lounge Archives

New business class lounge at San Jose Airport [PHOTOS]

January 10, 2013

To enter The Club, take the stairs by gate 15

Welcome to The Club at SJC

Priority pass regular and select members get free access

A fun and friendly bar area

Seats for socializing

A nice lipstick pop of color here and there

A fun communal table (with electrical outlets, natch) in the bar area

The single shower feels a little cold and sterile

Classy wood stained work carrels

Enough plugs for an army of business travelers (US style only)

Access to two PCs and a printer

Mostly cold buffet items

The view from the club overlooking Gate 15-- boarding area for ANA's flight to Tokyo

Several works from local artists on display... and for sale

Seating on the quieter "business side" of the club

Inside the private meeting room

To coincide with the launch of ANA’s new nonstops to Tokyo, San Jose International Airport opened a big, bright, world-class, $1.6 million business class lounge this week. And The BAT was there with a camera! (so please click through the slideshow above!)

A big, bright room for socializing

“The Club at SJC” is located across and upstairs from gate 15 (Terminal A) and is only accessible to those inside airport security. While ANA business class passengers can use the lounge for free, anyone can enter by paying the $35 fee for day use. Priority Pass cardholders (both regular and select) have access, too.

The lounge will be busiest during the hour or two prior to ANA’s departure at 11:45 am, but the club is open daily from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m.

Once inside, everyone gets:

Snacks and beverages, including beer, wine and well-brand booze. You pay a premium for call brands like Patron or Grey Goose.
Free Wi-fi access
Access to a single shower room (towels, shampoo and soap provided)
Business center with access to two PCs and a printer
One private conference room

The 7,400 square foot club consists of two large rooms separated by the bar/buffet area. The eastern side is for socializing, with a bar, a large communal table and plenty of comfortable seating arranged in conversation nooks. It’s also the bright side,with views east over parking lots toward downtown San Jose.

ANA crews are ready to welcome business travelers to the new Club at San Jose

ANA crews are ready to welcome business travelers to the new Club at SJC

The western side is the business side—where you’ll find handsome stained wood work carrels with electrical outlets, and seats for those who need to sit and relax or get some work done. Windows look out at the airport concourse below, and beyond to runways. (See slideshow above)

In between the two rooms is the buffet, which will offer mostly cold snacks such as sandwiches, cheeses, vegetable crudités and chips. However, the lounge will offer hot breakfast items from 9:30 to 11:30 each morning prior to ANA’s 11:45 a.m. departure.

The lounge has a maximum capacity of 128. There are enough electrical outlets (US-style only) throughout the club for an army of business travelers. The interior design is modern and comfortable, with mostly neutral tones, but occasional pops of color, such as lime green. (See slideshow above.)

The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art has partnered with the lounge, and is exhibiting eye-catching and unusual travel-related works from local artists that are also available for sale. (See slideshow above for a look at the art.)

San Jose’s lounge is the fifth “common use” business class airport lounge opened by The Club Airport Lounges. It has recent opened two lounges at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, one in Dallas Ft Worth, and another at the new terminal at Raleigh-Durham.

Do you like what you see? Is an airport lounge enough to get you to give SJC a try? Why or why not? Please take a look at the slideshow above, and leave your comments below.

–Chris McGinnis

Filed Under: Airlines, Airports, Featured Tagged With: business class, business traveler, club, lounge, Mineta, photos, San Jose, silicon valley, SJC

Virgin America’s new lounge at LAX

December 12, 2012

Virgin America’s new Loft lounge at LAX (Photo: Virgin America)

At San Francisco International, Virgin America’s digs at the bright-n-sassy new Terminal 2 are so nice that the whole thing feels like an airport club.

However, those who have flown Virgin to Los Angeles know that’s not the case at LAX– despite upgrades, facilities at Terminal 3 are sub-par– and frequently crowded.

