An excellent lounge at JFK that offers sit-down dining, beautifully-designed shower stalls, and lots of seating. There will be a lot of people passing through here, but service remains good.

This lounge visit occurred in November 2024.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Thankful in The Bahamas
• WOW: Delta One Lounge LAX is Incredible
• Review: Delta One 767-300ER LAX-JFK
• Review: Delta One Lounge JFK (this post)
• Fun in the Sun: A Review of Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
• Grand Hyatt Baha Mar – Breakfast Restaurants
• Grand Hyatt Baha Mar – Dinner Restaurants
• Grand Hyatt Baha Mar – Activities
• Grand Hyatt Baha Mar – Pools and Beach
• Wet and Wild Excitement: Baha Bay Water Park
• Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Thanksgiving Activities
• Review: Copa Airlines 737-800 Business Class NAS-PTY
• Review: Copa Club PTY Terminal 2
• Review: Copa Airlines 737-MAX 9 Business Class PTY-LAX

Location

The Delta One Lounge at JFK can be found in Terminal 4. If you’re connecting, you’ll find the entrance (as shown in the picture below) just past security screening where most of the other stores can be found between Concourses A and B. Note that unlike in LAX, where all terminals are connected airside, you’ll have some difficulty if coming here on some of Delta’s partners. As of the time of this writing, only LATAM, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic fly out of Terminal 4 along with Delta. Air France and Korean Air fly out of Terminal 1, and thus it’s not convenient for these eligible customers to come visit this lounge.

We followed the signage to make it over to the Delta One Lounge without much trouble. Once inside, the Delta agent checked our boarding passes (we arrived in Delta One but our next flight out was just in Comfort+), helped us complete the check-in process for our next flight (could not be completed online or at LAX), and we were on our way.

Access

The Delta One Lounge at JFK is open from 4:00AM to 11:00PM.

Only the following customers can access the Delta One Lounge:

• Same-day departing or arriving Delta One ticketed passengers (this includes the domestic Delta One experience as well as all Delta One international tickets).
• Delta 360° members departing or arriving on a same-day Delta first class ticket. Eligible Delta 360° members can bring two guests or their immediate family for an entry fee of $100/person.
• Same-day departing or connecting partner flights in qualifying cabins (note that unlike in Delta One cabins, arriving passengers on these flights do not receive access):
  • Air France La Premiere and long-haul Business Class
  • LATAM Premium Business Class
  • KLM Business Class
  • Korean Air First Class and Prestige Class
  • Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

Customers who are upgraded to Delta One (such as using Regional or Global Upgrade Certificates) or based on elite upgrades clearing are also eligible to use the facilities.

Note that unlike other Delta Sky Club lounges, there is no three-hour restriction to visit the lounge.

We accessed the lounge based on our purchased Delta One ticket from LAX to New York JFK. In fact, while at LAX, staff openly welcomed us to use the JFK lounge on arrival to continue the experience.

Dedicated Check-In Facility

Similar to LAX, there is a dedicated Check-In Facility at JFK Terminal 4. However, since we were arriving off a flight at JFK, we did not have an opportunity to check out the facility. I imagine the facility is as flawless as what we had in LAX.

Seating

If you entered the lounge via connection, as we did, simply enter the lounge and make your way up the elevators to Level 4.

We arrived at the lounge early in the morning, around 5:30AM, and stayed in the lounge until about 8AM. During that time, the lounge was lightly used. I imagine that is generally the case given most eligible passengers will be flying later in the day. The one benefit of arriving this early is that we had our choice on where to settle down and have a seat. And once we sat down, a couple of lounge attendants came by to ask if there was anything they could do to make our stay more enjoyable.

There is a small “outdoor” section where you can get some views of the runway. The space doesn’t actually open to the outside but is behind some glass doors and has plants in it to give the impression you’re outdoors, but it’s not quite the same as at the LAX lounge. I’m sure much of that just has to do with the milder weather in Los Angeles.

Food

There is a beautiful bar in the center of the lounge, though given it was early in the morning for us when we were here, it went unused. I imagine this is a popular place to be in the evening.

Across from the bar is a dining room, which is open between 11AM and 9:30PM. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open when we were here in the lounge. They do post a menu, so I could get a sense of what’s on offer here when it is open, and I’m glad to see there is some variation by location and not just the same thing at each lounge.

Just past the bar and dining room is a buffet, though it was different from a standard buffet in that you choose what you want and workers put it on a plate for you. I’m not sure I actually like that approach over a true self-service buffet. I imagine it things can get backed up if there are a lot of customers wanting food at the same time. It also might be more of a challenge if you aren’t a native English-speaker to properly instruct what you want.

