Delta ONE at LAX

Delta’s private check-in lounge at LAX

Airports, Lounges, ,

Delta Air Lines opened a private check-in lounge at Los Angeles International Airport Terminal 5 this week, capping off a 3-year, $229 million terminal wide refurbishment project.

Here are some snaps of the lounge that I took while covering the event for USA TODAY.

01_Delta ONE premium lounge customers have a searate entrance at LAX Terminal 5

Priority is good, Delta One offers services above that.

02_Delta's first private check-in lounge is part of a 3-year, $229 million termional-wide upgrade at LAX

This is the first of a series of private check-in lounges Delta Air Lines plans to open at major hubs.

03_Entry to the Delta One premium lounge at LAX will be highly monitored

Paparazzi be-gone. Private check-in door means celebs don’t mingle with others in the public lobby.

The lounge area of Delta One at LAX. -

The lounge area of Delta One at LAX. This photo is courtesy of Delta – and is nicer than mine because there are no empty dishes scattered about…

05_A walnut wall offers privacy, but lets light in, at the Delta ONE lounge at LAX.

The walnut wall that surrounds the seating area offers privacy, yet lets in natural light. A nice touch.

07_The check-in desk at the Delta ONE lounge is made from the tail of a DC9 (by MotoArt)

A bit hard to tell from this photo, but that check-in desk is made from the tail of a DC-9 airplane.. By MotoArt.

Walking & touring LAX Airport

Lounges, , ,

05_A walnut wall offers privacy, but lets light in, at the Delta ONE lounge at LAX.

I had the pleasure of being on site Wednesday when Delta Air Lines celebrated the completion of its $229 million refurbishment of Terminal 5 at Los Angeles International Airport with the opening of its first private check-in lounge, Delta ONE at LAX.

The lounge area of Delta One at LAX. - courtesy Delta

The lounge area of Delta One at LAX. – courtesy Delta

Look for more of these lounges to open in New York in early to mid-2016 and, after that, in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Minneapolis and international airports after that.

While at LAX, I also took the opportunity to test out my new distance wheel, which I’m using to figure out the longest distance a passenger might need to – or be able to – walk when making a connection at various airports.

Kudos to Nancy Castles, the public relations director at LAX, who was kind enough to lead me through the airport for this project. We figured out that it is a 1.2 mile trek from the southern-most gate at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) to United Airline’s Gate 88 in Terminal 8.

With Nancy Castles at LAX