Hidden of the heavy pedestrian traffic and the noisy crowds, the Delta One Lounge at the Los Angeles International Airport offers a different type of travel experience.
Customers can enjoy hot towels, zero gravity massage chairs with caviar while waiting to board their flights. They also have access to private security lanes and luggage verification, eliminating the need to wait on the lines.
The Hall opened in October and is part of the most premium offer of Delta Airline, an airport and flight experience known as Delta One.
Available on several international routes and from Los Angeles to New York and Boston, a Delta One ticket comes with exclusive room access, and while in flight, they include memory foam seats and privacy doors (food and drinks are included in the living room, except some premium drinks).
A DJ is presented in the Delta One Lounge at the Los Angeles International Airport. The premium offer offers Delta's clients another entry point to easily register and reach security.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“Clients in general are moving towards the premium in the reserve,” said Ekrem Dimbilogu, managing director of Delta de Strategy and Experience on board. “The investment in Delta One attracts loyalty. We want to make sure we are the brand that customers see as the premium airline.”
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As airlines seek to capitalize on the return to travel after the emergence of pandemic, Delta and other carriers are inclined to high -end services, such as luxury rooms that offer excellent food and well -being areas. The objective is to give people more incentives to fly, and increase the margins of profits that have been squeezed for higher fuel and labor costs.
Luxury rooms such as Delta One are appearing in airports around the world, even in Lax, which tries to rebuild their image as a desirable travel center. The British carrier Virgin Atlantic is opening a new club house in Lax this month, available for customers who buy a premium or are part of the airline's gold loyalty loyalty program, according to a spokesman.
“There are many data behind the scene to make sure this works,” said Alan Fyall, an associate dean of academic issues at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management of the University of Florida Central. “These offers are really important for their results.”
Delta reported a record operation of $ 1.7 billion in the fourth quarter, but, like other airlines, it has faced the most recently economic heads.
Last week, Delta's shares fell after the Atlanta -based airline reduced its profit estimates from the first quarter to half, citing uncertainty in the economy of the United States and the effect on trips.
Delta's shares increased 4% on Wednesday to $ 47.75 per share, but 19% has fallen this year.
Since 2017, Delta and Los Angeles World Airports have jointly invested $ 2.3 billion to rebuild terminal 3 in Lax, including the construction of Delta One Lounge of 10,000 square feet and Delta Sky Club of 30,000 square feet.
The company's executives did not reveal how much Delta One product spent, but said they plan to reinvest $ 5 billion in 2025 towards technology and facilities that support Delta one and other products worldwide.
For Delta, luxury offers are a high margin business, which serves rich people, including athletes, celebrities and executives who could otherwise take a private flight.
A Delta One One ticket from Lax to JFK on March 21 costs between $ 2,500 and $ 3,000. Delta has offered four levels of seats since 2015: main cabin, Delta Comfort Plus, first class and Delta One.
“It can baffle some people, but there is so much demand for this kind of thing,” said Fyall. “People want ease, they want comfort and luxury.”
Delta offers a variety of deserts in his luxury Delta One Lounge in Lax.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
International airlines such as Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines have been offering luxury experiences for much longer, said Savanthi Syth, managing director of Global Airlines and Advanced Air Mobility in the Financial Services Company Raymond James. Virgin Atlantic offers a “upper class” product that includes a bar in flight, and the highest class of Emirates has showers on board.
Delta One and the premium offer of United Polaris are signs that US airlines are up to date with their own premium products, Syth said, which also reflects a growing demand.
“The trend you have seen is that people who want to pay for better experience,” Syth said. “You saw that co-covid in 2019, and really strengthened after Covid.”
Like Delta One, United Polaris comes with an exclusive room and lay seats, but does not include a private security projection. A Polaris ticket includes a priority exam and luggage control, the comforts aboard Therabody and Saks Fifth Avenue and Shower Suites at the closing, said the spokesman for United Anoushah Rasta.
In Lax in 2024, Delta was the number 1 carrier in terms of passengers and operations related to income. Delta's renewed terminal 3 drives 161 daily flights to more than 60 destinations, said Scott Santoro, vice president of Delta for Los Angeles and the Western Sales Operation of the airline.
“The Premium Delta One experience and the hospitality of the guests that we offer drive people to travel,” said Santoro.
Even budget airlines try to address high -end preferences, including Spirit, which revealed a first class option on the flight in August. But airlines throughout the luxury spectrum cannot forget budget travelers, Fyall said.
“Part of the challenge is that you do not want to alienate everyone else in the cheapest seats,” he said. “You want to offer the premium end, but you don't want to rub it on people's faces.”
