Originally Posted by
jsloan
It honestly probably never occurred to the people who designed the clubs that anyone would ever use them when they weren’t flying their airline. If it had, they’d have made this rule from the beginning.
(snip)
The United Club isn’t likely to be a profitable enterprise on its own, especially when they offer lifetime membership. It’s a loss leader, designed to get you to purchase more UA flights.
They most definitely knew that you would use their clubs when flying other airlines. It's just that you would be less likely to visit where the lounge was far from your gate.
The convenience of the club made you more likely to buy a United ticket, all else being equal, but they had no thoughts of turning you away if you didn't have the right boarding pass. For over a decade pre-merger Continental even had a club outside security at SFO, accessible at any time to members, flying or not.
In my opinion anyone who prepaid for membership extending past November 1 deserves a partial refund or an extension of the old policy through their prepaid expiration date.
However our legal system often allows the big company to stiff the little guy. Watch the excellent movie "The Founder" to see how that works. It's a Kroc.