After spending a few days in New York around the holidays it was time for me to head back to Texas. Prior to my flight, I had the opportunity to stop by the new Delta Sky Club in New York’s LaGuardia Airport Terminal C.
The new lounge is one of the newest, having opened in 2022 with an expansion in 2024, and largest Sky Clubs in the system. It measures in at a whopping 34,800 square feet so I was excited to check it out. Living in Austin, I can’t fly directly to LaGuardia so I typically fly into JFK or Newark. Since I was flying from New York to Dallas, I was excited by the opportunity to check out the space.
Delta Sky Club New York-LaGuardia Location
The Delta Sky Club is located in the gorgeous new Terminal C at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. It’s been years since I’d flown through LGA and the airport has gone through a complete transformation.
After clearing the centralized security checkpoint, take a left and head towards Gates 61-69 and 70-79. The entrance to the lounge is located in the main concourse on the left hand side, opposite the wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking the ramp.
Delta Sky Club New York-LaGuardia Hours of Operation
The Delta Sky Club is open between 4:45a and 9:30p Sunday through Friday. Hours are slightly shorter on Saturdays with the lounge open between 4:45a and 6:00p.
Delta Sky Club New York-LaGuardia Entry Requirements
The entry requirements for Delta Sky Clubs are some of the most complex ones out there. The easiest way to enter the lounge is by using a qualifying American Express credit card (including the AmEx Platinum and Delta Reserve cards) or by having a Sky Club membership and a same day Delta boarding pass.
Beginning in 2025, Delta and American Express cardholders who don’t hit $75,000 in spend during a calendar year will be limited on the number of entries in an effort to reduce crowding. You can find the full list of entry requirements here.
I accessed the lounge via my AmEx Platinum card which is linked to my SkyMiles account. There was a 5-10 minute wait to enter the lounge but, once I made it to the front of the line, I only needed to scan my boarding pass before being welcomed inside. The entrance to the lounge is at the concourse level with the lounge space located one level up.
Layout
At the top of the stairs is a small seating area that feels absolutely massive thanks to the ceiling height. There are two groups of chairs surrounding a couple of coffee tables. It was around Christmas so the lounge space was decorated for the holidays.
Due to the crowding in the lounge it was difficult to get photos of all of the various seating areas but I’ll do my best to describe them in detail.
The lounge is long and linear with massive windows overlooking the ramp below. While open, it is chopped up into different seating sections giving you plenty of ways to navigate through. At the top of the escalator you can either go straight, past the aforementioned seating area, or head to the left. Going straight leads you towards the main portion of the lounge while heading left brought you to a smaller section. I ended up going to the left as it was my first visit and I was just exploring.
There are a variety of different types of seating in this portion of the lounge including low, medium, and high backed chairs that, mostly, were arranged in groups of four. They seemed to change every row or two, creating quite the varying selection.
Opposite the seating area, along the interior wall are a pair of customer service desks that were staffed by multiple agents during my visit. Past the customer service desks is another small seating area.
Towards the rear of this section of the lounge you’ll find a small buffet along with some cafe style seating and a high-top counter overlooking the ramp.
Past the buffet and dining area, at the very back of the lounge is a beverage station with soda, juices, water, tea, and coffee.
Heading back past the entrance and into the main portion of the lounge, things open up quite a bit. A Variety of seating clusters are arranged all throughout the lounge and, honestly, outside of the primary paths it was a little hard to navigate.
This portion of the lounge is dominated by primary bar and dining area. The dining area had a mix of cafe style tables, high top counters, and booth seating. During my visit, very few seats were available in this area.
Adjacent to the dining area, separated by a wall, is the primary buffet. It is much larger than the buffet on the opposite side of the lounge and had a few more items on offer.
Heading past the buffet, the lounge narrows a bit due to a cutout for the concourse below. Views over the airfield are maintained thanks to the floor to ceiling glass windows. This space functions like a hallway of sorts with groups of 4 seats on one side and a long booth with tables and chairs on the other. The entrance to the restrooms are also located here.
At the end of the hallway is, in my opinion, the hidden gem of the lounge. A small seating area and secondary bar area are located here and had plenty of available seating when I arrived. This was a contrast to the remainder of the lounge and felt like a well kept secret.
A non-alcoholic beverage station with soda, coffee, tea, water, and flavored water is located next to the bar area.
While the LaGuardia Sky Club is nice, most AvGeeks will want to head out to the Sky Deck located just past the secondary bar. Since I visited the lounge in December, the roof was closed and the heaters were running, making it a comfortable space, though noticeably cooler than the lounge.
The furniture was essentially patio furniture but, it was comfortable for the short time I spent out here.
The real reason for a visit to the Sky Deck certainly didn’t disappoint, as it was a beautiful day to watch airplanes take off and land at LaGuardia. Since it was a clear day, you could see out over Flushing Bay to the Bronx in the distance.
Food and Beverage
I find Delta’s Sky Clubs to have the best food and beverage options among the big three U.S. carrier’s lounges. While this lounge was no exception, the selection was somewhat limited and uninspired. First, there was hummus with assorted vegetables.
A hot meat dish, chicken and vegetable stir fry, and vegetarian dish, hoisin glazed eggplant, were on offer along with steamed rice. I would have liked something more substantial in the meat department but, I live in Texas.
Finally, there was miso glazed tofu, stir fry vegetables with ginger and sesame, a salad bar, wraps, sandwiches and a selection of desserts.
The primary buffet appeared to have a few additional items but the majority of the food was uniform across the two.
On the beverage front, there are multiple non-alcoholic beverage stations located throughout the lounge with juice, coffee, tea, water, soda, and flavored water available.
The bar featured the standard Sky Club offerings with well beverages, house wines, and select draft beer being complimentary. Other, more premium, beverages could be purchased with a credit card or Delta SkyMiles. The only issue that I noticed here was the bar was running out of certain items including two of the available draft beers during my visit.
Atmosphere
As you can likely tell from the photos above, the lounge was quite crowded during my visit. That was evident before I entered thanks to the line out front. I don’t find myself bothered by large crowds or noise but, the main portion of the lounge was far from relaxing.
Thankfully, the rear portion of the lounge and the Sky Deck still had space to spread out and relax before my flight. Also, I visited the lounge on a Thursday afternoon before Christmas which was likely one of the busier times the lounge will see throughout the year. I’m interested in returning to the lounge to see what it is like when it’s less crowded.
Summary
The Delta Sky Club at New York’s LaGuardia Airport is one of the newest and largest clubs in the system and, even when busy, you can find some space to relax.
While my visit was less than ideal with all of the people packed in, I’d happily (and somewhat eagerly want to) visit this lounge again. Living in Austin, I can’t fly directly to LaGuardia due to its perimeter rule, so I’m unsure of when I’ll have a chance to visit again, but I might go out of my way to try.
