I imagine most trips to this lounge are highly rated. On this particular day, a wrench was thrown in my travel itinerary. I was flying from Fort Lauderdale to JFK (NY), short layover, and continuing on to Madrid, Spain. The FAA had different plans for me and 10 hours before I departed, my flight from JFK to Madrid was canceled. I credit Delta Skymiles representative that fielded my call. She immediately reassured me she'd find a solution. However, she didn't have one right then. Her advice was to get on my 7am flight to JFK and "they'd figure it out when I got there". I was cautiously optimistic, but I trusted in the process and the company.
The good news is by the time I arrived at 930am in NY, they indeed had a solution. The not so good news was my next flight wasn't until 7pm. 90% of the time, that would be a rough day in the airport, even if you had access to the standard Delta Sky Club. On this particular Monday in November, I was fortunate enough to be flying Delta One across the pond to Madrid. Even more fortunate was the fact that a little over a year prior, JFK launched the iconic Delta One Club to compete with other luxury international airline competitors. I was not aware of this and spent almost an hour sitting on the floor stealing electricity from a hallway outlet in-between the outdoor entrance and the second entrance into the airport. Luckily Delta sent me a message to see an attendant and she informed me I was missing out on an amazing perk. She led me to the floor above and a short walk away from any other humans was the entrance to airport lounge heaven.
This was morning, so there couldn't have been more than 30 people in the 40k square foot lounge upon entry. There is a large top shelf bar as soon as you enter, an outdoor sky deck overlooking the gates and aircraft past that. To the right is a full service sit down restaurant, followed by several sections of walk up food service of every genre you can think of. Tapas to full entrée's, deserts galore. Traveling deeper, I came upon the Delta One Spa... say what! (that's what I said!) They offered a half dozen treatments. I went with the cryogenic facial. No clue what that was, I just knew I needed one after the start to my day. After that, I was ready to take on the world. I went to the bar for an outstanding old fashioned, grabbed a small charcuterie board, and sat on the sky deck to count my blessings. I then opted for 10 minutes in complete darkness with soft music playing in the most advanced massage chair I've ever seen, let alone used. It completely covered my hands and feet, using inflatables to mimic massage on them. They had to peel me off of it at the end of my time. Next up was another cocktail while I waited for my early dinner reservation. I enjoyed some champagne (because why not), along with a roasted beet and warm goat cheese salad, followed by a generous can of caviar. The rest gets blurry from there...
I had 7 hours in a place most visitors get less than an hour. The wildest part is everything I've described was included in my Delta One ticket, absent a 9k skymile upgrade for the caviar, which was more than worth it. The photos will better describe things. The moral of the story is, just when you think the universe is making things complicated, the tides can turn and deliver the most amazing plot twist. Stay calm, think positive, and always sign up for travel rewards programs . Definitely factor this club into your decision to upgrade on an international flight to Delta One. They delivered the goods . read more