Denied Access To Delta One Check-In At LAX!

My trip to Europe hit its first snare before I even took flight after Delta Airlines pulled another “LAX” on me by denying me use of its exclusive Delta One check-in facility at Los Angeles International Airport despite published rules clearly stating I had access.

Denied Access To Delta One Check-In At LAX On An International SkyTeam Transoceanic Business Class Ticket

I showed up at LAX at about 8:20 am so that I have plenty of time to visit the Delta, Air France, and Virgin Atlantic lounges ahead of my SAS flight to Copenhagen at 6:20 pm. I’ve written about Delta’s posh premium check-in facility at LAX before and find it a big value-add for those eligible passengers who can use it to check-in and clear security.

> Read More: Delta One Premium Check-In Facility At LAX

Access is reserved for the passengers listed below, including passengers traveling on “a nonstop transoceanic ticket in First/Business Class on a SkyTeam operators flight.”

At the entrance, an agent scans your boarding pass to verify you are eligible.

After scanning my boarding pass, she said I was not eligible. I showed her the rules on my phone and she shrugged and essentially said, “The computer says no.” She offered to bring her supervisor out, which I agreed to.

The supervisor was friendly but woefully misinformed. I explained to her that I was traveling on SAS to Copenhagen and wanted to use the facility to check in. I even added that I knew I would not have access to the Delta One Lounge…that I was heading to the SkyClub (you can access both lounges beyond the security checkpoint).

She resonded, “SAS is not SkyTeam.”

I replied, “Oh yes, it is. Since last September.”

Confused, she responded, “Well, we don’t partner with them.”

I replied, “That’s not what your website says.”

She responded, “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I’ll convey this internally, but you have to go upstairs to check-in.”

I could see we would be going around in circles if I continued to argue, so I just went upstairs.

As a side note, the upstairs checkpoint was a cluster at 8:30 am…it took more than 20 minutes to get through the checkpoint even with PreCheck and Clear…

…and then look a the lines to enter the lounge…

CONCLUSION

The rules seemed crystal clear to me: I should have been able to use the Delta One check-in facility at LAX, which would have saved me 20 minutes waiting in line for security and emptied me out directly into the SkyClub.

This whole incident reminds me of the “local” rule that agents used to try to deny me lounge access on Aeromexico a few years back…

> Read More: Delta Denies Me Sky Club Access On International Business Class Ticket

What is with Delta not playing nicely with its partners at LAX? How do Delta agents not know that SAS is part of SkyTeam?