Originally Posted by
AADFW
*** PLEASE NOTE: This post is specifically in reference to the
AA Flagship Lounges at ORD, DFW, LAX, MIA and soon PHL. It does
not pertain to the Admirals Club. ***
A purely hypothetical question just for the fun of it. If AA offered an annual membership to the Flagship Lounge, how much would you be willing to pay (if anything)? I am aware that anyone can purchase one-time-use access for $150 or 15,000 miles currently, but what if you could buy unlimited access for the whole year?
For the purposes of this thought experiment, let's assume membership would only be offered to elites Platinum and above for the purpose of access on domestic AA itineraries.
While we're at it, what if AA awarded such access at a certain (very high) threshold of loyalty point earnings?
Hmmm, assuming the cost was an add-on to an AC membership, I'd maybe pay up to another $500/50k miles?
The biggest issue for the FLs in this hypothetical is their very limited footprint. Even though DFW-ORD is my most common route, with FLs on both ends, the FL in DFW isn't very convenient for domestic flights (rightfully so, given its purpose), so I'd have to transfer terminals every time I wanted to use the lounge. That's not a horrible trek, but it definitely degrades the value proposition. The ORD FL on the other hand is in an amazing location (right beneath the H/K AC I use every time anyways), so it'd get solid use for sure.
This is also one of the big things that led me to get an AC membership rather than say an AMEX membership; even if there's a lounge in the airports I fly to/from, doesn't mean that lounge is close (or even accessible) from the gates I'll be using.