Tanza Loudenback/Business Insider
I recently toured The Private Suite and found it accommodating and comfortable.
- A new terminal called The Private Suite opened at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in late 2017.
- The Private Suite offers a $4,500-a-year base membership and costs $2,700 to use per domestic flight and $3,500 per international flight for up to four passengers.
- Food and drinks, a private room and bathroom, an on-site spa, and a personal chauffeur directly to your plane are included.
- I recently toured The Private Suite and found it accommodating and comfortable. The best part? No crowds.
I didn't expect to leave The Private Suite feeling like a pampered billionaire.
When I pulled into the driveway on an unusually gloomy Los Angeles morning, a man with a wide, toothy grin and a bulletproof vest emblazoned with "SECURITY" greeted me cheerily. The dichotomy caught me off guard; they'd been expecting me, he said, and the tall gates parted, revealing a modern-looking, one-story building facing the airport runway.
The Private Suite is a terminal built specifically for wealthy travelers flying in and out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). (I'm not a wealthy traveler by any means, but the folks at The Private Suite made an exception for this story. I get the feeling they treat their paying customers with the same dutiful enthusiasm.)
The independently owned and operated terminal opened in October 2017 and offers a quiet, crowd-free, luxurious space to hang out before boarding a commercial flight.
As you may expect, it's not cheap. But for celebrities routinely hounded by paparazzi in the public terminals at LAX and wealthy businesspeople and families seeking solitude, it's a safe haven offering the best privacy, security, and amenities money can buy.
Here's what it's like inside The Private Suite.