Originally Posted by
rdunlap1125
That's reasonable; generally, if I get to the airport early, I *want* to catch an early flight. The only time I can ever remember wanting a longer stay was a trip many years ago where the scheduled shuttle from a business conference in Vail dropped me off at the Denver airport around 8 PM before a 12:30 AM redeye; there was, of course, no earlier flight. It seems that, in general, some kind of carveout in the policy for redeye flights is a recurring theme.
I'm remembering one business trip many years ago (pre-9/11) where we actually flew in for a client meeting at a booked conference room in an airport club (Admiral's Club, I think); we never left the airport and were able to stay in the club after our meeting until we flew home. It occurs to me that I've never *noticed* a Sky Club with this particular amenity (small business centers, sure, but no full fledged conference rooms) -- I find myself curious if they exist (quite possibly a relic of the past) and, if so, how this new policy interacts with them.
At one time, DL had conference rooms at some of the larger clubs (back when DL recognized the value of the business traveler). IIRC, they originally were first come/first served. The desk agent would grant you access.
Later, DL tried to monetize the conference rooms. They linked up with some reservation service that made it exceedingly difficult to actually make a reservation. As a result, the conference rooms were more commonly empty, but there was no way to access them once you reached the club.
Then, as the goal of turning the clubs into mass transit centers became more appealing to DL management, the conference rooms were removed to free up more floor space.
Similarly, there also used to be semi-private work cubicles, which ultimately met the same fate.