LAX is really trying to make itself attractive to celebrities and other richies these days, but the recently unveiled plan for a "paparazzi-proof" Delta terminal with fancy suites with showers, premium security check lines, and Porsche pickup on the tarmac is apparently not going to be enough to keep rich flyers away from the masses. So now the airport is proposing a new, fancy, remote lounge that would allow guests to wait for their flights far away from the main terminal, in posh surroundings, and take a shuttle bus to their gates at boarding time, says the LA Times.
The lounge would be built in an old, 43,750-square-foot cargo facility (with parking lot) on Imperial Highway, beyond the end of the 105 Freeway and near LAX's southernmost runway. Travelers would park at this facility, then go inside to wait in private suites until it was time to get on the plane, at which point they'd be ferried to the terminal. It's expected that the cost to use this super-exclusive lounge would be as much as $1,800 per trip.
The lounge, which will be discussed at the Board of Airport Commissioners meeting tomorrow, is the brainchild of Gavin de Becker and Associates, "an L.A.-based security firm with an elite clientele." If approved, the firm would sign a 10-year lease for the airport-owned property and operate the lounge. LAX operators Los Angeles World Airports estimates that the deal would generate about $3.75 million for the airport in the first year, and yield $34 million over the total 10-year lease. Of course GdB will also have to clear things with the TSA and US Customers.
· A private LAX lounge for the rich and famous is under consideration [LAT]
· Inside the Allegedly Paparazzi-Proof New Terminal at LAX [Curbed LA]