Originally Posted by
Super Mario
I appreciate the concern for reducing crowding. 2 free guests is excessive. Entire families kill the experience. Tons of friends and colleagues do too, to a lesser extent. This is too much though.
Now I couldn't even bring in my SO unless I pay $50 each time? At that point, I'm almost better off getting a table at a restaurant and ordering a meal of my choosing, or considering options externally of the airport. A huge devaluation on top of the rumored AF increase. No amount of free socks at Saks helps that. While it is their choice to make, I wonder why it couldn't have been an approach to cut guests to 1 first and see what the impact is. I suppose if they can still come in under an AU card, that's a bit more reasonable. The price and restrictions are starting to outweigh the benefits for more and more people though. I guess that is the goal.
I guess it's getting clearer who their target audience is.
Yep - I travel almost exclusively with my fiancee and the calculus now becomes whether or not that $50 is better spent at another restaurant or at the lounge. Generally speaking $50 will go further at the lounge then at an airport restaurant and you also have the upshot of the lounges amenities (better seating, privacy, and in some lounges the whacky fringe stuff like equinox or showers). This then creates the other conundrum of whether I just add her as an AU for $175. In normal circumstances we only tend to fly 2 to 3 times a year so the math doesn't quite work in that favor but that opens the door for me tossing two other family members on as AUs (you get up to 3 AUs for the $175 fee) simply out of spite - hah