Originally Posted by
united 1k flyer
United would do this to combat the pressure in the PS market. American offer flagship lounges, JetBlue offers a far superior product, delta offers superior skyclubs. Offering Polaris lounges will give them a step up. Secondly the GS access on international flights will be very limited because not that many GS fly internationally in coach. This benefit will be nice but will not change the way a GS buys tickets. However it will also allow a very valuable customer to access Polaris lounges when their not experiencing Polaris. It keeps the customer very happy. Just like when a OWE access qantas or CX first on a cheap economy ticket.
AA's flagship lounges is a step down from PL. Flagship first dining is where it's at, but only limited pax on transcon routes have access to FFD.
Skyclubs are better than UCs overall (wouldn't characterize as superior), but SCs have the same issues as UCs - everyone has access to it, noisy, zoo-like atmosphere. I was in the LAX SC last week, and left after a few minutes, the terminal was also a zoo, so went outside the terminal (landside).
B6's MINT suite gets old rather quickly.
Again, the issue is volume. United has more premium seat capacity than others. Offering lounge access to transcon customers would only dilute the PL. Bad idea.