If a court asked any UA executive from the 1990's whether they imagined denying lifetime members access to a United Club during operating hours, that executive would say no. Would that be evidence?
Of course not - UA Executive from 1990's - did you imagine UA buying Continental? Did you imagine UA going bankrupt in 2002. Did you imagine the Red Carpet Club would be called the United Club. Did you imagine UA would stop flying 747's?
And the theoretical UA Executive of the 1990's would probably say, At the time - probably not. But we never imagined it would become pervasive for lifetime members to use the club when flying a competitor. As we've seen this past 25 years, there are a lot of changes in the aviation industry that I or anyone could have imagined.
The more direct question would be: Did the contract between lifetime members and United ever contain a clause they could use the club at any time regardless of reason? That answer would definitely be no