TOP TIER LOUNGING

For the privileged few, airport food hits a new height of luxury

- Story by PRIYA KRISHNA/NYT

Few places feel as engineered to remind you of your social standing as the airport.

Each of its protocols, from check-in to security to boarding, imposes a hierarchy. Are you Executive Platinum? Premier? Do you have PreCheck? Global Entry?

The peak of that pecking order has long been the airport lounge, which allows elite passengers a cushioned escape from the tumult of the terminal. Now, even as airline stocks have tumbled and ticket demand slows, American airlines and credit card companies are reaching for an ever-higher level of luxury and exclusivity — particularly when it comes to food.

At the year-old Delta One Lounge at Kennedy International Airport in the US, it’s common to hear an employee ask passengers: “Would you like caviar before your flight?”

At the lounge, which includes a full-service brasserie with leather banquettes and gold finishes, the menu of complimentary offerings features sirloin steak with red wine jus and salmon sashimi with blood orange ponzu. (The caviar will run you an extra US$85; 2,750 baht; or 8,500 miles.)

Amble around the rest of the 3,600m² space and you might spy Japanese cheesecakes and Earl Grey lemon shortbread cookies peacocking behind a glass pastry case. Or a spa-goer nursing a pineapple, lemon and butterfly pea flower juice after a massage. Or a bartender pouring a nip of rare Japanese whiskey at the gold-lined art deco bar.

To enter, you'll need to flash a business-class ticket for a long-haul flight on Delta or a partner airline. (A one-way business-class ticket on Delta to Los Angeles on a recent Friday cost $1,599. To get your money’s worth, you could linger in the Delta One Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport, which has a sushi bar and chefs who make fresh pasta on site.)