At the end of 2016, I used the excuse that winter break in my college town was too cold and that I missed my family terribly to justify a trip back home. (In reality, all my friends had already left, and staying alone in town was just too boring.) At the time, I didn’t have enough points or miles yet, so like most budget-conscious international students, I compared fares across various flight search websites. With the mindset that timing didn’t matter and price was king, I picked a round-trip itinerary operated in partnership by Delta, alaska airline, and China Eastern. My route back to China was: ORD - SEA - PVG; my return to the U.S. was: PVG - ORD.

It was thanks to this SkyTeam routing (or Alaska airline, which at the time had a partnership with SkyTeam) that I had the chance to check out the two major lounges at SEA Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The two lounges were the Delta airline Delta sky club and the AMEX The Centurion Studio. Both lounges received plenty of positive reviews on LoungeBuddy (which officially markets itself as the only mobile app that lets you search airport lounges around the world). A detailed introduction to LoungeBuddy has already been updated!!!

If you use my referal code: ZsvmDEvEgY when signing up, both you and I will receive $10 in LoungeBuddy credit! (To find out what that can be used for, click the LoungeBuddy link in the previous sentence for the full review.)

Delta airline Delta sky club

Since this post already mentions LoungeBuddy, let’s first look at how the app describes this lounge. Its hours are 5 am - 12:30 am, which should work for most travelers. You can enter with an AMEX Platinum card plus a same-day Delta ticket, or by holding an AMEX Delta gold card and purchasing a discounted $29 access pass. (You can also buy entry at the full price, which I do not recommend at all!) The app also includes detailed photos and descriptions, so feel free to click through and take a look.

  • Access method: AMEX personal Platinum card + Delta-operated ticket
  • Time: lunchtime
  • Airline status: Delta Silver

This lounge is located at a corner of Seattle’s South Satellite, and it was pretty easy to spot from the outside.

There was a very visible welcome sign right at the entrance.

After I walked in, a smiling white woman in uniform greeted me and led me to the reception desk on the right side of the entrance. She stayed with me until an available staff member helped me, then went back to her post after saying goodbye. The service was excellent. After checking my Platinum card and ticket in the computer, the staff member gave me a quick overview of the lounge: dining, spa, and sitting area were on the first floor, while the second floor had long couches where people could rest. Since the staff member was also ethnically Chinese, we chatted briefly before I headed into the lounge.

As a properly qualified foodie—meaning I was hungry—I immediately noticed the self-serve food area on the right and got in line. Luckily, the line was short, and it was my turn almost right away. The food was very American; cold noodles and bread were pretty much the only items I could really accept. It was enough to fill me up, but for someone with a Chinese palate, “eating well” was still a challenge. :evil: Overall, though, it was much better than the UNITED CLUB, with more variety. I skipped anything from the bar since those items cost extra.

One thing Delta did especially well in this lounge was power access—charging spots were everywhere, even next to the dining tables.

After eating and drinking my fill, it was naturally time to “set myself free”~

The restroom was extremely clean and somehow even felt stylish. :wink:

After eating, drinking, and freeing myself, I walked around the lounge a bit more. The SPA was right next to the dining area, but since I wanted to hurry over to the next lounge, I only looked at it from outside. A little farther back, I found the stairs to the second floor. I went up for a quick look, but it was packed, so I didn’t take any photos and just came back down. I’ll add a couple of online photos of the second floor later—sorry about that.

On the other side of the first-floor sitting area, the windows looked out onto various Delta aircraft. Since all the seats by the windows were occupied, I didn’t get a photo—too bad. Here are two photos from online showing the Delta fleet visible through the lounge’s floor-to-ceiling windows. Taken as I was leaving the lounge; in the upper-left corner of the photo is the lounge’s Delta help center. And finally, here’s a map of the AB gates at the corner outside the lounge.

AMEX The Centurion Studio

Likewise, this lounge also had pretty good reviews on LoungeBuddy, with hours, access requirements, and other details all listed there. Personally, though, I found it a bit small. Compared with the previous lounge, it was honestly on a completely different level. Still, since entry was free as long as you had an AMEX Platinum card, I figured I might as well stop by. Inside, the lounge felt very warm and cozy, with a warm-toned color scheme, but it was simply too crowded. After walking around once, I found only a single open seat at a table in the corner—and there was no place to charge anything there either :???:. From a quick look around, the AMEX lounge clearly had far too few power outlets, with only a handful of seats near them. Delta handled this much better, with plenty of charging ports throughout, though that may also be because the AMEX lounge was much smaller.

  • Access method: AMEX personal Platinum card + Delta-operated ticket (they only glanced at the ticket symbolically)
  • Time: lunchtime
  • Airline status: Delta Silver

This lounge was on the way to the A gate and was also fairly easy to spot, with a dedicated sign pointing travelers toward it.

One of the women at reception checked my personal Platinum card in the computer, then simply had me show my ticket briefly before nodding me through. Another receptionist immediately handed me a small gift—probably because Christmas was approaching at the time. It turned out to be an AMEX lounge-branded power bank. The capacity was very small, only 2100mAh. Later, after opening it up, I discovered it was indeed made in China. :lol:

The lounge was basically full. I only found one empty table in the corner, and there wasn’t anywhere to charge devices there either. Fortunately, the young son in the father-and-son pair sitting in front of me was absolutely adorable—watching a movie and laughing one moment, crying the next. When the father noticed me watching his son, he smiled and shook his head at him too. Haha.

Odds and Ends

After boarding, I found that because I had bought Delta comfort +, there was already a basic amenity kit at my seat.

Before takeoff, I spotted a PrimeAir aircraft. Does anyone know what model it is? The engine visible in the photo belongs to the star of this flight, a Delta 767-300.

A 767-300 found online

Goodbye, Seattle~

That wraps up this review of the two major lounges at Seattle airport!