Luxurious lounges appear at airports around the world. Now, one Airport Oasis, featuring a zero gravity massage chair and caviar-top ice cream, offers a new level of luxury from the LAX crowds in Los Angeles. Jason Dewey/Delta/DPA
Located at Los Angeles International Airport, Delta One Lounge offers a wide variety of travel experiences away from heavy walking traffic and noisy crowds.
Customers can enjoy hot towels, zero gravity massage chairs and caviar top ice cream while waiting to board the flight. Additionally, access to private security lanes and baggage checks eliminates the need to wait in line.
The lounge opened in October and is part of Delta Airline’s most premium product, known as Delta One, the airport and on-flying experience.
Available from several international routes and from Los Angeles to New York and Boston, Delta One ticket comes with luxury lounge access, and during flight, you’ll find Memory Foam Lay Flat Sheets and Privacy Doors (including lounge food and drinks, except for some premium drinks).
“Customers are generally heading towards booking premiums,” said Ekrem Dim Bilogul, managing director of onboard strategies and experience at Delta. “Investing in Delta attracts loyalty. We want to make sure our customers are the brands they consider to be premium airlines.”
As airlines try to take advantage of returning to travel after a pandemic emergency, Delta and other airlines are leaning against high-end amenities such as luxury restaurants and luxury lounges offering wellness areas. The goal is to provide people with more incentives for flights, and to increase profit margins under pressure from higher fuel and labor costs.
Luxurious lounges such as Delta One have appeared at airports around the world, including LAX. This is about to reconstruct its image as a desirable travel hub. According to a spokesperson, UK airline Virgin Atlantic will open a new clubhouse at LAX this month.
Alanfjohl, Academic Affairs Associate Dean, University of Central Florida University of Hospitality Management, said: “These offers are really important to the end result.”
Delta reported record operating profit of $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter, but like other airlines, it has recently faced economic headwind.
Delta stocks fell last week after the Atlanta-based airline cut its first-quarter earnings estimates in half, citing uncertainty in the US economy and impact on travel.
Delta shares rose 4% to $47.75 per share on Wednesday, but fell 19% this year.
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Since 2017, Delta and Los Angeles World Airports have co-invested $2.3 billion to redevelop Terminal 3 at LAX, including the construction of a 10,000-square-foot Delta One Lounge and a 30,000-square-foot Delta Sky Club.
Company executives did not say how much they spent developing the Delta One product, but said they plan to reinvest $5 billion in 2025 in technology and facilities supporting one Delta and other products.
For Delta, luxury products are marginal business aimed at wealthy individuals, including athletes, celebrities and executives, and otherwise they may have a personal charted flight.
One one-way delta ticket from LAX to JFK on March 21st will range between $2,500 and $3,000. Delta has been offering four-tier seating, the Main Cabin, Delta Comfort Plus, First Class and Delta One since 2015.
“It may mystique some people, but there are such demands for these kinds of things,” Fyall said. “People want peace, they want comfort and luxury.”
International airlines such as Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines have provided a much longer and more luxurious experience, according to Savanthi Syth, managing director of global airlines and managing director of advanced aviation mobility at financial services firm Raymond James. Virgin Atlantic offers “upper class” products, including bar areas in flight, with Emirates’ best-in-class offerings featuring showers.
Delta One and United’s Premium Polaris are signs that US airlines are catching up to their own premium products, Syth says.
“The trend you see is people who want to pay for a better experience,” Syth said. “You saw the Covid before that in 2019, and it really strengthened after Covid.”
Like the Delta, United Polaris comes with a dedicated lounge and lay flat sheeting, but does not include private security screening. Polaris tickets include priority boarding and baggage checks, Serabod and Sachs Fifth Avenue and the installation of shower suites in the lounge, United spokesman Anusha Rasta said.
In LAX in 2024, Delta was the number one career in terms of passenger and revenue-related businesses. Scott Santoro, Vice President of Delta in Los Angeles and Scott Santoro, Vice President of the airline’s Saleswest business, said flights 161 of Delta’s renovated Terminal 3 flights to more than 60 destinations.
“One experience at Premium Delta and the guest hospitality we offer will make people travel,” Santoro said.
Even budget airlines are trying to accommodate high-end preferences, including Spirit, which announced first-class options in flight in August. But airlines that go beyond luxury can’t forget budget travelers, Fyall said.
“Part of the challenge is that you don’t want to alienate everyone else with cheaper seats,” he said. “We want to offer a premium ending, but we don’t want to rub it on people’s faces.”
Luxury lounges such as Delta One have appeared at airports around the world, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Frank Duentzle/DPA
Luxurious lounges appear at airports around the world. Now, one Airport Oasis, featuring a zero gravity massage chair and caviar-top ice cream, offers a new level of luxury from the LAX crowds in Los Angeles. Jason Dewey/Delta/DPA
