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Posted Sep 24, 2020, 2:59 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Downtown Los Angeles
Posts: 19,386
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Salt Lake City International & Delta's Newest Skyclub
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Originally Posted by ThePusherMan
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All images by Zach Griff/The Points Guy
The entrance is hard to miss. Once you enter, there are two receptionists to help check you in.
The lobby level is also where you’ll first notice pieces from the lounge’s thoughtful artwork collection. But don’t snap pics just yet, it only gets better once you ascend the escalator.
The first thing you’ll notice is the first of two marble-clad bars with backlit lighting.
To your right is one of the lounge’s many seating areas. In total, there’s seating for more than 340 during the pandemic. That will grow to more than 600 in a post-social distancing era,
hopefully helping to alleviate overcrowding once travel demand returns following the pandemic. There are plenty of seating options here — ranging from high-tops to benches to individual tables.
The third section has a mixture of workstations and recliners.
Then, you’ll pass through the lounge’s second bar, along with the second buffet before getting to the second main seating area.
For aviation enthusiasts like me, the hands-down best feature of the lounge is the covered Sky Deck, offering unparalleled views of the airfield and Wasatch mountain range.
There’s plenty of seating here, and — thanks to fans and heaters — the Sky Deck is where you’ll find me sitting year-round. Overall, the layout is quite simply one of the best
I’ve seen for airport lounges. The varied seating types, along with the custom-designed finishes, make this a space that you’ll want to visit...Copy By Zach Griff/The Points Guy
7 customer-friendly innovations at Delta’s newest and largest Sky Club that could become the norm
By Zach Griff - https://thepointsguy.com/news/delta-...c-innovations/
In case you missed it, Delta, along with Salt Lake City airport authorities, opened a brand-new terminal.
The new 4 million square foot Phase I terminal represents a massive transformation for flyers passing through SLC. Expect wide hallways, plenty of restrooms, top-notch retailers, 50-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows and more. Tuesday’s grand opening marks the first phase of a multi-year project aimed at modernizing the nearly 50-year-old facility...
...So let’s now take a closer look at some of the new innovations that Delta employed at this new outpost that we hope keep spreading.
Self-check-in kiosks
Delta’s at the forefront of anti-coronavirus measures with its so-called CareStandard pledge. That promise covers the end-to-end travel journey, including the Sky Club lounges.
And when you enter the SLC lounge for the first time, you’ll notice that there aren’t just two receptionists waiting to greet you behind plexiglass. There are also four self-check-in kiosks that allow you to scan your boarding pass for automated, touchless entry to the lounge. Adding touchless entry kiosks doesn’t just help reduce touchpoints during a pandemic. With SLC being Delta’s busiest western hub, there are thousands of flyers passing through the Sky Club every day.
By automating entry, the carrier is also reducing the number of people queuing to enter.
In most cases, you’d need to visit a receptionist or shower attendant and get added to a standby list. You’d then receive a pager or a get called on the intercom when the shower was clean. Delta has a solution to modernize this queuing experience. When the showers open at the SLC club, there will be a digital kiosk that you can use to sign up for a shower (and get in line for personalized reservation assistance during irregular operations). You’ll then receive a text message
once the shower is clean and available.
The kiosk first debuted in Detroit, and guests love it, said Claude Roussel, managing director of Sky Clubs. And fortunately, “we’re planning to install it at other lounges,” Roussel added.
Have you ever wanted to have a sensitive phone conversation in an airport lounge? Well, unless you’re visiting during an off-peak time, odds are that your seating neighbors overhead what you were saying. In the Salt Lake City outpost,
Delta has a solution. The airline installed six individual Framery phone booths, as well as one handicapped accessible booth. These soundproof rooms are the perfect place to catch up with work or friends back home.Roussel noted that the
phone booths are in a pilot phase in Salt Lake. Hopefully, the airline receives positive feedback and adds them network-wide.
The pandemic has airlines rethinking the number of passenger touchpoints — especially in restrooms. Though touchless flushing and faucets are widespread, entering and exiting the bathroom still usually requires touching a handle.
Unless you’re in the Salt Lake City Sky Club. Both sets of restrooms feature touchless entry and exit. All you need to do is wave your hand by a sensor, and the door automatically opens for you. It’s magic for germaphobes and a welcome improvement for everyone during the pandemic.
Delta has installed what I’d call the Airbus A350 of coffee machines in the new SLC lounge. The Eversys coffee machines are sleek, modern, easy-to-use and futuristic — just like Delta’s flagship Airbus A350. Each machine has two operating spouts, allowing two guests to dispense coffee at the same time. Furthermore, if one side breaks, the other will remain operational. And finally, the machine is connected to the internet. When beans are running low or a part needs fixing, lounge attendants will receive a push notification — and address it immediately. Each machine has two operating spouts, allowing two guests to dispense coffee at the same time.
Locally inspired art
Over the past few years, Delta has opened new lounges in Austin, New Orleans and Phoenix. One similarity across these new Sky Clubs is the tastefully curated artwork adorning the walls. As you might expect,
Delta has upped the ante in its latest club now open at SLC. There are multiple unique installations that exude a sense of calm amidst the otherwise crowded terminal. Many of the pieces are designed by locally renowned artists.
By investing in a regionally inspired art program, Delta’s Sky Clubs begin to look less like airport lounges and more like hotel lobbies.
https://i2.wp.com/thepointsguy.com/w...-64.jpeg?ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/thepointsguy.com/w...-63.jpeg?ssl=1
The cool new workstations
Delta clearly seems to be listening to customer feedback. (So if you’ve received a post-flight survey, be sure to answer it.) When the carrier opened a new Sky Club in Seattle, it tested out a new seating concept — a souped-up version
of the college lecture desk. These workstations feature a sliding desk, footrest, storage area, lamp and power outlets. According to Roussel, the airline received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and that’s why they’ve been installed
in the new SLC lounge.
Bottom Line
Though we’re in the midst of a pandemic, Delta is chugging along with its multiple airport redevelopment projects.
The newest terminal to open in Salt Lake City features a massive, flagship Sky Club that’s sure to be a hit with the carrier’s premium flyers.
As the airline continues building new lounges and renovating existing ones, hopefully, all of the innovations that Delta included in SLC make their way across the network.
All images by Zach Griff/The Points Guy
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Last edited by delts145; Sep 25, 2020 at 12:51 AM.
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Looks pretty nice to me. I like that last shot with the wider context. Also interesting is that, in addition to "The Jetty," they have the undeveloped part of the Sears Block labeled as "Copper Yards."
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