Los Angeles Airport
Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Star Alliance First Class / Business Class Lounge
We approached the Tom Bradley International Terminal on foot from the North. I had always wondered about traveling through here, this particular terminal, along with the many of thousands of travelers that have done so in the past. Most of my travel has been with United in Terminal 7, which could be, err, a more civilized connecting experience. For those that have wondered the origin of the Tom Bradley name, through the seventies and eighties, Tom Bradley was the mayor of Los Angeles for twenty years and was the only African American mayor of Los Angeles.
We approached the 1980’s styled architecture of thick concrete exteriors and avant gardist structures of a building that was opened in time for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angles. A time when the USA and USSR were in the middle of a Cold War and the USSR boycotted the American Olympics. High ceilings, a sense of beige-ness and anonymity meeting functionality was my first impression of the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
We wondered over to a near deserted Star Alliance aisle, past the Singapore Check in (these SQ guys are everywhere!) and up to the Asiana section, which was mostly empty. We headed straight up to the empty First Class counter and presented ourselves for our boarding passes.
As our baggage was checked through from Vancouver, it was a simple exchange as we received our onward boarding cards for Asiana LAX-ICN and ICN-PVG, We were also handed lounge invitations for the Star Alliance Lounge in TBIT.
We were directed over to the South Security Screeninng check point. After a brief stop for further duty free cosmetics pricing, we wandered into the business class / first security screening line up and once through, we headed up the elevator to the Star Alliance Lounge.
This is what I was doing while waiting for duty free. Looking at this... ...and dreaming of a flight to Papeete one day.
At the entrance to the lounge, we presented ourselves at the counter and were admitted access “over on the left hand side” (First Class section). After reading several trip reports here, I had wondered why there were not many photos of the LAX Star Alliance Lounge. I now know the reason why- there is hardly anything worth seeing here!!
The Left Hand Side.
First Class Lounge – Seating Area.
Walking through the passway on the “left hand side” led us to a quiet rectangular room with 44 seats in 11 groups of four. My initial impression was where is the rest of it? It is a small facility for what could be considered a major market population. We settled down into one of the four groups of chairs. There were only 2 other groups together in the lounge when we were there and there was enough space that we were not tripping over each other. The lounge was decorated in dark tones, dark chairs and wooden floors. The décor actually reminded me of the Gemiah Star Alliance Lounge (International side) in Cairo, Egypt. A dark understated hue.
Exploring, I went over to the food. For 10 AM, it just seemed a bit tired. I don’t know if it was because we just missed changeover from the breakfast service, but the lunch food on offer seemed to be leftovers from yesterday. Warm cheese, sushi that didn’t seem too crisp or fresh.
They were serving Nicolas Feuillante Champagne and Babich Pinot Noir which was a thumbs up as far as I was concerned. In all, I actually thought that the Air New Zealand Koru Club in Terminal 2 that was mentioned earlier was a much nicer facility. This place seemed to be lacking any personality.
The view was the best part. (This is actually the construction of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal).
Our westward view today.
I decided that I must be missing something. So I decided to check out the Business Class lounge. I was slightly horrified at what I found.
The "Right" Side.
The business side of the lounge around the “right side” was stuffed about as full as anyone would imagine. It was worse than a Lufthansa Senator Lounge in the middle of the day. People were spilling all over each other. Travellers were passed semi horizontally in chairs with their legs resting above their heads up the sides of the walls. I thought to myself “Where’s the decorum people? ? ?” There was not a single seat to be had.
I passed through the masses and located a larger food service area. I never imagined finding Cup O Noodles in the lounges as one of the main food items. There were magazines on the rack available for reading, but they were mostly European, which would probably explain why there were so many still left there.
Retreating to the safety of the "Left" side, I decided that the food didn’t look to appealing on either side so I elected for a constant stream of champagne injections to soothe my transit time. I opted for a glass of the Nicolas Feuillante and settled in on the First Class side. I did manage to sneak back over to the Business Side and try a glass of the Vin Mousseux on service over there – Pol Remy Brut (Blue). I suppose technically it wasn’t champagne, but at least it was from France and they were on the right track by offering a sparkling wine.
At ten minutes before the recommended boarding time listed on our card, the Asiana Representative came through the First Class Lounge with the white board with our flight number scribbled on it to let us know it was time to go. We were the only Asiana First Class passengers in the First Lounge it seemed. The White Board lady didn’t escort us down. So we collected ourselves and wondered down on our own through the under renovation TBIT over to gate 121.