Chase Lounge LaGuardia Review: Chic, Spacious

The Hong Kong and Boston places had been the primary to open, and a 3rd spot is coming into the scene: As of January 2024, the Chase Sapphire Lounge at New York’s LaGuardia Airport has opened its doorways.

Here’s what you may anticipate once you go to this two-level Chase lounge at New York-LGA.

To get to the Chase Sapphire Lounge in Terminal B, go by means of safety and switch proper. Go previous the colourful falling water fountain. On the finish of the concourse, you’ll discover the doorway to the Sapphire Lounge, subsequent to the Centurion Lounge entrance.

Take the elevator all the way down to the bottom flooring to enter the lounge.

The Sapphire Lounge at LaGuardia is open from 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. each day. The non-public Reserve Suites are open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Sapphire Lounge by The Membership at LaGuardia beats out a lot of its rivals on sq. footage alone. At 21,850 sq. ft, this huge Sapphire Lounge can match a most of 269 individuals. The Centurion Lounge subsequent door is available in at lower than half the scale by sq. footage.

There are two ranges. The decrease degree has seating areas, play areas (not only for children), rest rooms and the primary eating space and bar.

Ascend the set of stairs positioned to at least one aspect of the middle bar and also you’ll end up in what Chase staffers known as “The Perch.” This mezzanine space options extra seating and tables, a refreshment station and entry to the Reserve Suites: three reservation-only rooms accessible to teams who need extra privateness than the lounge affords.

The theme of bushes and greenery runs all through, with a number of giant “tree trunks” breaking apart house on each the primary and second ranges. The pervasive woodgrain, mid-century furnishings and colourful, summary artwork on the tambour panel partitions offers the sensation of strolling into a very stylish rainforest. There’s even a cover of crops lining the railings of the upper-level mezzanine.

The womb chairs and lightweight, oak-colored wooden are in keeping with present design traits. But, the lounge has an air of timelessness that feels refined however enjoyable — falling someplace between the retrofuturism of the TWA Lodge at JFK and the intentional whimsy of a hip coworking house. Elevated furnishings might be discovered within the by-reservation non-public suites, however extra on that later.

The lounge would not have lots of home windows due to its location throughout the airport. Nevertheless, even with out pure gentle, there’s not a spot within the lounge that feels underlit. The sconces and number of different lights are a pleasant element.

All through the lounge, you’ll discover touches of New York Metropolis, whether or not it’s a ebook of Invoice Cunningham images on the shelf or a sequence of images that includes matchbooks from iconic New York eating places like The Bitter Finish.

The primary flooring of the lounge options loads of house for work, rest, eating and even a bit of play. Soft couches and chairs are scattered all through.

A backlit, water vapor fire supplies atmosphere in a extra work-oriented part of the decrease degree the place company may also discover two-person cubicles and a personal telephone room.

No want to fret about retaining your units charged — there are shops galore embedded in furnishings, partitions, tables and the ground.

On high of the areas for working or stress-free, there are just a few rooms devoted completely to play. One is a photograph sales space that company can use to snap images with their touring companions. Photographs can’t be printed, however company can have a digital copy despatched to their e-mail.

The picture sales space doubles as an entrance to what Chase workers known as “the speakeasy” — a hidden arcade room that includes a pinball machine, tabletop shuffleboard and a jukebox. Whereas there’s no drink service within the speakeasy, staffers indicated that there could be sometime.

Households can use an enclosed playroom on the decrease degree with out having to fret about disrupting different lounge company.

A nursing room that includes a sink and altering desk is accessible to be used by households along with a devoted altering room for these with infants.

The Reserve Suites are three rooms that may be booked throughout the lounge that provide teams a personal seating and leisure space, entry to fully-stocked showers and an upgraded menu. The privateness comes at a premium although.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders can reserve one of many two six-person suites and one four-person suite. The six-person suites characteristic a movable wall between and might be booked collectively to be used by as much as 12 individuals.

Suites can be found in three-hour slots. Every of the six-person suites prices $3,000 to order (or $6,000 to mix the 2 suites) and the four-person suite is $2,200 for a reservation slot. You have to ebook suites by means of the Chase cell app at the least 72 hours upfront.

So what does roughly $1,000 per hour get you?

Along with non-public showers stocked with bathrobes and high-end toiletries from Oribe and Augustinus Bader, company get entry to a private lounge staffer and a personal menu from the New York restaurant Jeffrey’s Grocery.

