Delta Raising Club Prices Again, I Wonder Where They Got That Idea From

by Gary Leff

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Delta announced restrictions on accessing their airport lounges, limiting use to passengers flying the airline or one of its partners same day. Club members could no longer use their club unless also paying Delta or its partners additional money to travel.

So American announced that same restriction. And a couple of weeks later, surprising no one in the known universe, United followed.

American also announced an increase in club prices. So it should come as no surprise that Delta is doing the same thing.

Delta’s club prices are already higher than the competition. They also charge extra for a ‘membership’ that allows guest access. American’s club prices are going up by $100. Delta announced their ‘individual membership’ (no free guests) goes up by $50 and their ‘Executive’ (real) membership goes up by… $100.

Delta’s lounges are on the whole marginally better than United’s or American’s, with a little bit more substantive food. The Seattle and San Francisco lounges are nice though of course many are tired, including in hubs like Salt Lake City. Of course Delta does not offer a premium business class lounge product like United and American do, so Sky Clubs serve both paid members and premium passengers.

And Delta’s lounges are already more expensive — with a base price for a full membership that will go up to $845 per year.

I access Delta’s clubs when flying Delta using my Platinum Card® from American Express (which covers my own admittance, and my wife has an authorized user card for hers, though guests can enter with a fee).

Meanwhile Delta will no longer sell single use guest passes. If you want to use the lounge get a credit card or buy up.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. ‘Single Use passes’ are valid through expiration…does that require a delta flight or not? Or does it require a Delta flight strating 1/1/19?

  2. Lounge memberships are mostly business expenses. They can raise it another $200 and there’ll be a marginal decrease in footfall.

  4. Gary,

    The email that Delta sent also said that Delta Sky Club members won’t have access to Air France, KLM, or Virgin Australia lounges starting Jan 1. That’s a major change in benefits.

  6. Will they at least align themselves with the rest of the world and include the single visit pass with business class fares, even if short haul? That would be a huge improvement.

  8. @Ted “The email that Delta sent also said that Delta Sky Club members won’t have access to Air France, KLM, or Virgin Australia lounges starting Jan 1.” Wow. Especially bad since they got rid of some of their own lounges so they could share with partners (ie Virgin arrivals lounge in Heathrow.) What does the email say about partner lounge access when flying Delta One? Or about if you have a Delta credit card? Do you still get in for $29?

    @Jake “Will they at least align themselves with the rest of the world and include the single visit pass with business class fares, even if short haul?” What do you mean by this? I always get in the Delta lounge when I’m flying Delta international business class… and there is no business class in the US… ?.

  9. Does DL still have residual lifetime members from NW days? I have a lifetime UA membership from CO days. Ideally they’d grandfather lifetimes under the rules of no flight required. There can’t be that many of us.

Comments are closed.