Originally Posted by Nolala

Which is much longer than pre-pandemic, which his the bigger issue. Cutting so many planes out of the system during covid led to a reduction in banks of flights, which led to longer layovers in hubs for connecting passengers, which led to greater utilization of SkyClubs--at a capacity for which they were not designed.

The long term solution isn't bigger clubs or restrictions on access but an increased fleet with additional bank(s) in an out of hubs, leading to shorter layovers and less utilization of SkyClubs. Club Capacity issues are short term issues, and seriously changing the appeal of a high-cost card such as the Reserve (which must be very profitable to AmEX and Delta since it provides so little in benefits besides bonuses on DL purchases and a companion ticket) would not make a lot of sense in terms of the overall trajectory of Delta locking in loyalty and AmEX locking in customers at low reward cost.