ACK! A self-service bar? :mad: Tell me it's not so. That means the best bloody mary in the SC system is now a thing of the past! :td::td:

And while they clearly needed the additional space with all the new wide-body flying, I personally liked the ambiance of the open rotunda. Seems much more cookie-cutter and less distinctive now.

Emphasis mine.

I hear ya but c'mon, it has been so congested there. Looking forward to seeing the 'new improved' SC next week but I won't be surprised if I feel the same as you.

There'd need to be real cheese for that to happen.

That is the problem with (or, perhaps, the intention underpinning) the move to self serve...

Self serve leads to cheap liquor choices

DL management does nothing without planning the upside for them.

Would you believe that executives of a publicly held company should do any different? If so, I believe that they are neglecting their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders.

So you would believe that they are fulfilling their "fiduciary responsibilities" by (1) marketing a relatively expensive product/service, (2) degrading the value of that service by scrimping on the "niceties" that attracted the customer base in the beginning, and (3) alienating the customers as a consequence?

By your logic, General Motors should be putting terry cloth seats in Cadillacs.

Granted, my analogy breaks down a bit... to follow DL Management's lead, GM would have to find some way to remove the leather seats and put the terry cloth in, after they have sold the car.

You're right, in that it's quite nice for a US domestic lounge. In that regard, I think it's great. The OP's point is that the quality of things is very subpar for an international business class lounge of a major airport.

However, looking at the various options for lounges at LAX:

-Delta has two international flights to LAX - Tokyo and Sydney. On the Sydney route, they compete with Qantas, V Australia and United.
- United offers the Red Carpet Club at LAX for J customers. The RCC at LAX is pretty small (comparatively), snack options are about the same as the new SC. No showers.
- Qantas uses the Admiral's Club - a bit of a step up over a regular AC, but again, nothing special.
- V Australia uses the Alaska Board Room, which do tend to the be the best domestic lounges - however, for the few hot appetizers they have, no showers.

Basically, for SYD-bound travelers, you get the AS, AA, DL or UA lounges. The new Delta club, once fully finished, is overall the best option here in my opinion.

With Tokyo, ANA, JAL, Korean Air and Singapore all have access to the Alliance lounges in the TBIT, which are overall a bit nicer than the options for SYD. Overall though, the LAX club caters to primarily domestic flyers, with a handful of international flights where it is sufficient (and honestly, a bit nicer than the lounges that Delta offers at its primary international gateways at Atlanta and Kennedy).

QF is planning to do a SYD style F lounge at TBIT so the DL lounge pale compared to that. Of course, DL has only 1x per day to SYD.

Was there today. There are not enough power plugs still! Amazing to redo a whole club and not get with what frequent fliers need, juice for their electonics!!

Overheard one of the agents giving a tour saying that usually they ask the local people for feedback about what they need and apparently not this time!

The club is much nicer than before (not hard to beat) but nothing like the NRT nor DTW lounges!!

No bagels for the morning, just a few mini-muffins, yogurt and the fig bars.

The shower area was still blocked off so I assume closed.

Still hoping for a club in PHL again... even if the LAX stripped-down-no-power-plugs model is the template.

As to showers, I'd be satisfied if one of the kind PHL Sky Club staff just threw a cup of water in my face.

:D

What a shame. IIRC, LAX used to have some reasonable microbrews in bottles or on tap.

More quality creep... downwards.

The pictures show 4 taps. I can't tell what all of them are, but it looks like there might be at least 1 microbrew.

The noise did not bother me very much. However, the floors bounce every time someone walks through. :(

From what I can see in the picture:

Clear
Bud Light
Michelob Ultra

Unclear/unsure

Pyramid Haywire??
Samuel Adams??