Originally Posted by
cerealmarketer
The Intl F lounges are really Global Services lounges (and in the last couple of years, 1K lounges) filled with J passengers.
What UA is doing is expanding the idea of a Global Services lounge to international J passengers of all status levels.
Please advise total square footage count for lounge space before and after Polaris at ORD/EWR/SFO/IAH. And please advise what food / beverage has been cut from UA clubs since Polaris was announced.
You don't have it, and your arguments are baseless fear mongering without it.
The only place UA is behind on the domestic lounge front is renovations, which are underway. And take your side on guest policy.
The soft product has meaningfully improved in the last 2 years and I can't tell the difference. Actually I can - I prefer the UA wine prices. We all know Delta led the charge on overcharging for garbage drinks, since it has a lounge full of fliers (Diamonds) who paid nothing for access.
Wow. First, the Intl F lounge was not for GS, since I was GS, I happen to know.
In 2013 - in response to lots of GS's giving up on UA, they extended IFL access to GS when traveling on a J ticket. That was long overdo.
But that is far, far, far different than having all paid J passangers use a different lounge than the "unwashed" *G, UA elites, and domestic fliers.
Second, saying "please advise what food/beverage has been cut" is - as you know - well beside the point. There are no "polaris lounges" yet.
My point,
and I think it is a very major one that few are thinking about, is that once all Paid International J traffic is put into Polaris, that we all know the cost cutting that UA's management will think about as it relates to the United Clubs and service in general. Are you seriously suggesting that will not happen?
And if you want an example of this, writ large, when the current management took over in 2011 they focused what little attention they had for customer service on GS
and service for 1Ks suffered. Polaris is doing the same thing, but drawing the lines a little differently (those with paid J get better service, everyone else gets what is left). I don't think that this approach helped UA with the very valuable traffic they POed (1Ks who contributed a lot to UA, but not $45K+ at high cpm) and I think Polaris sets up the same type of hard service lines that have not worked well for UA as it relates to those below the line.
No UA airline has ever done what UA is doing, and I can't think of any international carrier that has done it (separate the paid J from everyone else) and I think we all know that it will result in a devaluation of the UCs over time.