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In my introduction to my 8 Flights, 7 Lounges & 3 Hotels In 5 Days trip I explained that I’d decided to nest a mileage run to Dallas into my Europe-USA-Europe trip towards the beginning of January – at a cost of $74.60 it was a steal. After booking the mileage run I got super-lucky as American Airlines swapped the aircraft on my mileage run for a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. It turned out that American was flying its Dreamliner out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX which is how I found myself in that terminal’s One World Lounge.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) – Image Praytitno via Flickr
I wasn’t expecting to be departing from the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) which is why I took the shuttle from the Los Angeles Airport Marriott to LAX T4 (American’s LA home). Luckily it’s just a short walk between the two terminals but the experience taught me to check my digital boarding pass more carefully in future.
Despite TBIT not having TSA Pre-Check the staff at the airport did a good job of processing the security lines efficiently, so it didn’t take too long to get to the OneWorld lounge…which is on a mezzanine level above where you enter the main shopping area past the security lines.
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be allowed into the lounge or not as, technically, I was flying on a domestic flight and, per the OneWorld website, my American Airlines status isn’t valid for lounge access in the US:
American Airlines AAdvantage® members, regardless of their tier status or class of travel, are not eligible for lounge access when travelling solely on North American flights within or between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
I walked up to the lounge agents at the door, handed them my boarding pass, and, after one commented that she hadn’t realised that the Dreamliner was flying from TBIT that morning, I was invited in.
I had a backup plan had I not been admitted – the Korean Airlines Lounge next door is a Priority Pass lounge so, thanks to the membership I got with my Citi Prestige Card, that would have worked just fine.
Anyway, back to the OneWorld Lounge….
OneWorld Lounge LAX – Seating
The lounge is big. Very big. And the more I walked around, the more seating areas I kept discovering.
There were areas with armchairs:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
A surprising, but extinguished, fire pit:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
Areas with comfortable chairs and small tables:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
Areas with chairs and no tables:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
An area with pairs of chairs facing each other:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
Areas with long, bench-like tables with multiple power sockets for laptops and other electronic devices:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
An area with very comfortable recliners with a view over the atrium outside:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
This area has clearly been copied from the fantastic Qantas First Class lounge which is two doors away…
Qantas First Class Lounge LAX
…and I applaud that. If you’re going to copy something, make sure it’s something good!
The last type of seating area was the one best used for having something to eat. There were numerous tables and chairs and an island with bar-type chairs placed around it:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge LAX – Bar
As you enter the lounge and turn right there’s a bar which is usually staffed. This being early morning the bar was still being stocked so there wasn’t always someone there:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
To be honest it was a bit early for me so I wasn’t really paying that much attention to what the bar had to offer…but hopefully you can get an idea from the photos above and these two below:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
It appeared as if the wines were self-serve while the spirits were served by staff. I didn’t see any beer although, presumably, there was some somewhere.
OneWorld Lounge LAX – Food
Food-wise the lounge had set out a buffet breakfast with a pretty good selection:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
The fresh fruit and yoghurt selection was excellent and just what I needed at that time of the morning:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
There was filter coffee and tea making facilities on the side as well as various fruit juices. There were also a number of coffee machines dotted around the lounge.
In case the photos above aren’t clear, this is what the menus above the food said was on offer:
Cold offerings
- Assorted danishes
- Watermelon
- Honeydew melon
- House made Bircher Muesli
- Natural yoghurt
- Rockmelon
- Pineapple
- Assorted cereals
Hot offerings
- Pork sausage
- Tater tots
- Scrambles eggs
- Miso Soup with condiments
- Oatmeal with raisins and toasted almonds
It was a pretty impressive selection and beats anything I’ve seen in any domestic lounge (by a long way) and probably even beats what I’ve seen on offer at the highly lauded, yet often overcrowded, American Express Centurion lounges.
OneWorld Lounge LAX – Other Amenities
One area of the lounge has been set aside as a business/work area with a number of iMacs and printer/copier facilities nearby.
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
The OneWorld lounge also offers showers facilities and, although at that time of the morning they were all free, I suspect that, during peak times, they could be hard to get – the lounge can hold a lot of people and I couldn’t see more than 5 or 6 shower cubicles:
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
OneWorld Lounge – Tom Bradley Terminal LAX
Bottom Line
For a Business Class lounge (which is what this is) this is a very good lounge indeed and it easily beats all the US domestic lounges I’ve visited (but I haven’t checked out the Star Alliance lounge at LAX yet and I hear that’s excellent).
I liked the breakfast offering, and the fact that there was a good number of healthy options available made a pleasant change from a lot of lounges – one of the hardest things to do if you travel a lot is to eat well so it’s great when a lounge makes it a bit easier.
Being a OneWorld lounge it caters to a lot of airlines that use the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX so I would be interested to see how busy it gets at peak times (evenings and later). Judging by the number of seating areas I saw I suspect that it’s big enough to handle most busy periods but I’d be interested to hear from anyone with experience of this.
$78.60 for a return flight to Dallas in Business Class on a Dreamliner (review coming tomorrow) and a lounge like this to start off the milage run – there really was nothing to complain about 🙂
[…] been open for a little over two years. The entrance to the lounge is just down the hall from the OneWorld Business Class lounge I reviewed not that long […]