Delta Air Lines has implemented a new policy in which guests are only allowed access into its airport lounge within three hours of departure time.
The policy, which was rolled out on 1 June, requires Delta Sky Club members to wait at least three hours within their departure time before accessing the club. Exceptions to the policy change include customers with layover connections or those with delayed flights, as long as members enter within three hours of their originally scheduled departure flight.
Last summer, the airline reopened all of its Delta Sky Club following pandemic shutdowns. But as more workplaces adapt to remote schedules, implementing a time limit might disrupt frequent fliers who rely on the club’s Wi-Fi and outlets to get some work done before their flight.
“We’re not a WeWork,” Claude Roussel, managing director of Delta Sky Club, told the Wall Street Journal. Roussel, who oversees Delta’s 54 lounges, said the three hours were a “very generous amount of time” to spend in the club.
According to the Delta Sky Club website, the policy change is part of the company’s priority “to balance the popularity of the Delta Sky Club experience with the premium atmosphere and service we wish to provide for our guests”.
While the Delta Sky Club experience may be popular, the price for a club membership ranges between $545 and $845 annually. In 2018, the airline discontinued the sale of Single Visit Passes for non-members as well.
Last February, a person on TikTok went viral after they accused Delta Air Lines of rewarding their employees fake money as a bonus. The TikTok user, whose mother works with Delta Air Lines, said the company gave their mother a handful of $50 and $100 bills which read: “Motion Picture Use.”
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Daily Dot that the prop money as a bonus “appears to be a one-off”.