Menu highlights embody a hefty lobster roll and the Plateau le LaGuardia, a two-tiered tower that includes king crab legs, shrimp cocktail and a wide range of tinned seafood. The suite-exclusive wine listing is curated by New York Metropolis wine bar Parcelle and every of the suites consists of caviar service in its worth.

Within the sitting space of every suite, there’s a superbly integrated TV on the wall that comes with a PlayStation 5 for company. The TV might be turned off, leaving the design factor of a stark, shiny black circle on the wall somewhat than a clean TV — a delicate contact that’s in keeping with the elevated really feel of those non-public suites.

One of many few home windows within the lounge is within the four-person suite, offering a near-panoramic view of The Perch and decrease degree of the lounge; although, there’s a curtain for privateness do you have to want it.

If you wish to luxuriate a bit of however don’t wish to shell out for the suites with their non-public showers, cease by the wellness space and deal with your self to some spa time.

The ordeal of partaking with business air journey might be greater than a bit of de-centering. For those who really feel such as you want a while to refocus and quiet your thoughts, the lounge presents two meditation pods, which might be booked in 30-minute slots through the Chase app or the QR codes discovered all through the lounge. Meditation pod reservations are complimentary.

You too can ebook a free spa therapy, comparable to jade rolls and oxygen blasts, on-site on a first-come-first-served foundation. The non-public therapy rooms are staffed by estheticians and have merchandise from New York facial bar Face Haus.

There are a number of toilet stalls within the males’s room and girls’s room on the primary flooring and an all-gender restroom on the mezzanine.

In the back of the lounge’s decrease degree is the primary eating space. The kitchen serves breakfast (4:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.) and all-day fare (11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.) with menus that includes extra typical lounge choices alongside particular, made-to-order dishes from Joseph Leonard, a West Village bistro.

Throughout breakfast and common service, hot and cold plates can be found on the buffet counter. For breakfast, company can anticipate the standard fare like pastries, fruit, yogurt, eggs, pancakes and French toast. Made-to-order choices — together with omelets, egg and cheese baos, and vegan spinach bowls — might be ordered by scanning the QR codes discovered at each desk.

All-day meals decisions embody Korean fried rooster bites, pumpkin muhammara, grilled cheese and made-to-order dishes like burgers or seared salmon over braised leeks. The latter gadgets punched a good bit above the lounge meals weight class, retaining the restaurant high quality you’d anticipate from a curated menu.

A choice of sweets can also be accessible on the buffet, together with lemon squares, chocolate chip cookies and mini chocolate bites.

Located amid the eating house and seating areas is a round bar, superbly appointed with white stone counter tops, mauve barstools and brass accents. Chase teamed up with New York mixologists Apotheke for locally-inspired cocktails.

The cocktail menu consists of drinks unique to the LaGuardia lounge, like The Blackburn’s Bitter — a berry-forward rum drink named for one of many first passengers to disembark at LaGuardia when it opened in 1939 — and a signature cocktail that you just’ll discover in any respect Sapphire Lounge places, fittingly and easily known as Sapphire.

Different standouts embody the Crimson Eye, an attention-grabbing tackle the all-too-familar espresso martini that takes issues in a extra refreshing path with the addition of black cherry.

A wine listing curated by Parcelle, spirits and a choice of beers on faucet spherical out the bar’s menu, with gentle drinks, juices and low additionally accessible.

The lounge options three refreshment stations, two on the primary degree and one on the second. Every refreshment station features a mini fridge of canned drinks in addition to drip espresso, tea, a digital espresso machine, nonalcoholic drinks on faucet and diverse fruits and biscotti.

In line with the locally-sourced drinks, espresso is equipped by Greenwhich Village roaster Joe Espresso and teas are from SoHo-based tea blenders Harney & Sons.

Entry to the Sapphire Lounge by the Membership at LaGuardia is fairly easy: you could carry a qualifying Chase card or have a Precedence Go membership. Some bank cards embody a Precedence Go membership as a profit.

Chase playing cards that get you lounge entry embody:

Chase Sapphire Reserve® and J.P. Morgan Reserve cardholders every get two free company, per go to. Extra company come at a payment of $27 every. Ritz-Carlton cardholders get limitless company.

Precedence Go playing cards that get you entry to the Chase LaGuardia lounge embody:

(High picture by Steve Miller)

The knowledge associated to the J.P. Morgan Reserve and The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit score Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or offered by the issuer of this card.