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On my way to my first-ever Alaska Cruise (which was simply amazing and I will be covering on Frequent Floaters), I had the chance to visit the new Chicago Delta Sky Club in Terminal 5 and it really is fantastic. Chris had a chance to visit the club pre-open as part of the media event and his full review is here.
In his “Final Approach” section, he wrote:
“Delta Air Lines relocates from Chicago O’hare Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 on October 12. With the move comes the opening of a brand new Sky Club. The new lounge is tastefully designed and features great food and beverage options.“
Now in his review, before you got to the club, he showed (at that time of the day) a nearly empty T5 check-in area for Delta. When I arrived before noon, there were a number of international flights going out and the mass of people was beyond number with lines for TSA literally blocking access to Delta and practically out the door – what a mess! Thankfully my wife and I both had TSA Pre-Check and CLEAR and there was no line and I was through security in no time (thank you, American Express Platinum Business cards for paying for both)!
We arrived inside the three-hour club admittance window, so I did not have a chance to test the new flexible entrance rule but just past that, you are welcomed to a huge open-plan club.
Having spent so much time in the old Terminal 2 club this is such a breath of fresh air, including a full-service bar vs. a tiny self-service shelf.
In addition to the large bar having an expanded variety of food choices is also refreshing. They did not open up the hot dog stand but I grabbed a shot just before leaving. Instead, I tried this:
Perhaps my choice may or may not have been the best selection before a long flight to Alaska in first class but it was very good and a nice lunch before departure.
While the old club did have a wall of windows – this one is so much better. Not just larger but seeing so many international jets is way more fun than mostly Delta jets as an AVgeek.
Overall in my final approach, I have to commend and congratulate Delta on this new club and it is a space to visit and enjoy vs. just a stop along the way during your travels. I now have yet one more reason (beyond being so much cheaper) to choose ORD vs. flying from my home airport of South Bend, Indiana (SBN)! – Rene
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I have used this lounge a few times. It amazes me that Delta invested in such a huge lounge at an airport where American and United reign supreme. Are there really that many Delta elites in Chicago or is Delta making money off Air France, KLM, Aeromexico and other Sky Team passengers? The new Chicago lounge (to say nothing of newer random lounges in places like Kansas City and Austin) sure puts Detroit to shame.
When I spoke with Delta executives at the LAX kick-off on May 31st, they said that Delta has a substantial commitment to raise the quality of the ground experience over time. Your observations about ORD would seem consistent with their statements. Delta’s actions speak louder than words. If they would only improve the Delta One seats on transcon flights, they’d win me over from AA Flagship First.
The biggest problem with Delta One is the airline treats it as a pseudo first-class product when much of the Delta One product isn’t just below true first-class but also not competitive with what other airlines are offering in business-class. Worse yet, the price is high. Delta’s wine, food, seat, bedding, amenity kit and lounge are far from the industry-leading position that Delta promotes.
As a pretty recent Delta Platinum Medallion, I enjoyed the new ORD Terminal 5 SkyClub twice in January 2023 with my wife. The new ORD SkyClub is everything great that’s been written about it on this site! We especially enjoyed the new place because we had visited the old ORD Terminal 2 SkyClub in September 2022, and it was very small, quite shabby, and with inadequate food/drink, and very ready to be eclipsed and replaced by this stunning new Terminal 5 ORD SkyClub. I write all this in comparison having been to the awesome new LGA SkyClub in the summer 2022 and to the excellent new LAX SkyClub in late spring 2022 – where I bumped into and said hello to Ed Bastian himself! Mark R. (from Woodford County, Ky – home of Woodford Reserve!)
Place is dope. I was just there this very morning actually. Considering it’s not a hub, it’s an amazing Sky Club.
It definitely makes you wonder about Delta’s plans in Chicago. Seems way too big for a random Sky Club, although I suspect Delta is making a tone of money from Air France, KLM, and Aeromexico passengers using it. I’ve been there four times. It’s been full every time. I imagine there are also a lot of AmEx platinums too.
I think the comments theorizing that the lounge is designed to serve other SkyTeam airlines’ premium passengers on international routes is correct. We flew AF from ORD last year and they were using one of the worst contract lounges I’ve ever encountered – Swissport (Terminal 5), that had no windows, almost no food, and the weirdest self-serve (don’t you dare touch anything) bars.
I will say there’s a good amount of DL traffic at ORD despite DL being in a distant third-place amongst the US Big-3. I used to fly ATL:ORD:ATL weekly and the old Mad Dogs were always full as was the tiny Crown Room (yes it was a while ago). Given Delta’s flights to LGA/LAX/ATL etc from ORD there’s a good amount of business travel through this non-hub city.
Just left the lounge at ORD Terminal 5! Such an upgrade from term 2 except for the fact that on arrival 200 or more waiting for cabs in the rain -4 days ago!! Ended up taking the train (3 rd one as first 2 were full)to Term 2 to get an Uber as not allowed in Term 5!! It is nice that the back part of the lounge is for International travelers ! René and Lisa hope your cruise was fun. Cannot wait for your review.