Tampa Delta Sky Club: Small, but Satisfactory

Tampa International Airport consistently ranks as one of the nation’s best airports for quality.

It’s my home airport, and I find it very easy to navigate with its hub and spoke setup with a main terminal building connected to four airsides.

The airport has only two airline lounges. I usually fly Delta Air Lines, and that means I can use the small but satisfactory Sky Club.

The Delta Sky Club at the Tampa airport is in Airside E after security. From the main terminal, you need to take the shuttle train to the airside and go through security before getting to the club.

The entrance to the Sky Club is near gate 68. There’s a sliding door entrance and a set of stairs or an elevator to take you up to the club level.

The Delta Sky Club is open from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Once you scan your boarding pass, you’re in.

Eligible passengers are allowed to access the Sky Club three hours before their scheduled departure with a same-day boarding pass on Delta or a partner airline.

While Sky Clubs are notoriously overcrowded, I have only seen a short line at the Tampa location a handful of times.

The Tampa Sky Club isn’t huge, but it has everything passengers need before a flight.

After checking in, if you head to the right, you’ll find yourself in the main area of the Sky Club with the bar, buffet and drink station.

This main area used to overlook the security screening below, but the Transportation Security Administration lines moved to a new location in early March 2025. Now the area below the club to one side overlooks the waiting area for the shuttle and an open space under construction.

I have found the seating in this area to almost always be full, but there are other places to sit and relax.

The food buffet is the focal point with a selection of hot and cold items. Some items are in refrigerators below the main food area. The buffet switches from breakfast to lunch at 10:30 a.m., and usually, the staff will make an announcement before making the change in case you want to grab a bit more breakfast fare.

Since there isn’t a lot of space in this area, the drink station and desserts are often in carts off to the side of the main buffet.

The bar is small with a few high-top chairs and friendly bartenders.

If there is no place to sit near the food, there are usually plenty of tables near the check-in area and overlooking the main terminal gates below.

That’s one thing that is great about this Sky Club location; you can sometimes literally see your gate, so you know when boarding begins. That’s your queue to leave the club and get to your gate quickly.

If you head farther down from these tables, there are two other seating areas and some soundproof phone booths.

The bathrooms are also close to this seating area. Like the rest of the club, they’re small but adequate.

The Tampa Sky Club won’t be in its current location for much longer. In a few years, Delta Air Lines will move to a brand-new Airside D.

The new airside is scheduled to be ready in 2028 and is expected to cost $1.5 billion. Delta will be the main tenant with at least six gates and a new lounge space.

According to the agreement with the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority in Florida, the new Sky Club will be at least 18,000 square feet with additional support space and gates close by, possibly with a direct connection from the Sky Club to the gates.

This will be the airport’s new international terminal with 16 total gates as well as space for another airline lounge.

Nothing will wow you about Delta’s Tampa Sky Club, but it is more than adequate with tasty food and close proximity to boarding gates.

With plans for a brand-new large Sky Club, amenities and style will certainly improve. It definitely gives those of us who regularly fly Delta from and through Tampa something to look forward to.