An Admirals Club proposal - (guest military in uniform)

davidgrahammd · Nov 10, 12, 4:27 pm

Returning from DBV I met up with antichef, a user mainly present on the BA section, and we guested 2 British Military Police investigators flying to Nairobi to help defend British soldiers on charges there.

That experience got me thinking so I tried to do a little investigating of my own. AA policies grant Admirals Club entry to US military returning home in certain circumstances from Iraq and if there is no USO at that location. Despite that I always see military people wandering the concourses.

My proposal is this... when I travel alone I have started, and I would request that others consider (if they are alone and not planning on guesting anybody in), approaching military members in uniform and offering to guest them into the Admirals Club.

This costs us exactly nothing yet gives these young people a clear sign of our respect for the service they give.

Somehow, I kind of expect pushback on this whether it be some existing policy I have missed in my research or whatever. If I missed something, I am sorry but the sentiment remains. Nothing wrong with our doing something easy for them.

HNL · Nov 10, 12, 4:29 pm

Military in uniform traveling on orders have access to all ACs

davidgrahammd · Nov 10, 12, 4:35 pm

Quoting from the Admirals club page...definition of "military" is

"Soldiers on Emergency or R&R leave who are traveling on military charters from Operation New Dawn (OND) or Operation Enduring Freedom (EOF), soldiers wearing their appropriate travel uniform or soldiers having leave forms (DD 31) stating they are on leave from OND or OEF"

I'm not sure that includes all traveling military. Even if it does, does it hurt to offer them entry if they aren't aware of the possibility?

As I said, I expected to have missed some part of policies...

Shareholder · Nov 10, 12, 4:35 pm

Not sure if they're aware if they have access. When flying UA and I see a military person of age flying, I give them an inflight drink chit (1Ks get 10 a year compared to AA's unlimited coach drinks and BoB for ExecPlats). However having learned they can't drink alcohol while in uniform the FAs would let them take a food item from the BoB instead. But I'll keep this in mind next time I spot someone in uniform prowling the terminal!

RogerD408 · Nov 10, 12, 4:38 pm

Nice gesture. The downside is matching schedules. Technically once you leave the AC, so should your guest. And you do accept a level of responsibility while they are there. Now is any of this enforceable? Probably not, but the risk is there.

If you see someone in uniform on the concourse that looks settled in for a long stay, you might stop and let them know where the AC is located and if they are on orders are welcome to make use of it. If they are not on orders, then you can offer to guest them in.

nachosdelux · Nov 10, 12, 5:08 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by HNL

Military in uniform traveling on orders have access to all ACs

I do not believe this is correct. I think it is only those on R & R from Afghanistan.

As a military member (and AC member), I commend the OP for their suggestion.

Herb687 · Nov 10, 12, 5:33 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogerD408

Technically once you leave the AC, so should your guest.

Really? Is this actually spelled out anywhere? I've certainly guested people in to the AC and then left before they did. In one case I even confirmed with the AC agent that my guest (GF) could get back in the Club without me after seeing me off at my earlier flight's departure gate. This was cheerfully encouraged by the AC agent.

Quote:

And you do accept a level of responsibility while they are there. Now is any of this enforceable? Probably not, but the risk is there.

Risk of what exactly?

cynicAAl · Nov 10, 12, 5:41 pm

I think the ACs are already crowded enough, so I won't be guesting in any strangers, but you guys can do it if it makes you feel more patriotic.

Science Goy · Nov 10, 12, 5:51 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herb687

Really? Is this actually spelled out anywhere? I've certainly guested people in to the AC and then left before they did.

Yes, the Admirals Club website (and membership T&C) says explicitly that guests must be accompanied by the member.

Herb687 · Nov 10, 12, 5:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by cynicAAl

I think the ACs are already crowded enough, so I won't be guesting in any strangers, but you guys can do it if it makes you feel more patriotic.

While the ACs can get pretty crowded (still generally way better than DL SCs though) I don't see anything wrong with using the guest privilege to guest in people of your choosing.

Personally I would get rid of the AC rule that allows people to bring in two guests OR your entire immediate family. Guests should be capped at 2, period. An individual member should not be allowed to bring in their spouse plus 3 or 4 kids.

Herb687 · Nov 10, 12, 5:55 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Science Goy

Yes, the Admirals Club website (and membership T&C) says explicitly that guests must be accompanied by the member.

At ALL times?

And accompanied how closely? Since my guests are usually my GF or other attractive women I'm thinking this accompanied by the member clause may require creative use of the showers!

HNL · Nov 10, 12, 6:02 pm

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A403 Safari/8536.25)

Queue the next proposal to encourage people to offer up their seats in First/Biz to uniformed military.

brp · Nov 10, 12, 6:20 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by cynicAAl

I think the ACs are already crowded enough, so I won't be guesting in any strangers, but you guys can do it if it makes you feel more patriotic.

Agreed. When they have AC membership, they get in the AC. Just like law enforcement and firefighters - other folks with high risk chosen professions. Thanks, but I'll bring in my wife, or no one if I'm traveling alone. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HNL

Queue the next proposal to encourage people to offer up their seats in First/Biz to uniformed military.

As if

Cheers.

Pedro M · Nov 10, 12, 6:29 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herb687

An individual member should not be allowed to bring in their spouse plus 3 or 4 kids.

Why not? Because you don't have kids? Kids can't be members, so how else would members with kids enjoy the AC when traveling with their immediate family?

gemac · Nov 10, 12, 6:48 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidgrahammd

Quoting from the Admirals club page...definition of "military" is

"Soldiers on Emergency or R&R leave who are traveling on military charters from Operation New Dawn (OND) or Operation Enduring Freedom (EOF), soldiers wearing their appropriate travel uniform or soldiers having leave forms (DD 31) stating they are on leave from OND or OEF"

I'm not sure that includes all traveling military. Even if it does, does it hurt to offer them entry if they aren't aware of the possibility?

As I said, I expected to have missed some part of policies...

I bolded the word "or" because it is the key word to make sense of the policy. There are three conditions spelled out. If they had said "and" instead of "or", then all three would have been necessary for admission. Because they said "or", then any of the three conditions will suffice for admission. One of those three conditions is "soldiers wearing their appropriate travel uniform", as HNL said. If you see them wearing their uniform, you can guest them in, but they don't need that, they can go in anyway. If they aren't wearing their uniform, they would need to be guested in, but how would you pick them out?