Originally Posted by
jsmith50
Have not visited the PP lounge...yet. My friend at DL tells me that they are completely and utterly unconcerned with having that lounge there. It doesn't alter their strategy one bit. They don't even really see it as competition because the SC has such a monopoly on DL flyers. That noted, as someone else mentioned, the only way that DL will take notice is if they see an alternative as being a legitimate threat which would likely require membership to drop significantly and quickly.
I see two ways that the new lounge could hurt DL:
There could be fewer sales at the Luxury Bar in the SC as people who have privileges at both lounges realize that they can get decent free alcohol in The Club.
To the extent that it encourages other carriers to continue service at ATL, especially on lucrative routes, it helps to maintain competition to DL at ATL, with the resulting lowering of fares, number of tickets sold at various price points, and profits. Moreover, carriers such as LH are unlikely to encourage their passengers to book domestic connecting flights on DL rather than their own partners.