injera

Good morning,

Next week embarking on a MR thats going JFK->LAX->CVG->JFK->SFO->SEA->ATL->LGA over the course of ~48 hours. Have GM status and a Delta Platnium Amex.

A few questions regarding skyclubs:
1 - Are the showers in the skyclubs complimentary? Or is it an additional fee once already inside? Do they provide basic toiletries and towels or must I bring my own?? (I assume i'm on my own for a toothbrush, deoderant, hair gel but they should have soap and shampoo right??)

2 - If I buy the $50 day pass is that only good for one visit to one lounge or is it good for a whole day? When would the day start? Is it per calendar day? Is it for 24 hour period? Delta booked this as 3 segments on one ticket, they are JFK->LAX, LAX->CVG->JFK->SFO->SEA and SEA->ATL->LGA. Would I need 3 passes? Would 1 suffice for the whole LAX->CVG->JFK->SFO->SEA leg?

3 - Does this change at all if I use my amex to buy a $25 lounge pass?

4 - Will have a 3 hour layover in JFK and a 4 hour one in SFO. Are they any other lounges I can access for a fee??

Thanks

azeckel

1. No extra charge but can have a lengthy wait, especially at LAX.

2. According to delta.com:
So I guess it depends on how you set up the origin/destination.
3. Pretty sure the Amex pass is a per visit pass and not a per day pass
4. I'm not aware of any at SFO. No idea about JFK. Keep in mind that the club at SFO is outside security. It's a pretty small club without amenities like showers. 4 hours might be enough time to leave the airport for a decent meal, though. BART takes 45 mins to get to embarcadero...

Josephmay

Amex $25 is per visit. Not the same as a day pass. Admission is for One club one time only.

Carl Johnson

1. The T4 Skyclub at JFK has 6 shower rooms and the longest I have waited was about 15 minutes, that was when they were all full and there were 4 or 5 people ahead of me on the list. Usually I go right in. They always put soap, shampoo, and towels in the room; there is a list of other things (including deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, and shaving things I know for sure) that you can ask for.

4. Wingtips at JFK is a lot better the Skyclub, except that the shower, while perfectly OK, is not as good. They have hot food in the evening, and self-pour drinks (and no "luxury" bar). But it costs $50 to get in and if you are on a day pass from Delta, I guess you might as well skip Wingtips. If you want decent food there is plenty for sale outside.

MSPeconomist

Wingtips is in Priority Pass, just like Oasis was.

the_bob123

I have an upcoming MR later this month, flying through JFK twice on the same day. Will an AMEX day pass allow me to enter the same lounge in the morning, and later in the afternoon?

xliioper

No. The DL Amex benefit is not actually a day pass, it's a discount single visit access benefit. They scan your credit card which allows access to the club. There is no physical pass provided which you can reuse later.

MSPeconomist

A real day pass will do this and you could visit both JFK SCs too if you're changing terminals there. IIRC you can purchase the day pass in advance on delta.dumb and print it. Make sure the dragons give it back to you when you enter. AFAIK this has nothing to do with AMEX although of course you can pay with AMEX (or any other credit card DL accepts).

The AMEX discount deal is for a one time one entrance to a single SC.

ops55

I've read this on here too. But when I bought a day pass at the LAX SC with my AMEX, they told me it was $29, which I expected. I said is that one entry? He asked if I meant using another club location, and I said no, I may just want to leave for a bit and come back since I have a long layover. SC agent said "thats fine".

So YMMV doing this-

MSPeconomist

YOU DID NOT BUY A DAY PASS. This was a single entry admission (ONE LOUNGE ONLY) where the dragon was willing to extend the courtesy of letting you leave and re-enter the very same lounge. You might not have been so lucky if a new and different dragon had been working at the reception desk when you returned.

A day pass will definitely not work for different lounges unless you convince a dragon to really violate the rules for you.

gooselee

This, exactly. And if you had attempted to use a different SC a few hours later, you would have had to pony up another $29.

As a counterpoint, just last week I got to PHL early with a colleague and we were trying to SDS on to earlier flights. I paid to guest her in, we left to go to the gate for the first flight, and on the way out I told the dragon we'd be back if we didn't clear and asked if I had to re-guest my colleague in. She said it'd be fine.

Fast forward 45 minutes and we didn't clear the SB list, so back up to the SC where a new set of staff had come in and was asking for another $29 to re-enter the same club we had left less than an hour earlier. They were perfectly cordial and after we explained what had happened and they saw (I guess) our SB requests in the system, waved us back in the club. But upon swiping my Amex the computer was telling them to charge again for the guest.

ops55

Where is this written though? On the Amex website, it says the discounted rate is good for the day at one lounge location only. I couldn't find anything from Delta that says otherwise. Do you have a link?

aerostl

DL's gates in SFO are not at the main SFO terminal. You will need to exit security and re-enter (the SKY and PRE lines are always usually quite brief unless it's Monday AM) to access the SkyClub or go to any other gates. There is no lounge (DL or other) post-security at DL's SFO gates, and you can't access the other terminals without exiting security (not sure if you could even re-enter in the non-DL terminals).

4hrs is more than enough time in SFO to stop by the In-N-Out burger in Millbrae. You can either take BART to CalTrain/Millbrae and walk <0.5mi, or take a cab. Depending on time of day, BART to/from SFO runs every 15-20 minutes and doesn't run after 1130p (check - I'm not sure the exact time cutoff), so you probably will want to take a cab or Uber back to SFO.

If you have a higher level of time risk tolerance and don't have lots of luggage with you, you could also take BART into SF. 24th St Mission station. It's about a 30 minute BART ride (15-20 minutes by cab) and there are several excellent burrito/taco joints in a 1-2 block radius. La Taqueria and El Farolito on Mission are both good bets but bring cash. Papalote is also close by and usually a long wait, but you can call in take-out orders in advance.

emrdoc

ops55...you are correct. It is a single club pass not a single visit pass.

gooselee

My experience is that it is a single-visit pass, but probably what's happening is that in 99% of cases, a one-day-one-club pass is the same as a single-visit pass.

IME, swiping the card logs the $29 charge, but doesn't make any standing record that you (or your guest) has secured day-long access. How would they even know, anyway? Whenever I pay $29 on my unbranded Plat to guest someone in, they don't ask for their name or BP so there's no record that particular person was my guest. I suppose it could be different for the DL-branded cards...