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My liver and head ache just reading about this.
Delta Air Lines passenger and Reddit contributor “radfan95” detailed their Sky Pub — er, Sky Club — Crawl through each of Delta’s nine lounge locations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
redfan957 apparently enjoyed a whiskey beverage in each Sky Club last Wednesday, March 1, during a several-hours-long layover in ATL — and has the receipts to prove it! (Some of those were heavy pours!) The club crawler consumed seven Old Fashioneds and two Japanese whiskeys.
They explained they took a roundtrip to Atlanta and used the departure boarding pass to get into the clubs.
(Side note: If redfan957 used an eligible American Express card to gain lounge admission, I wonder how much money Amex shelled out to Delta across those nine separate Sky Club entries? I wouldn’t be surprised if an admissions-per-day cap is the next “enhancement” we see from Amex.)
Sky Club Crawls are a thing — complete with bag tags of honor.
Yes, really! (How am I only now hearing about this?!)
The tags — some of the many Delta-themed baggage tags available at Subreddit Swag — come complete with an airport-appropriate checklist and list of rules such as:
- No using the Plane Train (ATL, though it’s probably the same in say, DTW)
- The crawler must consumer one beer, wine, or liquor shot in each Sky Club
- No cutting the line allowed. Though I think Diamonds, Delta One, Delta 360s, First Class passengers should get a waiver on this because they get priority entrance.
- The crawl must be completed in a single day
- The crawler cannot miss a flight
- Bartenders must be tipped
So, if one must walk between terminals, how much time do they have to finish a drink in each club at ATL? Maybe an average of 20 minutes? Less?
redfan957 was game for answering Redditors’ questions such as:
Q: Which drink was the best?
A: “I have no idea. It was my first time trying Japanese whiskey and it lived up to the hype.”
Q: Which Sky Club was the best?
A: “Probably A17.”
Q: How long did it take?
A: Four hours, four minutes. (As Redditor Skydivemars pointed out: 4:04 in the 404 area code!)
Q: Why did Redfan957 even try the Sky Club Crawl?
A: “To see if I could meet the challenge.”
I wondered to myself if redfan957 was sober enough to board the flight home. The answer? “I had time to sober up after my final drink so I was fine.”
Longtime readers of this blog (and those who’ve spent time with me at events or in airport lounges) know that I love whiskey and red wine. Call me a wuss, but I don’t think I’d be up for an Atlanta Sky Club Crawl. (I could probably complete it — but the thought kind of makes me retch.) Maybe something like a Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) crawl later this year, when there are three clubs would be a good start.
Redfan95 noted, “I drink almost daily and this kicked my (butt).” (I wonder if Redfan95 had any drinks on the way home and/or sat in the exit row?)
What do you think of the Sky Club Crawl? Have you participated in one — especially in Atlanta? Would you? Please let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below! (I feel like I need to drink some water with LiquidIV in it now.)
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In an unrelated note… the card spend tracker is broken again… anyone having same issue? Mine shows 24K but I got the 15K MQM email this morning as my spend is well over 30K already.
@Santiago – It is working but slow. For me it is taking about one full week for charges to update.
I had no idea this was a thing! My personal record at ATL in a single day is 5 SC’s, done on a day-trip to MCO when I was delayed by a tropical storm for hours. I think the key to having enough time to complete this “challenge” is to try to do it on arrival so you’re not capped at the 3hr before departure limit, otherwise it’s nearly impossible. I often get a raised eyebrow stopping in on arrival, I can only imagine if I tried it 3+ hours after arrival and I smelled like a distillery…
I did this prior to Covid. I missed a standby by one seat. So off I went. I believe it took me close to 5-6 hours. Funny part is I get to E club and the same agent that jad checked me in at A18 was there.
Wish I knew about this year’s ago. Did that more than once but didn’t tell anyone. Never got receipts either.
