Spoiler alert: This is the best U.S based lounge I've ever been to (but to be fair, the competition are not really putting up a fight, I guess it's much like Air Canada being named the best airline in North America...).
As my trip to Santa Monica came to an end I was scheduled to fly United back to Tel-Aviv via Newark. As my departure from LAX has been delayed from 10:55pm to 1:55am, I had planty of free time on my hands, and after a long dinner with local friends I've calmly made my way to LAX, returned the car, and took the shuttle to the United terminal. After checking my luggage, still having plenty of time on my hands, I've asked one of the United agents if I would be able to pass security at the Tom Bradly terminal. She answered yes, and also recommended that I walk over to the terminal which should take about 10 minutes compared to 30 minutes by using the shuttle. I followed her recommendation and 10 minutes later I entered the nearly empty TSA line at Tom Bradly's.
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| The Tom Bradley terminal |
I went through without a problem and made my way to the lounge which is located above the restaurants area.
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| Lounge entrance |
When I showed my boarding pass at the lounge entrance, the lounge receptionist kept insisting that my flight has already departed and I had to spend a couple of minutes convincing her that despite my misleading boarding pass, my flight was actually delayed to 2:00am. Once we settled that, I was in.
Although at that time (11:00pm) the lounge was almost empty, it's obvious to see that it can comfortingly accommodate a large crowd. It has many separated and themed seating areas which lets you pick the atmosphere that fits you best, from a dining area to a quiet library room, to a cinema room and to an indoor terrace overlooking the terminal (a terminal which I must say is impressive regardless of the lounge, unlike the rest of the LAX terminals that resemble a central bus station more than an international airport).
Here are some photos of the seating areas:
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| The dining area |
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| Main bar area |
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| Cinema room |
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| The terrace |
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| Terminal views from the terrace |
There are also a few showers in the lounge which I didn't tryout
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| Entrance to the showers area |
Now, it was time to check out the food section and when I got to the buffet I immediately knew I'm gonna love this lounge:
Yep, no more C.Y.A signs asking you to ask the staff what you can or cannot eat, the staff who normally doesn't really know and either misleads you or just decides to C.Y.A himself and tell you there is nothing you can eat, even if there is a fruit basket right in front of him...
This allergens index just makes your life so much easier that it's just irritating that so few places have it. This is the first U.S lounge I've been to that bothers himself to mark the fool allergens, although it's very similar to the experience I've had in the
SilverKris lounge at Heathrow. The closest
experience I've had in the U.S was at the Delta Sky Club in Orlando (which accessed by being a Star-Alliance Gold member flying out on Lufthansa, and kudos to Lufthansa for not making us use the crappy United Club instead), where the bar held a folder containing the ingredients and allergens lists for every food item their caterer provides. It is still up to you to match the description in the folder with the actual offering in the buffet.
Here are some photos of the buffet (at 11:30pm - Dinner time just before closure):
And these are the Gluten Free options:
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| Only the salad and the cheese selection |
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| Vegetables and Hummus |
There is also a self-service soup station with lots of clearly labeled Gluten Free toppings, including bean noodles. Unfortunately, the broth itself was unlabeled. It's a shame, since a Gluten Free broth (which it may or may not have been) coupled with the toppings could provide a large variety of dining options. A soup is also one of those things that could be easily converted to be Gluten Free without additional effort or cost, so why not?
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| The unlabeled broth |
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| Toppings |
Personally, I just finished dinner with friends before driving to the airport so I didn't eat much. I just grabbed myself some of the Red Wine Poached Pears as a desert, which were excellent!
Wine and spirits are a big motif in this lounge. Starting with the "wine wall" beyond the buffet, to the double sided full-service bar between the terrace and the lounge area, and some self service wine and spirits stations:
Eventually my flight was cancelled, but that's a topic for a different post... Next time I'm flying out of LAX I'll make sure I leave enough time to enjoy this lounge again.
