Virgin America Loft @ LAX

Hitched a ride to the airport with a friend and was a few hours early for my flight, so I decided to pop into the Loft and see what all the fuss was about.

This is how flying should be.  Multiple open, comfortable seating areas, a buffet of snacks and plenty of drinks at your disposal.  The staff is extremely friendly and attentive to the customers needs.  It's nice to be able to just kick back, relax and be away from the hustle and bustle of the main terminal.  

Definitely going to come back again and I highly recommend checking this out if you have at least an hour or so to kill before your flight.

The hidden gem in terminal 3 and no entry fee if you're flying first class (well at least they didn't charge me).

Attentive service, cookies, fountain drinks, liquor, sushi, sandwiches, and snacks make it work the fee if you had to pay it (especially since other food options in this terminal suck and are likely to cost more).

Hang out in comfortable chairs, recharge your electronics, free wi-fi, tables and a quiet relaxing environment certainly beats hanging out by the gate if you're going to be in the terminal over an hour.

After the variety of blah, boring domestic lounges that the legacies offer, this is an amazing breath of fresh air.

With our ticket we were allowed access to the loft and gladly took advantage of that fact.  Never knowing how traffic around LAX is going to be, we had just under an hour to before our flight.  The breakfast spread could be described as a good continental breakfast.  We both got what we'd normally eat for breakfast, so it's no extravagant hotel spread, but if I can get some fruit, cereal and a decent cup of coffee I'm a happy customer.

The best part of the lounge though is the access restriction though.  You can only get in with a full fare F ticket, as an elite with limited coupons or by paying $40.  Unlike the legacies, which I feel like everyone has an easier way in, this keeps the number of people in the lounge to a minimum.  It was great to be able to grab a seat in any area without having to settle for a worse view or seat you don't really want.  Before we left there were probably only 10 or 12 people in the Loft.  I expect this would go up during busier travel times, but even double or triple that number would leave plenty of room for all.

Virgin America really knows how to make the airport experience great and I'll be looking forward to the next time I can stop by the Loft.