A few weeks ago I covered how Delta Air Lines revealed plans to open a second Delta One Lounge at LAX, making it the first airport where the airline will have two Delta One Lounges. This is interesting, as it’s clearly part of a broader growth strategy by the carrier at the airport. There’s now an update, as it appears that this lounge will open a couple of days from now.
Delta One Lounge coming to LAX Terminal 2
Delta is known for its excellent Delta One One Lounges, and there are currently four locations, in Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), and Seattle (SEA).
The Delta One Lounge LAX opened back in 2024, located in Terminal 3, and it offers a great experience. At only 10,000 square feet, it pales in comparison to the one at JFK, which is around 40,000 square feet. But still, Delta’s network at LAX also isn’t as big.
That brings us to the news — Delta plans to open a new Delta One Lounge at LAX Terminal 2. However, the process by which this will happen is rather odd. Shortly the Delta One Lounge will open in an “initial phase.” Then in 2028, the Delta One Lounge in Terminal 2 will undergo its transformation, and reopen following a full renovation.
It sounds like the initial facility will be more of a makeshift setup, while the real purpose-built Delta One Lounge concept will open in 2028. We now have a more specific timeline for this lounge opening, as JonNYC reports the lounge will welcome its first guests on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, so that’s just a couple of days from now.
Details remain very limited, though it sounds like there will be transportation directly to the lounge from Delta One check-in and the exclusive security line. Terminal 2 is getting a larger redevelopment, and this is the first stage of that, as more work to the entire terminal space is expected to take place in 2028 and beyond.
We know that the lounge will offer the typical Delta One Lounge dining experience at launch, but we don’t know much beyond that. The lounge is expected to take over the space of the former Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Terminal 2 (before it moved to Tom Bradley International Terminal), which was around 4,000 square feet, so I expect this lounge will be roughly the same size.
Among the premium international lounges of the “big three” US carriers, this is the first time that we’ve seen two of these lounges at one airport… and LAX isn’t even among Delta’s biggest hubs!
I am curious how they’re going to manage crowding between the two lounges. People will probably go to the lounge closer to their gate, or maybe to the Terminal 3 lounge, out of habit. How will Delta properly distribute guests, especially since ideally you don’t want to tell a business class passenger to schlep to Terminal 2, after they’ve arrived at the Terminal 3 lounge?
Separately, in 2027, Delta also plans to open a new Sky Club in Terminal 2. Again, details are limited, but this is a major investment in the airport.
This is part of Delta’s huge LAX growth plans
Typically, the “big three” US carriers love their fortress hubs, where they dominate the market, and control a majority of the traffic. This allows them to efficiently funnel passengers into their larger network, and also gives them more pricing power.
LAX is unique in that it’s an airport where American, Delta, and United, all have a hub. It’s the only airport where that’s the case. Over the years, we’ve seen the airlines kind of take turns being the slightly dominant airline (I guess you could say they’re LAX vers), but it’s just a really tough market.
You’d think LAX would be super lucrative, but it’s just not anywhere close to the most profitable hubs, due to the amount of competition. On the international front, you have so much service from foreign airlines, which often have much lower cost structures than US carriers. Furthermore, given how market share is distributed pretty equally, it’s also hard for any one airline to make huge money on credit cards, or to have much pricing power.
As things currently stand, there’s no denying that the Delta One Lounge LAX gets busy late at night (before the transpacific flights), but other than that, the lounge doesn’t get that crowded.
What’s odd about Delta is that it has spent recent years building up its hub in SEA as a long haul gateway, largely as an alternative to LAX. However, with growth constraints, plus the pressure of being number two behind Alaska, we’e now seen Delta shift growth back to LAX.
We’ve just seen Delta launch flights out of LAX to Hong Kong (HKG), and the airline also plans to launch Manila (MNL) flights in 2027. Side note — that HKG route must be buh-leeding money, particularly with current oil prices.
In the time since the second Delta One Lounge LAX was announced, we’ve learned more about Delta’s goal of dominating LAX, as the airline sees a “once in a generation” opportunity. While some growth is definitely possible, I tend to think history repeats itself, and I can’t imagine any ramp-up will be terribly profitable. But perhaps Delta views it as part of a larger strategic interest.
Bottom line
On Tuesday, June 30, 2026, Delta is expected to open a second Delta One Lounge at LAX Terminal 2, complementing the one that opened in Terminal 3 in 2024. The temporary Delta One Lounge in Terminal 2 will open shortly for some amount of time, before being fully redeveloped, and then reopening in 2028.
Admittedly the current Delta One Lounge is rather small, but still, this is the first time we’ve seen a US carrier open two premium international business lounges at the same airport. We know Delta plans to grow at LAX, though I’m curious just how much growth is in the cards.
What do you make of a second Delta One Lounge LAX?