a nod to Continental’s closets in their Houston President’s Club, you can leave your clothes or shoes in the suite closet and a valet attendant will steam and/or shine them and return them while you shower!

Passengers can take advantage of one of the 8 individual soundproof booths located in the Lounge, and they can even borrow a 2nd monitor for their laptop. Personally, I always travel with a 2nd monitor, it’s a real game-changer for productivity!

The terrace has a retractable roof so that it will be useable year-round.

Delta offers kosher meals in all their hub lounges, but the quality isn’t very high. I have asked Delta a few times for more information about kosher meals in the Delta One Lounge, though I haven’t received that information yet.

Delta did send me their drink menu, market menu, and brasserie menu. The cost of the drinks surprised me for a lounge aiming for a premium experience, as United Polaris lounges have a very nice complimentary drink selection. I guess we’ll have to wait and see for more reports on that.

If you do stop into the lounge, please let us know about kosher offerings!

United offers excellent Fresko meals and kosher wines in their Newark Polaris lounge and American offers various kosher meals in their flagship lounges and clubs as well.

Delta says it will offer at-seat service everywhere in the lounge, with waiters welcoming guests with water and offering to bring drinks from the bar.

I love United’s Polaris lounges, but it looks like this lounge has the potential to top those. I haven’t flown Delta One in over 5 years, but hopefully we’ll get a mileage sale that brings me through one of the new Delta One lounges so that I will be able to properly compare the offerings.

If you try out the Delta One lounge in JFK, let us know your impressions!