Former NW membership T&C's from archive.org --
"Use of all WorldClubs facilities is subject to the rules and conditions set by Northwest Airlines, which are subject to change at any time. Northwest Airlines reserves the right to restrict, alter or modify the fees, benefits, services, hours of operation, policies and locations at any time with or without written notice to its members."
There were no separate set of T&C's for lifetime memberships. Note that NW used to let members who were not flying at all to access the clubs (I recall people using the pre-security DCA and SFO clubs without flying). Shouldn't these folks be arguing for those rules??
Those are NOT the T&C's in effect when I bought my lifetime membership. The lounges were called Top Flight Club and the corporation name was Northwest Orient Airlines