They were using the Virgin Lounge which is a fantastic lounge. Up until Virgin became Skyteam. Then they started using the Air India and probably realized the low quality of the lounge and wasn’t worth their money. In that case, since there is no other lounge except the Delta skyclub and Emirates lounge. Which neither will allow Etihad to use. Maybe Etihad should bring back their lounge at JFK especially if they see themselves flying the a380 again to JFK