Background
Was going a little stir-crazy stuck in Boston for the past 7 months or so — probably the longest stretch I've gone without flying anywhere in the past 5 years or so, so decided to take a quick trip to NYC over the Columbus Day weekend to catch up with some friends in the city. Plus NY is one of the few states still remaining on the MA safe list (and vice versa, although given the current situation in Mass I think we're going to be removed soon) so didn't have to worry about testing / quarantine requirements and all that. Perhaps more importantly since MA and NY both have Covid mostly under control there was much less of an ethical issue around travel during a pandemic (vs. say going to/from the West Coast or really anywhere outside New England).
So in September I booked a basic economy ticket on DL JFK-BOS for $98.10 — I'd typically take Amtrak, particularly given the unreliability of any afternoon/evening departure NYC-BOS (in the pre-corona era), but given how schedules have been massively thinned out ATC/weather delays aren't really a thing now a 40-minute flight beats out a 4-hour train ride any day. Although I did take the train down from Boston since I was stopping in New Haven for a night to catch up with other friends. And picked JFK over LGA because really IMHO it's easier to get to on public transport (LIRR to Jamaica and then the Airtrain is way less painful / prone to traffic than the subway/bus), and I wasn't going to pay for a Lyft/Uber/Taxi. Also because the JFK Sky Club is open and the skydeck is great (and yes lounge selection often does figure into my choice of airports).
Of course then a week before my trip Amex updated their website to indicate the JFK Centurion would be opening "in the next few days", and it eventually did open on Friday (10/9), and so by a happy coincidence I'd have a brand new lounge to check out on my way back as well. And also since it seems like there hasn't been anything written about this new lounge on FT (which I guess is understandable, given how new it is) I decided to take a ton of pictures and write something up for here.
Getting to JFK and Check-in
So after a great Friday/Saturday in NYC (and way too much good food/drink) checked out of my hotel in SoHo and decided to make the ~30 minute walk to Penn Station — it was unseasonably warm and fairly nice out, plus I travel pretty light so only had an overnight bag and a backpack with me. And in general I'm very much a fan of walking through cities and people-watching, plus now that everything's outdoors the streets themselves are pretty busy and vaguely interesting. So got to Penn eventually and hopped on the LIRR to Jamaica. And then off to the AirTrain (which was running at ~15 minute intervals due to "maintenance", ugh) and then into JFK T4.
Time for a short rant but I don't quite get why more people don't take this route to JFK more often / insist it's so hard to get to — it only took me ~25 minutes on the LIRR to get to Jamaica (and since it was a Sunday it was only $4.50), with plenty of seats/room for luggage, and unlike taking NJT to/from EWR the trains are frequent and there aren't ridiculous gaps in the schedule at off-peak hours. Of course $7.75 for the AirTrain is daylight robbery, but again if your alternatives are EWR or LGA the Airtrain JFK is the best of the three. But I digress.
Anyway reached JFK around 3pm (for an 8pm flight, I know, but I was tired of NYC and which at least gave me plenty of time to check out the lounges), and what struck me immediately was how empty the terminal was — entire rows of check-in counters were empty:
The DL side of things were busier at least:
Not sure why they needed a separate check-in lane for Santiago:
Today's flights from T4 — a far cry from the typical evening rush:
Had already checked-in online and made it through security in no time at all — was the only person in the PreCheck line and out airside in minutes (this is one thing I could get used to). And of course instinctively took the escalator down to head to the skyclub (having forgotten that the Centurion is on the same level as security, next to the EY lounge — i.e. turn left after security, while LX/LY/wingtips are to the right). Also no signs to the centurion in the terminal just yet, so that didn't help either. So doubled back and went back up.
Escalator to shops post-security:
The Centurion is on the left after security, before the EY lounge:
Of course if you were reading this post thoroughly you'd have noticed that I was
way too early for my flight, and Amex does have a 3 hour prior to departure rule for their lounges, but given how empty JFK was (and how this was only the third day the lounge was in operation) I decided to chance things and see if they'd let me in, but no dice, so back down the escalator and off to the Skyclub instead...
Almost all the shops still closed and this part of the terminal was fairly deserted:
Although the B concourse was fairly busy (of course this is relative) with a fair number of DL flights going out
Also saw an interesting scene at a gate where there were 2 NYS health officials(?) intercepting arriving passengers to collect/verify travel declarations and stopping people who hadn't filled them out, and making them complete them on the spot (one of them yelled at and ran after a passenger after he tried to walk away, so that was fun) — and IMHO Massachusetts / Massport / Boston really needs something like this — I know too many people who return from outside the Northeast but just don't fill them in
Delta Sky Club JFK T4
So anyway made it into the skyclub with no issue, and it's basically unchanged compared to pre-pandemic times, just that half the seats have been blocked off with those ubiquitous "reserved for social distancing" stickers. The club was ~30 – 40% full, but didn't feel that crowded, and mask-wearing was good throughout. Pretty sure most people are familiar with the layout of the club but here are some pictures from when I was there in July (had to take a day trip to visit a consulate in NYC, and was the only person in the lounge for a good hour, which was spooky but did make for great pictures)
It's also a little hard to see but I was very amused by one of the luggage tags on this wall — it's the only destination that DL doesn't fly to (I think), and the choice is certainly quite ironic for 2020
Anyway this time around again headed immediately to the Sky deck for some planespotting (although the pickings are fairly meagre now) — fairly overcast day but warm outside, and there were several other people sitting around as well:
DL 752 at gate, Cargolux Italia 747F which just landed from MXP, and a DL 319 taking off
KL 77W arriving from AMS and EI 333 from DUB:
LX 77W inbound from ZRH:
Also headed back indoors to check out the food selection (although was planning on saving most of my appetite for the Centurion) — the buffet is mostly packaged items which you can grab yourself (largely unchanged from
this post in July) but they've also added hot items which are served to you.
Mac and cheese (with assorted toppings) and chicken strips, which I tried for science:
Also there were cinnamon rolls which were stale:
Overall food selection was still good, and also
miles ahead of anything you'd find in a United Club pre- / post-Covid, so really I'd have had no issue with spending an extended layover in here (particularly with the skydeck open).
However of course there was the Centurion lounge to check out, so after a very pleasant hour and a half it was time to head back through the terminal...