Hi FT'ers...

Last week I flew United thru Chicago and Denver on my way to Spokane, WA. Is the RCL more typical of *A lounges than the MLL? It sucked. Let's compare:

• The RCL had very little out for breakfast: donuts, some yogourt, bagels, crappy coffee. The MLL usually (YOW and YYZ anyway) has yogourt, granola, cereals, bread choices and much tastier coffee. (Note: YQR's lounge does exist but it's sort of a shoebox.)
  
• For dinner, there were some snack options, but the MLL usually offers hot soup, salad, bread, cheese and cookies.
  
• Alcohol is free in the MLL and not in the RCL.
  
• The choice of non-alcoholic beverages in the MLL is very extensive. The RCL had water, coffee and some juice. Nothing else.
  
• Internet access was restricted to United *A Gold only, not all *A Gold members. MLL does not have this restriction.
  
• The computers available were old and you were limited for a short time.
  
• The office equipment is limited. The MLL has a fax, photocopier, colour laser printer.
  
• There were no newspapers, magazines or anything to read beyond a few crappy outdated advertising rags.
  
  Overall, a very disappointing experience. I felt spoiled in the MLL after this experience. Why anyone would pay to go into the RCL is beyond me, though admittedly it was still way better than sitting at a gate.

The MLL is very good compared to RCL.^

You summarize wll my thoughts on RCLs. although IMO not any better than being at the gate.

I think the MLLs are representative of * lounges and not the RCC. I cannot think of one bonus feature of an RCC, except, when placed near another * lounge, it can be a very quiet place!

The MLL is head and shoulders above RCC.

The RCC in San Diego is tiny and has a low ceiling and lack of light.

The RCC in Chicago isn't bad, very big, tall ceilings, quiet areas and huge windows that give you the feeling that you are right on the tarmac.

The RCC in Atlanta was ok, probably the best of the worst for food selection, cheese, fresh fruit and crackers.

The Lufthansa Lounge in Atlanta was very nice. Smallish and opened at 1:30 PM. So useless for morning departures. However they had a great selection of cold cuts, cheeses, breads, wines and liquers.

If you are a statistian, you would come up with more scientific comparison methods but nobody understands anyway.

Unless you have been the majority of RCC and MLL, it is not easy, and a lot times at different locations related to routes, the quality of these lounges varies. You can always find Krislounges from SingaporeAir are worse than RCC, but Singapore Air has many excellent lounges.

But overall, I have always felt MLL are better than RCC. I have used 17-18 MLL (except CDG's), and overall I have believed that are better on average (again here is a mathematician's buzzword, "on average") than United's RCC, which I have used something like over a dozen locations.

Most US carriers' lounges are cut to the bones for the services, but as many of the American hub airports have been worse than zoos with the crowd and crapy vendor services, these lounges still offer at least a quiet space to escape the noise and bumps.

The RCC at HKG is a pretty good lounge but thats one of the few international ones. Good showers and can be quite quiet at times.

Perhaps your thread title should have been "Is the RCC typical" if you are going to give it the thumbs down. I fully expected you to be dissing the MLL when I saw your title!

The 4 or 5 RCC's that I have been in have been very minimal and provide nothing more than peace and quiet away from the gate area. MLL's are much better, no questions asked. The RCC in HKG is actually decent, and I would say is on par with many MLL's.

I have also been more impressed with the MLL more than any of the RCC I have been in NA. It seems to me more has been invested on food for MLL than what has been done with the RCC.

Haven't been in the HKG RCC the last couple of years because as a CX Diamond member I can still at least use the business class lounge of the Wing/Pier whenever I fly on *A carriers. And this section of CX lounges still beats any other lounge at HKG.

In a variety of other threads, it has been mentioned that the LAX MLL is possibly the lowest quality of any MLL lounges. Most people, for afternoon to evening flights, if eligible, try to go the next door Air New Zealand lounge.


Among the things I do not like about the LAX MLL - it is small, dark, dingy - its food selection is limited compared to the average MLL (and I am surprised that the last few times I was there - no Canadian newspapers!); the washrooms (restrooms) are not located physically in the lounge. However, it still has PCs and complimentary alcohol.

Compared to the other Red Carpet Clubs, both of the clubs at DEN are sub-par.

The snack selection is very very poor.

The best domestic RCC's are at SFO and ORD in terms of snacks.

See this thread.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=844326

Once, the RCC in the F concourse at ORD had fresh strawberries!