Delta unveils new Sky Membership in Charlotte, a fortress hub for American

Delta Air Lines is hardly the first carrier that comes to mind when you think of Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) — a fortress hub for American Airlines.

Sure, Delta is easily Charlotte’s second-place carrier — but it’s a distant, distant second.

Yet, the Atlanta-based carrier is making inroads at the southeast hub, nonetheless.

This fall, it gained more than a half-dozen new gates when the airport opened a new, $241 million section of its A concourse.

This year, Delta’s planes will depart CLT with about 9% more seats than they did a year ago.

And on Wednesday, just ahead of the holidays, the airline will cut the wrapping paper off a brand-new Sky Club at the airport, raising its game as an upstart competitor on prime “enemy turf.”

How to get to Sky Club Charlotte

To reach Delta’s new Charlotte Sky Club, you’ll first have to make the lengthy trek to the airport’s farthest-out, highest-numbered A gates. It’s worth the hike: This all-new section of the terminal is far more spacious, modern and serene than any other concourse you’ll find at CLT.

Near gate A32, you’ll take an escalator up to the second-floor mezzanine to reach the lounge entrance.

Touring the lounge

Inside, you’ll find a beautiful new outpost complete with all of the dining, drinking, sitting and working amenities you’d expect in a state-of-the-art Sky Club.

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For some context, at 14,000 square feet, Delta’s Charlotte club is roughly the size of the Terminal 4 A gates space it opened last year at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). However, it’s a good bit smaller than some of the other recently opened lounges in its network, such as the Sky Club it opened in 2023 at its Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) hub.

Walk into the space and you’ll be greeted with a familiar Sky Club entryway look and scent, along with the standard check-in kiosks and customer service desk.

This lounge has 246 seats, more than a dozen of which you’ll see as you proceed down a hallway lined with artwork on one side and large windows offering a glimpse of the terminal on the other.

Design features

Throughout, this Sky Club invokes the influence of “Queen City” — the nickname of the city of Charlotte, named for Queen Charlotte— displayed through artwork, wallpaper and other design touches.

“We believe it’s designed for the Queen City with a neoclassic look and feel,” said Tim Genovese, Delta Sky Clubs operations director, speaking to TPG ahead of the opening.

There’s also plenty of greenery, Genovese noted, drawing on Charlotte’s renowned green spaces.

Dining and drinking

So often, the centerpiece of a good airport lounge is an eye-catching bar, and that’s certainly the case here, with a white marble bar top accented by floral designs — both on the bar back and high above the brown leather seats.

The bar anchors an expansive space featuring high-top and lounge-style seating, where guests can sit and sip. Guests can choose from a wide variety of drinks, cocktails or a cup of Starbucks-brewed coffee. There are also plenty of food offerings from the nearby buffet.

Along with beer, wine and spirits, two drink stations offer numerous nonalcoholic options for caffeinating or hydrating during your travels.

Touring the food spread, I was just about to ask a Delta team member what local culinary touches I might find — before I spotted the southern-inspired biscuits with ham and pimento cheese and some hearty desserts.

With Charlotte being a major business hub, Delta sees catering to business travelers as a primary focus of this outpost.

“There’s obviously a core business environment here in Charlotte and we certainly hope to appeal to that market,” Genovese said.

Along with a bevy of working space and plenty of outlets — including USB-C slots — there are a half-dozen soundproof phone booths fit for hopping on a Zoom call.

Some of them you’ll find — along with additional seats — on an open-air mezzanine overlooking the airport concourse.

Alternatively, you can trade that view for one of the airport airfield in the lounge’s quiet working space, positioned back behind the Sky Club’s entrance. Pro tip: Look upward on your way there to catch some of the most impressive artistic touches in the entire facility adorning the ceiling.

The lounge’s restrooms sport an impressive Great Gatsby-like aesthetic, with navy, white, and gold-patterned tile and white marble vanities. Touchless “wave to open” doors complement those features, not to mention the Grown Alchemist products offered throughout Delta’s lounge network and in its Delta One cabins.

Our complete guide to accessing Delta Sky Clubs is here.

You can enter a Delta Sky Club up to three hours before a flight’s departure.

Delta’s CLT strategy

Opening a Sky Club in Charlotte— at an American fortress hub — is certainly a head-turning move for Delta, considering its footprint at the airport is roughly 3% of that of American Airlines this year, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

However, major U.S. carriers operating a lounge on their competitors’ strongest turf is actually a bit more common than you might think.

In fact, until Wednesday, Charlotte was the only American hub airport at which Delta didn’t operate a Sky Club.

American, for its part, has an Admirals Club at Delta’s Atlanta home base — and at several United-dominated airports.

Delta boasts clubs at some of United’s top hubs, as does United with Delta and American alike.

“We have clubs in certainly all of the top markets,” Genovese pointed out, noting that the carrier saw an opportunity to seize on mezzanine-level space when Charlotte debuted its new concourse this fall.

“Real estate is difficult in the airport to come by,” he said.

Beyond American’s two Admirals Clubs, there’s a decent Priority Pass-accessible outpost nearby on Concourse A, but it’s relatively small and fills up quickly.

Most notably, Charlotte has an American Express Centurion Lounge, but it’s easily a 20-minute walk, one-way, from Delta’s gates.

Clearly, this will fill a void for Delta flyers — and cardmembers with the Amex Platinum in their wallet.

First and only new Sky Club of 2024

It’s also worth noting that the unveiling of this Charlotte outpost puts a bow (a holiday bow, you might say) on an eventful 2024 for new Delta lounge openings.

The past six months saw the carrier open three new Delta One Lounges in New York, Los Angeles and Boston, shaking up the competition at the highest end of the U.S. airport lounge landscape.

This year also brought revamped, expanded Sky Clubs in Miami and at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA).

Ironically, though, Charlotte is the first and only entirely new Sky Club to debut in 2024 — just 13 days before the year’s end, no less.

Expect more in 2025, Genovese says — including an all-new Sky Club that will open just beneath the fourth Delta One Lounge at Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) sometime between now and summer.

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