This is another example of the penny wise/pound foolish problem with some airlines' cost-benefit calculations. It's like the full cans of coke on Ted. How much aggravation has that policy caused? (And how many FT threads, and RAR! comments?) And for what? To save a few bucks per flight on catering costs? In the drink chits case, someone's attempt to cut costs (whether the RCC manager or the individual lounge dragons) saves a buck or two per *G member, but at the cost of losing a lot of goodwill.

Lounge access + drink chits is supposed to be a benefit of 1P -- a reward for loyalty. I'm supposed to feel warm fuzzies for UA when I walk into the RCC, have a beer, and wait for my transoceanic flight. Instead, I'm annoyed by either not getting the drink chits or having an unpleasant interaction with the lounge dragon. You can't quantify that annoyance in the same way as you can estimate the cost of the drinks not drunk by *G pax, but that doesn't mean it doesn't cost UA something in the long run.

The ICC is a much more serious example of this phenomenon, but enough ranting for now.