Originally Posted by
Steve M
It's clear to me that part of the crowding issue is a result of UA figuring out that there's incremental revenue to be had with no extra expenses (well, hardly any - the F&B costs something) by selling day passes as an add-on to flights. I wonder if they are smart enough to know at what times each lounge is already at capacity, and not offer the day passes to passengers departing on flights where their visit would likely coincide with the busy times? That would allow them to still get much of the incremental revenue without completely filling up the lounges.
They absolutely know or should know. Was talking to the staffer at a club last week and they told me that particular club was pretty much dead 4 days a week and completely packed on the other 3. United could definitely pick up extra revenue by discounting day passes or something for those dead days or even contracting it out to Priority Pass or something (not that I want them to do that as I enjoyed the empty club).