This week I’m going to shake things up a bit and share with you a recent trip I took to Denver to go to a friend’s wedding! Now, coming from the San Francisco area, you might think the logical option is to fly United to Denver and take advantage of their hub-to-hub flying. I live in the eastern part of the SF Bay Area, so flying out of Oakland is actually preferred usually, so logically you might also think that I could fly Southwest from Oakland to Denver. Both of these make a lot of sense, but I had a Delta companion voucher from my Delta Reserve Card I wanted to use to get half off a ticket, so instead, I flew from San Jose to Denver, via Salt Lake City.
Adding an extra flight both directions does increase the travel time, but it was worth it to get half off the ticket in my opinion. I have also heard great things about the new SkyClub in SLC, so I was very excited to be able to go check it out. I had previously attempted to visit when I connected in SLC to go to DC, but with a flight delay, it didn’t end up working out.
When planning this trip, I did the math out and determined that driving and parking at SJC would be the preferred method of ground transit to the airport. It’s pretty uncommon that I drive and park at airports; I believe this marks the first time I’ve ever parked at SJC and, I believe, the third time that I’ve parked at any Bay Area airport (once in 2023 and once in 2025 at SFO). After finding a good parking space pretty easily, we headed into the airport, checked a bag, and then proceeded to “The Club” at A15, which is located at the transition from Terminal A to Terminal B. I had previously visited this lounge back in 2023 but more recently had primarily been visiting “The Club” at A8.
In my experience, the two clubs are largely comparable, but I like the more open layout of the A15 lounge slightly better. SJC isn’t an airport that really gets used much as a connecting hub, so the airport layout and the lounges are geared towards people who are only spending maybe an hour in the airport.
That being said, the combination of a salad bar with app-based ordering can create a great spread if it aligns with your tastes:
I had allotted a bit more time at the airport than I might usually because I was unfamiliar with the process for parking a car and then walking to the terminal, so having access to pre-flight appetizers was great.
Since I have dropped to Delta Silver, I didn’t get an upgrade on either flight that evening, so I don’t have a lot to report other than that the exit row seats on the A220 are excellent as far as economy seats go.
Something to note on these flights is that I managed to get A/B exit row seats on both the A220s that evening. Delta considers its “Comfort” product to be a separate class of service that Silver Medallion members can “upgrade” into. And apparently their computer systems are currently splitting up people traveling together. The online chat, the phone-based customer service, the check-in agent, and the SkyClub agent all confirmed that literally the only people who can do anything about it are the gate agents. (Even though the “upgrade” email very explicitly says you can change your seats back online). The gate agent in SLC was not particularly friendly when I asked to keep our seats together, however.
Very little comes with an economy ticket on short flights like these one beyond a small drinks and snacks service, so I’m going to also include an initial review of the SkyClub SLC at the B gates.
From the A gates, you can take an underpass to the B gates. Upon arriving at the B gates, you basically make a U turn and then you see the SkyClub and the Amex Centurion Lounge. I’ve heard that the new Centurion lounge is also excellent, but I have not yet had the chance to visit it.
The SkyClub is actually above the entrance level, so you take an escalator up and are immediately greeted by an amazing color palette that looks both elegant and right at home in Salt Lake City.
The lounge consists of a handful of seating areas:
Including a gorgeous central bar:
And of course, a buffet. The buffet options were standard SkyClub fare, but that’s definitely not a complaint!
I had intentionally booked this ticket so that we could have dinner in Salt Lake City in the lounge, and I was not disappointed!
In summary, these coach tickets in exit row seats were a good deal for short flights to get to Denver. The additional time spent in Salt Lake City would not have been worth it if not for all of (a) the companion voucher, (b) the ability to fly from San Jose, and (c) having dinner in the SLC SkyClub. But since all three of those aligned, it was worth it in my opinion! The lounge in San Jose was perfectly workable for how long you’d expect to be there (3/5) and the SLC SkyClub was truly excellent, but my interaction with the SLC gate agent was pretty bad (4/5). The exit row seats on the A220 are very good as a free seat selection for a Silver Medallion member (4/5). The service from San Jose was a bit better than from Salt Lake City, but the primary reason cited was “turbulence,” but I don’t actually remember there being much on departure from SLC (4/5 and 3/5). The drink and snack service on both flights was perfectly fine given the short durations (3/5). Similarly the IFE on offer was pretty good with free Wi-Fi and seatback TVs (4/5). Overall, the flights both get an 18/25.