But if you have elite status with Virgin’s Elevate program, or an extra $40, all that changed today with the opening of Virgin America’s new 4,500 sq ft Loft lounge. It’s located inside security on the second floor of Terminal 3– occupying the space previously used by Alaska Airlines.

Would you be interested in a private tour of Singapore Airlines’ giant Airbus A380 double-decker when it arrives in San Francisco this winter? Click here for details!

The space was designed by Jesse McMillin, creative director at Virgin America, and from the video below, the mod furnishings and red, white and black color palette and mood lighting look very similar to… the inside of a Virgin A320, or our very on T2 at SFO. (The BAT profiled McMillin’s “Cool Travel Job” last year.)

The Loft has a maximum capacity of 90. Elevate silver members get two free passes per year; Gold members get three. Once you have used those up, day passes are available for $40. It’s open from 6 am until 11:30 pm daily.

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Sponsor:

For a limited period, San Francisco passengers will have the opportunity to experience spacious luxury onboard the world’s largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380 on flights to Asia. Between December 28, 2012 and March 24, 2013, Singapore Airlines will pop into town with daily “Pop-Up” A380 flights between San Francisco and Singapore via Hong Kong. Flip through this slideshow to see its famous Suites and the widest Business Class seats in the sky.

SQ1 departs SFO at 10:50 pm and arrives in Hong Kong at 5:50 am two days later. Flight time is about 13 hours to Hong Kong, and with another 3.5 hours to Singapore, you’ll have plenty of time to soak up the luxury and explore the 1000+ onboard entertainment options. SQ2 arrives daily in SFO at 7:45 pm on the same day it departs from Singapore and Hong Kong.

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Filed Under: Airlines Tagged With: LAX, Loft, Los Angeles, lounge

SFO to get posh new biz/first class lounge

October 7, 2011

Entry at the Emirates Lounge in New Delhi-- expect similar touches like marble, polished wood and gold letters at SFO (Photo: C. McGinnis)

Dubai-based Emirates Airline has announced that it will open a new business and first class lounge on the A side of the international terminal at SFO later this year.

It will be Emirates’ only lounge on the West Coast…not even LAX gets one of these posh perches.

(Want to see what’s in store for SFO? Scroll down for my slideshow of photos inside Emirates lounges in Dubai and Delhi.)

Emirates currently operates a single daily Boeing 777 SFO-Dubai flight from the G (left) side of the international terminal where it provides business and first class passengers with access to United’s lounges.

The new 9,502 square foot club will be located on the A (right) side between gates 3 and 5 (on the left as you walk from security) and directly across the terminal walkway from the British Airways lounge.

As in other Emirates facilities around the world, cost does not seem to be much of an object with the SFO lounge—expect marble floors, gold Rolex Clocks, fresh flowers, HD televisions, exclusive restrooms and showers, a business center, workstations and free wi-fi. (See slideshow below for a peek of what’s in store.)

Crowding should not be an issue since the lounge will be exclusive to Emirates first, business and elite frequent flyers. (Emirates says that it will not share loung access with any other carriers.) An Emirates 777 holds only 50 first and business class passengers, but the lounge is designed to accommodate a maximum of 265, including a dining area for 77.

Chefs will prepare and present a wide array of hot and cold dishes from an on-site kitchen. There will also be a full bar (flights depart SFO at 4:45 pm…conveniently close to cocktail hour).

Unusual: Business and first class passengers will be able to board the flight from a jetway door located in the lounge leading directly to the plane.

On a recent trip through Dubai to India, Emirates invited me into its massive lounge at its hub there. Since the look and feel of its lounges are pretty standard around the world, what you see in these photos should match up pretty closely with what we’ll soon see at SFO:

Entry point at Emirates flagship business class lounge at Dubai-DXB which can accommodate 1,800 passengers-- and still gets quite crowded at peak times. There's a separate first class lounge I was unable to get into. (Photo: C. McGinnis)