Originally Posted by
Boraxo
And there's the rub. If you visit an LH business lounge at FRA or MUC (the equivalent of IAH, SFO, etc.) or a QF lounge in Australia, you would find enough food for a meal. Because the whole point of the lounge (for me anyway) is to grab something in between connecting flights without worrying about somebody snatching my parked luggage when I get a drink refill. UA/AA/DL lounges are all equally worthless in this regard, though at least AA offers a few meal choices for $$.
How about this? Instead of measuring itself against mediocre domestic lounges, UA should up its game and try to match the international competition? @:-)
I happen to love visiting the Senator's lounges, but that's a totally different model. You can get access to UA lounges for <$500/yr. LH, and I assume most of the others, are almost exclusively international travelers, *G, or on a premium ticket.
UA's lounges are full of domestic travelers, many of whom haven't paid for a premium ticket. My typical year includes about 50 visits to UA clubs as I'm taking 2 hour flights ORD-IAH or wherever for work. I get my money's worth. I would bankrupt the clubs if they had the spread and beer taps like the LH lounges.
The reality is they're not competing with the international carriers, they're competing with AA and DL, and the recent food changes have made them much more competitive in the regard. And there are rumors of paid food (AA-like) in the future.
Perhaps there's another product they should offer just for premium international travelers at EWR, ORD, IAH, SFO, which is more like you suggest. Or they could raise the membership fees. But comparing a domestic UA lounge to many of the non-US airlines is apples and oranges.