Review: Alaska Lounge LAX

Review: Alaska Lounge LAX

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This Review of the Alaska Airlines Lounge at LAX is from our December 2022 visit, prior to an international flight.

Alaska Airlines Lounge LAX Location, Hours, and Access

The Alaska Lounge at LAX is located in Terminal 6, with an elevator by Gate 64B providing access to the lounge. The lounge is open daily from 5am-9:30pm.

Alaska Lounge LAX Elevator by Gate 64B

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The lounge is available to the following passengers:

  • Alaska Airlines First Class passengers who paid or redeemed miles for first class in fare classes C, D, E, J and I (so this excludes passengers who upgraded to first class). Note that no guests are permitted; they would need to have their own access to the lounge or pay for it.
  • Alaska Lounge Members: at time of writing, non-elite Alaska Mileage Plan members pay $450 for an annual membership, while Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members pay $350 annually. These memberships provide access regardless of the airline a passenger is flying that day. Alaska Lounge members can provide guest access for either two guests or immediate family members (partner and children under 21).
  • Admirals Club Members: Admirals Club members enjoy access to Alaska Lounges when flying either Alaska or American same day, and can also guest in two guests or immediate family members (partner and children under 21).
  • Citi AAdvantage Executive Card holders are given an Admirals Club membership, although the Alaska Club access benefit is for the card holder only, not for authorized users (although authorized users get access to AA Admirals Clubs when flying American Airlines on the same day)
  • Oneworld Elites: oneworld Sapphire or Emerald elites who hold that status in a program that is *not* Alaska Mileage Plan or American AAdvantage can access the Alaska Lounge when flying any oneworld flight the same day, including a domestic flight. Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald elites by virtue of Alaska Mileage Plan or AAdvantage can access the Alaska Lounge when flying a oneworld flight to a destination outside North America
  • Fly oneworld long haul first class or business class. For example, if you're flying Qatar Business Class from Seattle SEA or American Airlines, British Airlines, Finnair etc. Business Class from JFK, you can access the Alaska Lounge.
  • Buy a day pass for $60 per person. We paid for access using our Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3X points. Note that only the Alaska Lounges in New York JFK, LAX, and SFO sell day passes.
Alaska Lounge LAX Reception

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Alaska Lounge Seating, Food and Drink

The lounge is one large room, with various seating options. Some of the most comfortable seating is a sofa with dividers that contain power outlets; this tends to fill up first.

Alaska Lounge LAX Sofa Seating

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There are also individual booths, also with power outlets:

Alaska Lounge LAX Booth Seating

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Less comfortable are the various tables and hard bench seating in another part of the room:

Alaska Lounge LAX Bench Seating

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There's also seating near the bar area:

Alaska Lounge LAX Bar
Alaska Lounge LAX Bar Seating

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We visited the lounge at 6:30pm, when there were dinner offerings. These included pesto pasta with mozzarella balls, hummus, vegetables, guacamole, pepper jack cheese cubes, two types of salsa, a cheddar broccoli soup, meat stew, pretzel bread rolls, pita bread, desserts, and fresh fruit, including watermelon slices and whole fresh fruit (oranges, apples and bananas).

Food, Alaska Lounge LAX
Bread, Alaska Lounge LAX
Whole Fresh Fruit, Alaska Lounge LAX

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For us, the tastiest items were the meat stew topped with black beans, guacamole, cheese and salsa, along with fresh fruit.

Beef Stew, Alaska Lounge LAX

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There's also the option to pay $10 or so for pizza, chicken nuggets, etc. but we didn't see the need given that the existing food options were perfectly fine.

Starbucks coffee and sodas are available, in addition to cocktails and wine from the bar.

Starbucks Coffee, Soda Machine, Alaska Lounge LAX

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Later in the evening, after the stew and broccoli cheddar soup were gone, there was some Mexican Meatball soup:

Mexican Meatball Soup, Alaska Lounge LAX
Late Night Food, Alaska Lounge LAX

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There were also some tasty blondie-chocolate bars. Since we were on a red eye flight, we finished with some herbal tea; there were also espresso options from the machine.

Homeboy Industries Cookies, Alaska Lounge LAX

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Barista services are available until 7pm, but I wasn't aware of this cut-off, and one of the very kind staff members went to the trouble of reopening the machine and foaming some milk for a hot chocolate for our teen, which we were very grateful for. Similarly, after the coffee machine was placed on “out of order” status, presumably for cleaning, another staff member was able to get me some hot water to refill my herbal tea. Kind and friendly staffers were also constantly collecting dishes and cleaning the lounge. Kudos to the team for being so customer service oriented.

There are also complimentary alcoholic drinks, including cocktails, from the bar.

Barista Hot Chocolate, Alaska Lounge LAX Review

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The Verdict

For a domestic airline lounge that isn't an AMEX Centurion Lounge, the Alaska Airlines Lounge LAX is quite good. It can't be compared to the international business class lounges, including the United Polaris Lounge SFO, which has far better dining options and facilities, including shower rooms, but given that Alaska's longest flight out of LAX is about 6 hours, it's a good lounge for its use cases. What especially impressed us was how friendly the staff was, even making a hot chocolate for our teen at 7:45pm although barista drinks normally aren't available after 7pm.

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