That said, while we didn’t try everything here (who is really all that hungry when you only got a few hours of sleep on a redeye?) but what we did try was good. Having fresh fruits and juices are always welcome.

You can also order omelets from the Oven station or choose from a selection of already-cooked items sitting under the heat lamps. There was a bit of a line forming for the omelets as the time creeped closer to 8AM.

Given New York is famous for bagels, there is a bagel bar that we enjoyed with perfectly-toasted bagels. This was a fan-favorite for our kids.

And what breakfast buffet is complete without pastries and baked goods?

There are several drink stations throughout the lounge. I can’t comment on the quality of the coffee since I’m not a coffee drinker.

Other Amenities

Similar to the LAX Delta One Lounge, the JFK lounge also has amenity cards that describe the benefits available in the lounge. There are slight differences from the LAX version.

After settling in, I decided it was time to check out the showers here. The shower stalls are found at the back of the lounge. There are kiosks throughout the lounge where you can add your name to the waitlist or you can head to the back and directly speak to the shower attendant, which is what I did. There was no wait at 7AM.

I was invited to use shower stall #4. Before the attendant left, she asked me if I needed my clothes pressed or a shoe shine while I showered. I didn’t feel a need for that with the street clothes I was wearing, but I thanked her for the offer.

The shower suite is nicely decorated with a beautiful backsplash adding a nice color accent and a bath robe if you need it.

The shower continues the color palette, but one small problem I have is that there is no door on the shower. That allows the cool air in the lounge to creep in as you’re showering. On the plus side, the water temperature can be made fairly hot to somewhat compensate, but I still would have preferred a door.

Shower amenities are by Grown Alchemist, the standard for Delta and one I like.

Shower suites do come with a toilet, just in case you’re curious.

There is a placard here that describes the additional amenities if you need them. However, I will say it’d be nicer if the shower suite was already stocked with these items. You’re going to have to leave the shower to track down the attendant to request the items, which isn’t exactly a simple task after you’ve taken a shower. An alternative approach is to request the items once arriving in the room, but you’d already need to know what you want before fully understanding what’s available.

Also on the counter is a full-size bottle of lotion and some mouthwash.

There are also some facial serum samples.

In case you’re wondering what the main restroom looks like, it’s not quite as elegant or private, but it gets the job done. Lights above the door signal if it’s available (green) or occupied (red).

If you need to get some work done, there are private working pods available along with a printer that anyone can access.

Comparing the LAX and JFK Delta One Lounges

Having been to both LAX and JFK Delta One Lounges, a few notable things stand out to me. Keep in mind that the comparison isn’t fully complete since I haven’t experienced the morning service at LAX or the evening service at JFK. However, a few things seemed apparent:

• The service level at LAX was a bit more elevated than at JFK. I believe that’s in large part because the employee-to-guest ratio is much better at LAX given how few eligible guests there will be at that lounge.
• The JFK lounge is huge and yet there are many reports of overcrowding in the evening. Part of the appeal of the LAX lounge was the feeling of exclusivity and having a space that at times felt like it was all for yourself. Perhaps that normalizes a bit over time, but I don’t like the thought of having to spend a lot of time looking for enough seats for the family. Even by 8AM, there were more guests in the JFK lounge than I saw at any time at the LAX lounge in the evening.
• Given there are regional flairs to the dining, I prefer the options available at LAX more than what I could see of the JFK menu. My favorite food is sushi and sashimi, and LAX has a dedicated sushi chef, which places it on a higher pedestal for me. Of course, this is all just subject to everyone’s own opinions.
• The Delta One Lounge at LAX is in a relatively better location as it’s between Terminals 2 and 3, where the vast majority of Delta flights depart and an easy walk from the lounge. At JFK, the Delta One Lounge can be a lengthy walk from some of the Concourse B gates–and wouldn’t you know it that our flight out of JFK was a 15 minute walk to the gate.

So while I far prefer the LAX version, I found that both lounges are significantly better than the typical Delta Sky Club.

Recommendation: Yes

The Delta One Lounge at JFK might have been one of the highlights of the trip–if it wasn’t overshadowed by the LAX location. The JFK lounge has a lot going for it, though we weren’t able to fully experience it given the time of day we visited. I love when a lounge has sit-down dining as an option, and if it’s executed similar to the LAX lounge, I think it’s a great added value to the overall experience. It’s absolutely worth a visit if you have access, though at JFK you’re going to have some difficulty accessing if you’re flying on Air France or Korean Air, given both airlines fly out of a different terminal. Don’t forget that you can access this lounge if your Delta One flight either begins or terminates here, making it a worthwhile stop at any point along your journey.

Have you been to the Delta One Lounge at JFK?