How Fliers Can Relax and U.S. Airlines Can Compete: With Spas<br />He said he had long been curious about airport spas to relieve preflight tension<br />but was wary of going to one in the terminal because “everybody can see you, and I didn’t like that.” The lounge spas “felt private.”<br />The idea behind the Asanda spas is to bring a sense of privacy<br />and duplicate the services available in a hotel spa in the limited confines of valuable airport space, said Gene Frisco, director of Asanda Air II, based in New York.<br />“Thematically,” he said, “we are trying to create the idea that they have arrived before they have departed.”<br />Virgin Airlines of Britain was the leader in bringing spas to American airport airline lounges,<br />opening a spa in 2012 in its Clubhouse lounge in Kennedy International Airport in New York.<br />On top of being a bad flier, I’m normally very busy and wouldn’t get a chance to do my spa treatments.”<br />The increasing availability of airport spas has been driven by several factors, including credit card relationships with airlines<br />and competition for increasingly elaborate lounges as well as expanded security waiting times and the overall stressful nature of airports.<br />Spas are split into two general types — those within airport terminal shopping areas and those<br />that offer an air of privilege, within airline lounges and airport clubs, often accessible only to those with specialized credit cards or frequent flier memberships.<br />Delta Air Lines opened its first spa, under the Asanda Spa Lounge brand, in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in late 2016.
