Soaring oil prices have taken another victim — a handful of Crown Room Clubs, mostly in Delta Air Lines' secondary markets.

The Atlanta-based carrier will close nine of the posh airport waiting rooms worldwide. By early summer, Delta plans to convert BusinessElite lounges at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and New York's JFK to Crown Room Clubs.

Rick Maiman/Special (ENLARGE)

Crown Club rooms require special access and provide free drinks and food while passengers wait.

DOORS STILL OPEN Here are the 38 Delta Crown Room Clubs that will remain in the network. • Atlanta – 8 clubs • Nashville • Boston • Cincinnati – 2 clubs • Washington-Reagan National • Dallas/Fort Worth • Newark • Fort Lauderdale • Frankfurt, Germany • Sao Paulo, Brazil • Jacksonville • New York-JFK – 4 clubs • New York-LaGuardia • Los Angeles • Orlando • Miami • New Orleans • Munich, Germany • Chicago-O'Hare • West Palm Beach • Philadelphia • Raleigh-Durham • Salt Lake City • San Diego • Santiago, Chile • San Francisco • Tampa DELTA NEWS Latest Headlines: Register online, get double Delta SkyMiles  Airlines slip again in J.D. Power survey  Delta's debt rating sinks  Delta to close Northwest HQ building  Delta flight from Atlanta makes emergency landing  • More Delta news • Business news • Business photo galleries

The changeover will leave Delta with 38 Crown Room Clubs worldwide, and its passengers still will have access to about 100 rooms through its partnerships with other carriers, including Air France, Aero Mexico, Northwest and Continental.

"Crown Room Clubs are an important part of our brand promise," Delta spokesman Kent Landers said. "These changes align the worldwide offering of clubs to our flight schedule while at the same time maintaining access to the clubs where customers need them the most."

Landers said the decision to close some of the Crown Rooms was made earlier this year and was based on fuel prices, which have doubled in a year.

He was unsure how much money the closings will save. He said the closings are part of an overall effort to cut costs.

The rooms will be shuttered in Boston, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Mo., Seattle, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Phoenix, Denver, Honolulu and London (Gatwick). Phoenix and Kansas City are the only markets where Delta's Crown Room members will not have reciprocal access to other club rooms, Landers said.

Crown Rooms are made available to Delta passengers who pay a fee of $300 to $400 annually or who rack up huge numbers of miles, generally through extensive business travel. The rooms require special access and provide free drinks and food while passengers wait.

The private waiting areas are especially popular at major hub airports where passengers often have lengthy layovers. At Hartsfield-Jackson, about three-fourths of the 86 million passengers a year are so-called transfer passengers, which means they are just changing planes.

Landers said Atlanta will have eight Crown Room Clubs after the transition, and New York's JFK will have four.

"From a global perspective, they have been and will remain an important part of our brand," he said.