My husband and I are considering joining either the CRC, PC, or WC. I had thought that since he was a NW silver, the pricing would definitely be the best on NW. I was shocked to find out that this is not necessarily the case.

CO and DL's pricing for spouses to join at the non-elite level are both lower than NW's price for spouses to join at the elite level.

NW: Silver Elite -- $ 350 + $230 for spouse = $580.
DL: Base -- $400 or 70,000 miles individual/$550 or 90,000 miles with spouse (+ $50/10,000 mile initiation fee --> total in Year 1 = $600, but cheaper thereafter)
CO: Base -- $ 375/$560 with spouse (+ $50 initiation fee --> $610 in year 1 but cheaper thereafter).

So it seems to me that based on these comparisons if we decided to make me a member (which we haven't yet decided since my husband definitely flies more than I do but lately I've been doing a lot of personal travel on my own), then clearly DL is a better deal for us than getting a membership with the airline on which we have status. I know they don't do it frequently, but I might even consider a status match to get the even more preferential price at the Silver level to DL and avoid the $50 initiation fee as well

Since use of all of these lounges is essentially interchangeable at this point, what's the benefit of joining WC when all it will do is cost more??