LOL Delta's new "Polaris killer" lounge is already a crowded mess

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LOL sorry but anyone who didn't see that coming is nuts. I've really enjoyed the bloggers the past few weeks gushing about the new extra bougie lounge that Delta is opening to compete with United's Polaris lounges. 

The preview pics look cute but we've all seen the insane lines to get into Delta's existing lounges, so I had a sneaking suspicion this wouldn't be the calm, Missoni-designed oasis people were hoping for. 

The chatter on FlyerTalk and Reddit is amusing -- lots of "team Delta" and "team United" fanboys throwing all kinds of shade over these lounges and it's just like... why? All the carriers have their strengths and weaknesses and the trick is to take advantage of the former while avoiding the latter.

For the record:

  • United's onboard Polaris food has gotten better recently but it's still bad. The mattress pad on ultra long haul flights is nice. I wish the seats had doors and bigger footwells. (Hint: The long haul tomato soup and grilled cheese on the snack menu is quite good)
  • United's staff have gotten a bit better recently but they're still Kmart to JAL/ANA/Singapore's Gucci.
  • Despite all of their terrible devaluations, United still has the best mileage program .
  • Delta's miles are still worthless and their lounges are all overcrowded but their onboard food is better and their people are nicer than UA or AA. 
  • Unless you're going to Latin America or a hub-captive city, just don't fly American. They're having a rough go of it right now, give em a few years to bounce back.
  • Alaska is a decent regional carrier whose rabid fans need to get out more. It's just JetBlue with worse food, worse seats, and worse in-flight entertainment systems. And "yay!" for your cool mileage plan but like we need something besides BILT to be able to transfer in if you want anyone to use it.
  • Spirit is Greyhound of the skies. At least it knows it. I guess that makes Frontier the Sky BoltBus. I'm not going to be the one to tell them.
  • I'm going to try Avelo this summer. Wish me luck. (UPDATE: it was fine!)

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