We had a quick weekend trip to Washington, DC to visit our daughter and her boyfriend. We had a great time. We walked around Georgetown Saturday before meeting my brother-in-law and his wife at a the Dupont Circle outpost of an excellent Spanish tapas place called Boqueria. On Sunday, I went to a Liverpool supporters pub, Exiles Bar, and grabbed a table early so that the family could join me for the match where Liverpool clinched the league title. That night, we went to Nobu for the first time in over 20 years and enjoyed it, although the portions remain small enough that we went for gelato after dinner.

We flew Delta in Comfort Plus both ways and even had an empty seat next to my wife on the flight home. We also stayed at the Park Hyatt in a junior suite using Hyatt points and a suite upgrade. I’ve reviewed this exact suite before as well as the larger proper suite. It’s the fourth time we’ve stayed there, and we mainly do it because it’s just convenient to where our daughter lives. It’s definitely needing a refresh.

On our way home, we decided (well, I decided) that we would try the new Capital One Landing concept in Concourse D at DCA. We actually had our Lyft drop us there rather than Concourse B where our Delta flight was departing as everything is connected airside and we didn’t have bags to check. Thankfully, Concourse D also has Clear and PreCheck. This saved us an extra walk back down the concourse.

The Capital One Landing is not technically a lounge. It’s more like a restaurant. It sits out in the terminal like any other airport restaurant. There is a grab and go area that anyone can access (and pay for food and drinks) on the left inside the concourse, but the main entrance is at the top of the concourse.

Some seating actually is placed out on the concourse, but most tables are inside beyond the reception area. When we arrived, although we both have the Capital One Venture X, the host only needed to see one of them as each card entitles us to one guest. Additional guests are $45 (which might be worth it with a hungry teenager or someone in your party who would have a few alcoholic drinks later in the day.)

We were shown to a table towards the back of the lounge. While we were there (around 6:30-7:30am on a Monday morning), it never got super crowded.

Obviously, it was breakfast so I can’t speak to how the lunch/dinner food is, but I have seen a couple of reviews and it looks fairly good. The concept is in partnership with Jose Andres so there’s a Spanish aspect to the menu, but it’s fairly easy to find something you can eat even if you’re not a fan of that cuisine. The main menu is available using a QR code on the table. I also grabbed some pictures of the bar menu although we weren’t having anything that exciting so early in the day with a full work day ahead of us at home.

There is also a small buffet with a few added cold dishes and juices. There’s a regular bar where you can order other drinks not on the menu. Here are some of the dishes we ordered. The food was freshly made and tasty. The dishes are small so you can order just about everything to try.

Here are some pictures of the buffet area. There was fruit and some small dishes plus some tasty croissant pastries.

The Landing has outdoor views of Concourse C and D where the sunrise was beautiful.

There are two gender-neutral restrooms inside the Landing located all the way in the back behind the buffet area.

Overall, I liked the concept of the Capital One Landing. DCA already has several American Airlines lounges, a Delta SkyClub and a newish American Express Centurion Lounge (which we didn’t have time to visit on this trip). With all of the concourses connected behind security, it’s become a pretty good airport for lounges although it’s also very easy to navigate and you don’t really need to arrive extra early. Capital One likely decided that they wouldn’t be able to get the space for a full lounge here, so the Landing concept works for the limited amount of space available at DCA.

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