We had 4.5 hours to kill between our arrival in New York, on our Delta flight from Austin, and our onward, SWISS, flight to Zurich. To kill some time, and make sure that SWISS check-in would be open when we arrived, we headed to the new Delta Sky Club in Terminal 4 Concourse A at JFK. This club recently opened as part of Delta’s expansion of Concourse A and hopefully will take some pressure off of the always busy Sky Club in Concourse B.
Location
To reach the Delta Sky Club New York-JFK Terminal 4 Concourse A, follow the signage towards Gates A2-A21.
The first group of gates is for international flights from airlines like Kenya Airways, Air India, Etihad, and Uzbekistan. After these gates, there is a set of escalators leading to the lower level and the Delta departure gates (these mainly serve regional jets). To access the Sky Club, go around these escalators and the entry doors will be on your left.
Hours of Operation
The Delta Sky Club New York-JFK Terminal 4 Concourse A is currently open between 5:00a and 10:30p daily.
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. You can find the full list of entry requirements here.
Delta is unique among the Big 3 US airlines due to the fact that they allow lounge access on arrival when flying Delta or a partner operated flight. We accessed the club with our American Express Platinum cards which are linked to our SkyMiles accounts. This allows for a quick swipe of our boarding pass to enter and we were inside in seconds.
Layout
The check-in deck is located at the concourse level with the remainder of the lounge located one floor up and can be accessed via stairs, elevator, or escalator.
At the landing on the upper floor, there are a few seats to the left with great views out over the ramp, though the blue tinted glass makes it feel like you’re plane spotting underwater.
Directly ahead is a small room separated from the entrance by a gold mesh partition. There are a few chairs and some small couches here that also had some great views.
Finally, the main lounge entrance opened up to the right with some lounge chairs and couches off to the left, and outdoor terrace straight ahead, and the bar and remainder of the lounge to the right.
The left side featured three rows of chairs, with some facing the windows and others facing the interior of the lounge. The couches were at a 90 degree angle to the chairs and set up for larger groups to be able to converse with one another. Both the couches and chairs were very comfortable and we spent most of our time in the lounge here.
Straight ahead is one of my favorite features of new Delta Sky Clubs, the Sky Deck. The one here was enclosed but still open to the elements enough that it felt cool outside.
A row of small chairs and cafe tables surrounded the outside against the windows overlooking the ramp. The lounge location is avgeek heaven thanks to the variety of airlines at Terminal 4, the little dots on the glass were annoying though.
Along the interior wall there are padded loungers with tables in between.
Along the back wall is the double sided fireplace which is surrounded by couches. This was a very popular location as the space was full throughout our visit.
Back inside, the bar separated the front of the lounge, where we entered, from the rear. The bar is quite large and the focal point of the lounge.
Surrounding the outside of the bar area was a counter with a privacy divider and a row of barstools. The bar itself was also surrounded by barstools which meant there are plenty of seats.
Behind the bar, the lounge splits into two sections. To the right is a large room that was quiet and mostly empty during our visit. It had a large conference table in the middle along with chairs surrounding the outside of the room. Large windows overlooked the ramp and let a ton of natural light in.
Also in this room, there was a small section of the lounge that had been roped off. There were only five seats and, with no signage, I couldn’t tell who this space was for (VVIPs, Delta 360?).
A customer service desk was located adjacent to the roped off area. This was nice as the main check-in desk was far from the majority of the lounge.
Off to the left of the bar there is another large room with a variety of seating and was the most open space in the lounge. The backside of the double sided fireplace is also located here if you want to sit inside while still getting the aesthetic.
A hallway runs along the wall heading further back into the lounge, this place really is a maze. First, there was a business space that has a long table with chairs as well as four phone booths. One was large enough for two people to sit and have a meeting.
Past this, there is another small room with more lounge seating. One long bench ran along the walls with some small tables. There was also a grouping of four chairs in the middle.
Finally, at the rear of the lounge were the restrooms. They were modern and new and kept tidy throughout our visit.
nWhile this lounge doesn’t have shower facilities, those can be found in the Sky Club located in Concourse B.
Food and Beverage
The buffet was located in the middle of the lounge opposite the bar. Our visit was during lunch and they had the standard Sky Club food offerings that included a selection of bread and soups.
A selection of cold cuts, cheeses, and sandwiches were next along the buffet.
For the hot dishes, Asian food was on offer today. The main dishes were chicken and broccoli, vegetable lo mein, stir fry mix, and fried rice.
At the end of the buffet was a beverage station with water and soda on offer. This was an older, traditional machine and not the newer Coca-Cola freestyle machine seen in some lounges. Coffee machines were located around the corner.
Off near the customer service station, there was a small table with bite sized desserts and cookies.
Complimentary and premium alcohol is available at the large bar located in the middle of the lounge.
Atmosphere
The lounge was fairly quiet when we arrived and got busier throughout our stay as passengers arrived prior to the early afternoon departure bank. We settled into our seats and enjoyed an early lunch.
I’m not sure if it was the layout of the lounge, time of day, or what but, as the lounge got more crowded, the noise levels stayed conversational. Nobody was walking around on cell phones taking calls or playing videos. Most people, myself included, were glued to the window plane spotting.
Summary
Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to this lounge. While most Sky Clubs have been packed on my recent visits I found this one to be peaceful. I attributed this to the fact that this lounge is more hidden and newer than others. This Sky Club was modern, inviting, clean and had fantastic views. I’ll definitely be making another stop in this club on my next visit through New York JFK.
In This Trip Report
- Introduction
- Delta B737-800 Comfort+ (AUS-JFK)
- Delta Sky Club Terminal 4 Concourse A (JFK)
- Lufthansa Business Class Lounge Terminal 1 (JFK)
- Lufthansa Senator Lounge Terminal 1 (JFK)
- SWISS A330-300 Business Class (JFK-ZRH)
- SWISS A220-100 Business Class (ZRH-PRG)
- Andaz Prague
- Three Days in Prague
- Erste Premier Lounge Prague (PRG)
- KLM Cityhopper EMB-195 Economy (PRG-AMS)
- KLM Boeing 737-800 Economy (AMS-BGO)
- Widerøe EMB-190 Economy (BGO-TOS)
- Clarion Hotel The Edge Tromsø
- Exploring Tromsø and Chasing the Northern Lights
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) A320 Premium Economy (TOS-ARN)
- Sheraton Stockholm
- Exploring Stockholm
- KLM Boeing 737-800 Business Class (ARN-AMS)
- KLM B787-9 Business Class (AMS-AUS)
