THIS - " I'm sure Elites in the EWR market pay just like I do. I would assert that many of said Elites likely get reimbursed for their memberships by their employers."
For many of us - Elites or not - we ARE our employers. Those of us who work for ourselves don't get the benefit of "employer" reimbursements. It's an expense like any other and - like any other - a cost/value analysis has to be done. If I'm paying for access to a club so I can take care of business, relax and unwind in a quiet space, that's what I expect to get. To be told to "go somewhere else because we're too crowded here's-a-voucher" or to have to do multiple circuits around the club and then share a table with someone does not provide the value relative to the cost. For those of us who are "solopreneurs" the club is not a simple "perk" that's free for us during downtime. It forms part of a business strategy that enables us to work more efficiently. The value of this is such that not getting what we're paying for is sufficient for us to find another airline/program to shift our loyalty to.