Los Angeles airport sheds its lax image

ONCE a place best avoided, Los Angeles International Airport is now one of the best — and Virgin Australia is right there with a lounge to linger in.

140801 WISH EMBARGO FOR WISH AUGUST 2014 NO REUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION Pic : Lawrence Anderson Star Alliance Lounge LAX outdoo...

THERE is a quote commonly attributed to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright etched on to a wall in the new Star Alliance Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport.

It reads: “Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.” It’s one of several quotes that have been incorporated into the design of the lounge at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Others are from Bette Davis (about Hollywood, naturally) and the terminal’s namesake, former mayor Tom Bradley (about the city’s free and easy nature). But it is Wright’s words that ring the truest when it comes to modern-day LA.

If everything loose ended up in Los Angeles, the worst of that flotsam and chaos would surely end up at the city’s main airport. Just the words Los Angeles International Airport, or the letters LAX, are enough to turn the hair of even the most seasoned traveller grey. As anyone who has entered the United States - or even worse, left it - via LAX will tell you, it’s crowded, confusing and disorganised. The queues at immigration can be hours long, security screening is like that in a war zone and it’s the one place where you never want to have your flight delayed.

Or at least that’s how it used to be. Following $US1.9 billion of investment, the Tom Bradley International Terminal, the airport’s biggest, has been transformed into what has to be one of the world’s more pleasant terminals. The first phase of the redevelopment opened at the end of last year; phase two is scheduled for completion in 2015.

The $US7bn overhaul of LAX is said to be the largest public works program in the city’s history, and the TBIT project is the jewel in the airport’s crown. Improvements at the terminal include more room at boarding gates, the ability to accommodate more large aircraft such as the A380 and 787 Dreamliner, a Great Hall the size of three football fields, 29 dining venues, a retail precinct operated by Westfield, upgraded Customs and immigration areas including secured corridors for transit between terminals, six new business and first-class airline lounges and, perhaps most heartwarming, a significantly expanded, and well-organised security screening area. When it’s completed the facility will have the capacity to handle 4500 passengers an hour, up from its current 2800.

The first new airline lounge to open at TBIT is the Star Alliance lounge on level 6, which has a mezzanine overlooking the main retail area. Operated by Air New Zealand, it is also Virgin Australia’s new lounge in Los Angeles. At present Virgin Australia’s customers must check in for their flight at the adjacent Terminal 3 and then take a short walk to Tom Bradley to access the lounge; when the second phase of the redevelopment is completed Virgin Australia will have its own check-in counters in TBIT.

The Star Alliance lounge can accommodate about 400 business and first-class passengers, with an exclusive area for first class. It has many distinctive new features but two in particular stand out. The lounge is part of an emerging trend in the commercial aviation industry that is seeing the creation of a class of travel beyond first class. Just as Etihad will introduce a premium service called The Residence on its A380 aircraft when they come into service at the end of this year, Virgin Australia through its membership of Star Alliance can offer its guests travelling through Los Angeles an experience like no other. Inside the first-class section of the lounge are two private rooms for use by the airline’s top-tier guests - the ultimate in privacy and calm in an otherwise bustling airport.

The Star Alliance facility has another unique feature that puts a new spin on the concept of an airline lounge: an outdoor terrace. Guests can relax in a large outdoor bar area with a view of the runway that, the absence of a pool notwithstanding, is more in line with what you’d find in a luxury resort.

The resort comparison is an intentional one, according to Virgin Australia’s chief customer officer, Mark Hassell. “The opportunity with the Bradley West development was to create a lot more high-end facilities and amenities for our guests and to just have a better place for people to be,” says Hassell, who is responsible for every aspect of the airline that deals with the customer, from cabin crew, onboard cuisine and lounges right through to marketing and communications.

“Part of that needed to be a strong lounge proposition. The idea around the lounge ... was very much (about) just preparing guests for their flights, which are late-night departures and long flights. This about having an oasis of calm … to prepare yourself.” Measuring the success of the new lounge is easy, says Hassell. “People are actually turning up earlier for the lounge experience before their flight and for us that’s always a good indicator.”