Originally Posted by seanthepilot
Many countries have annual Lounge Memberships... Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges, United Airlines Red Carpet Club, etc. I'd love to see a TG offer Royal Orchid Annual Membership too.
I think this is the exception rather than being normal. Do bear in mind that on UA, their own domestic C/F class pax and their own top tier FF members don't get access to the RCC's, so they really have to sell the memberships to populate the place!
As for why AC offer it, I can only imagine it's a legacy issue. I think you can run lounges as profit centres so long as this is clear from the start. If not then they're built too small, they let in too many people and the C & F pax may end up using another carrier.