canadiancow

One thing I'd like to point out...

I was recently traveling with 6 others (so 7 of us).

6 of us had PP memberships.

However, to expedite entry into the lounge, I guested everyone with my CSR membership.

So don't assume that a gaggle of guests means there's any "abuse". We each could have handed over our own card, but it would have taken 5x longer.

mia

I do not see anything on the United Club website indicating that a membership alone should admit us to LH lounges:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...s/default.aspx

Artpen100

No, but it is true. The *A website makes it more clear (e.g., check flying UA with a UA club membership in economy):Lounge Information - Star Alliance - Star AllianceYou get access to LH business lounges, not Senator, unless *A Gold. Another great source to find out what you have access to is the loungebuddy app. Absolutely invaluable for any airport you've never been to before. Coordinates all these complicated rules of the club memberships, credit cards, airline, fare class, status and so on to tell you what you have access to, why, what they have, and where you can find the darn thing. No, I don't work for them.

garykung

Rather than a UA thing, it actually falls under *A lounge access policy.

FWIW - paid membership access are similar to *G with some variations.

rayonline

You talk about PP holders being denied access or even told to leave earlier. What about if a Star Alliance gold who goes into a lounge which is not the same airline as their star gold card?

So who gets priority? The lounge airline company needs to match both the customer's lounge access card as well as their airline they are travelling with? Ie - Singapore Airline lounge with a Singapore Airline Krisflyer card and they are travelling on Singapore Airline aircraft? What about business class passengers who have no status?

garykung

While it depends on the airlines, usually native passengers (matching airlines) will be has a higher priority over foreign passengers (non-matching airlines).

However, it is extremely unlikely that the lounge can't fit all native F/J pax and native *G.

GateGuardian

I ate at Corona on December 31 and saw someone doing that without any issue. My bill was less than $30, so didn't have to pay any extra for the gratuity. The waitress just said everything was covered. I'm guessing it was way under $30.

ariel_sjo

Ten years ago PP was a very exclusive program, but it became common for banks to include a membership to their credit cards. At least here in Latin America, almost every platinum or higher credit card includes the PP. The banks in order to be competitive, are granting credit cards to high risk profiles, and those with premium credit cards are the ones that travel the most, so this is like a bubble, and we are reaching the limit.

Lounges right now are applying a strict control on the entrance of PP members, but I see in a near future a MAJOR exit of lounges from the PP program.

Boraxo

There is extensive discussion of the same topic in the Chase forum. As one who has traveled and used PP on 6 continents I must emphatically disagree with the theory that lounges are going downhill. (Caveat: I don't do amexsux.com so I can't opine on Amex lounges). But my view is that each individual lounge rises or falls on its own merits independent of PP, and that they are largely consistent over time.

For example: Earlier this month I visited a great lounge and a really mediocre one in the same country. Aspire? @LHR T5 is consistently one of the worst, and the reviews in BA forum reflect that. On my return I was lucky to visit the Lounge at Aberdeen Airport which has perhaps the best collection of scotch I have ever seen in a lounge (and would put many US bars to shame!) All of the lounges at LOS are mediocre and have been for years, though they are all 5x better than waiting in the terminal itself. In Mexico the SJD lounge is one of the best I've visited but the CUN and MEX lounges are nothing special. In the USA you have AF lounge @IAH which is not good and the AF lounge @sfo which is excellent. IMO the independent OAK and ATL lounges are pretty decent; the DFW lounge is okay but too small. @IAD the BA lounge was unimpressive - thankfully I had *G access to the LH lounge.

So in sum there are good lounges and bad lounges, and I haven't seen any reduction over the past year or few years - if anything they keep adding lounges which is a good thing. I just wish there were more in the USA and I think that is something that is in the works. I love my PP membership - I probably visit 20+ lounges a year, some with multiple family members and some in airports where you really don't want to spend any time in the terminal!

In the past 8 years of use I've never been turned away from PP lounge and I predict the opposite, with perhaps the exception of the AS lounges which seem to be at capacity with the addition of VX travelers.

ariel_sjo

I've been turned away twice in nine years of having PP membership. And every year it's more common to see changes on the policies of lounges where they restrict the access during peak hours, or have limited schedule, so if your're connecting/departing during late night or early morning, you can't go to the lounge because it's closed. At the same time there's also a switch of airline branded lounges (which usually have the best locations and amenities) to airport managed or third party operated lounges.
The program still works well, but it's not as good at it used to be. And the problem is not on the PP side, I think that PP members are growing at a faster pace than lounges.

Boraxo

How far back do you want to go? My recollection is that maybe 10-15 years ago the program included UA, US and CO lounges at non-hub airports. For example you would get the UA lounge at Boston, Dallas and Vegas, but not SFO, ORD, IAD. Similarly you would not get US at PHX or PHL. Alas the legacy carriers have gotten a lot smarter and realized that they are better off selling memberships direct to the customer or through credit card products (e.g. UA for Chase, DL for Amex, AA for Citi) rather than filling the lounge with one-off customers via PP. The result is that the PP program has become less useful for US domestic travelers, though perhaps more useful for those who travel internationally, particularly to some of the third world countries where a lounge experience is even more valuable. But UA, CO, US lounges were jettisoned a few years ago, not something that happened overnight in the last couple of years.
So PP is not "rapidly deteriorating" - it is evolving and expanding. The evolution may be less useful for some travelers than for others. If you fly mostly within the USA then there are other solutions that may work better. PP is still a nice add-on benefit for credit card holders though maybe not something that many of us would buy unbundled.

campy

Two visits to The Club at ATL this month and both times I was advised that they only allow 3 drinks per hour and are not allowed to pour doubles any longer. When I pointed out that I'd been in the lounge for nearly two hours and could I have a 4th drink I was told that the hours counted from the time of your first drink and that I couldn't have another... though they couldn't tell me when I'd gotten my first drink.

Not trying to be belligerent or rude but I pay for my visits with my own money and I don't have a card that gives me free access for having nice credit. I'm not looking to get soused but having to justify my request for a drink at the bar every visit got old fast.

Telecasterman

Use my PP a lot (mainly Europe) and mostly no issues, sure lounges vary in quality. Earlier this month went to use the Escape lounge at MAN T1 around 7;15am and they had a sign up at the door "pre booked only" and certain airline biz passengers. They would only admit those with pre paid vouchers which Manchester (Airport Group) seems to up sell at every opportunity (see - Airport Lounges Manchester Airport)

So went to the Aspire in the same terminal and again they had a similar sign - so first time ever no lounge access.

sjwoo

Initial denial; had to wait about fifteen minutes until we were allowed in.

kennycrudup

... airport?