After several months of speculation and social media comments about how airport lounges were getting "too crowded," another shoe has finally dropped as Delta Air Lines (DAL) -) became the latest airline to crack down on lounge access and introduce more stringent requirements for who can get inside.
Known as the Sky Club, Delta's network of airport lounges has the usual combination of more comfortable armchairs, faster internet and a complimentary buffet of snacks and drinks. Entry, meanwhile, is available through certain credit cards as well as the Delta membership program.
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While holders of cards like the Delta SkyMiles Reserve and American Express Platinum (annual card fees are a respective $550 and $695) currently have unlimited access to a Sky Club lounge within three hours of their flight's departure, the new crackdown will limit visits unless the holder spends $75,000 on the card within one calendar year.
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You now have to spend an obscene amount to get Sky Club access
When the new rules come into effect on Feb. 1, 2025, those with the Delta SkyMiles Reserve will be given 10 visits a year while the American Express Platinum card will get six visits.
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An earlier change will come into effect on Feb. 1, 2024 and affect how frequent flyers can gain the Delta Diamond Medallion status necessary to gain lounge access (spoiler alert: it gets harder.)
While the airline previously offered something called Medallion Qualifying Miles and Medallion Qualifying Segments as a way to earn extra points for flying longer distances or making multiple transfers, Delta is now consolidating it all into Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) or exclusively money spent with the airline.
To gain Diamond Medallion Status, one will need to spend 35,000 MQDs on either flights, car rentals or hotels through the airline — while there are ways to earn points faster than the 1:1 model by linking certain credit cards, Delta is also scrapping the waivers that would get one to Platinum status by spending $25,000 on those credit cards.
Delta hopes to continue to offer the 'premium experience' (lounges are getting crowded)
The only way to get status will be to spend the respective $6,000, $12,000, $18,000 and $35,000 MQDs directly with the airline for the different medallion levels.
"As part of our ongoing journey, we are working to ensure our Clubs continue to offer the premium experience our guests expect and deserve," Delta said in announcing the changes.
All this ultimately comes down to limiting the number of people who have access to Delta's lounges at a time when many are growing crowded and not living up to the "luxury experience" that airlines hope to maintain. A recent Airport Experience Research report found that over 57% of frequent flyers have accessed a lounge at some point during their life while photos of crowded lounges have been circulating on several social media platforms during the busy travel period of the summer.
At the start of 2023, Alaska Airlines (ALK) -) announced that business class travelers who previously always had free lounges would only be able to enter if their flight distance was more than 2,100 miles while Air Canada (ACDVF) -) also upped the loyalty program level that gives travelers access to its Maple Leaf Lounges.
