Originally Posted by
scubadu
The only way crowding goes down is if card members have to pay a substantial annual fee, and I mean an actual annual fee, not an "effective" annual fee reduced by countless credits that offset the fee.
Originally Posted by
cmd320
The Centurion Lounge is basically a lounge for AA and UA customers being that Amex lost lounge access with AA and CO.
Originally Posted by
QtownDave
What kind of increase would it need to be to have any effect on this situation?
American Express is removing the $200 Airline Fee reimbursement credit from Centurion cards. If they were to do the same with Platinum, it would raise the net cost by $200/year without the need for an increase in the published annual fee. This would provoke some cancellations, but I don't think it would be enough to bring lounge demand into balance with capacity. (I expect that if American Express were intending to do this for 2020 we would already know.)
I think they would need to raise the fee to the point where the cost of an AA, DL or UA membership PLUS (say) a Sapphire Reserve or Citi Prestige annual fee would be less expensive. I think this implies a
nominal annual fee in the range of $995, and this seems improbable because American Express is primarily a card issuer, not a lounge operator..