First off anyone who holds the membership or the amex card should be allowed to hit up all 9 clubs at ATL and have a drink. We are adults here and the restrictions of this in the future is out of line. If the passenger had a little to much to drink he or she can catch the next flight. Truly no big deal. After all we are paying high prices for the membership to have access to all lounges at the airports when we are flying that day.
I agree with DLPTATL…better to do upon arrival. Then, take a cab/Uber/Lyft to where you’re going!
I previously did five in one day upon arrival but for a slightly different reason. I had been to four of the clubs in ATL previously and I wanted to see the other five. So, after landing – and with nothing to do till the next morning – I headed over to F and worked my way back toward A (I had already been to T).
My Top Five:
F – Best by far; although no seats at the bar
B – The nicest one for sure…but people are starting to act like it’s Studio 54 in the 70s; c’mon there are eight other clubs folks!
E – Great space and I love that it’s NOT upstairs!
A (17) – Love the look…the curved bar.
T – Love that it’s tucked away and “feels” more private.
What a fun and off the beaten path adventure! A veteran of pub crawls myself, at first I thought “I have to do this!” But after reading the article – you’re right – 9 drinks is A LOT! I definitely would have to do it on arrival – I can’t imagine flying with 9 drinks in me!
So my question is with the 3 hour limit to enter a club – how did they actually get this done in the 4 hour window? Seems like it’s not possible with the recent agents not allowing some people in lately with the new time requirement.;
RT to ATL. Apparently did this upon arrival using their first flight’s boarding pass.
This is wrong on so many levels.
Doing this raises the costs for Amex which in turn raises the costs for us. Please stop!
It does not. AMEX pays Delta just once per user per day.
I’ve definitely done this, though not necessarily as a pub crawl. In DTW, I’d often arrive near the Concourse C Sky Club and use the bathroom before making way to the main Sky Club where I’d get some food and wait for my flight. Afterward, I’d head toward my flight at either end of the Concourse A and climb the stairs for a little extra time to stretch legs and use the Sky Club bathroom before boarding. As is common with DTW, I’d have a gate change and end up making my way to the other end of Concourse A and visit that Sky Club as well. These were generally mornings on my way in to work, so I wouldn’t be drinking…in the event I was drinking on my way home from work, I’d probably just hunker down at one location and sit/relax.
So if you have to pay $50 for a guest, can the guest go to more than one sky club, or is it $50 for each sky club at the same airport?
In my experience: $50 per club, per airport.
Which is it? Per club? Or per airport?
Per Airport according to a sky club agent.
There is also a mini sky club crawl for DTW now.
Might be a fun meet-up for those of us doing end-of-year runs for status. DTW or MSP would be much more doable.
I see where this is going…next well have a dating app for mileage runners…let’s call it “Yonder”. You make your hook-up…pick your Sky Club…and you meet up for a couple of hours. If it doesn’t work out…no worries…you’re both in totally different cities by nightfall!
If it does…you’ve met a mileage run partner! Chris…let us know when this feature will be added to EOTF!
Hah! Search around Facebook or other social media for Sky Club Meetups, SkyMiles, and Delta groups.
I like the Yonder idea but have not heard of the Sky Pub crawl and do not think I have met anyone doing so!
This is just a standard night for most people from Wisconsin. 9 mixed drinks in four hours is nothing. The college avenue stroll in Appleton is over 12 bars with their own signature drinks and we do this every fall as a tradition.
This man drank 2 and 1/4 drinks per hour? With time to eat and drink water along the way? How was he still standing?! Get out of here; that’s so crazy! /sarcasm
He’s a wisconsin native. Only explanation. Should be spotlighted by #DrinkingWisconsibly!
Thank you for making the flight attendants and gate agents jobs even more stressful as you think this is something worth publishing. Deny them boarding. They should all have there Skymiles accounts suspended. Sounds like some frat boy challenge. Step up and be a good adult, not some IDIOT. Seriously.
This was a fun story, but badly-proofed writing makes me [a] wretch. Ah, well …
Thanks for the heads-up.
Why the ellipsis after “well”? More to say? 🙂 And why the space between “well” and the ellipsis? 🙂