bdemaria

I plan on letting my AC membership lapse as a result of this closure.

dabears1020

Do Admirals Club members have access to the AS Board Room? I know BR members have access to some ACs, but not sure about the opposite. If so, the good news is it seems quite likely that AS will be opening a BR at SJC sometime soon.

Majuki

I doubt this. AS/QX have a far more cozy relationship with DL than AA. I prefer things the way they are now, and I'd imagine a lot of AS elites would agree. You get EQMs on AA (or MQMs on DL), and a lot of flights have multiple codeshares. For instance, my dad, a DL flyer, and I flying on AS this fall. He's flying under DL flight number whereas I am flying under the AA flight number, both on the same AS operated flight. Finally, as stated in the AS forums, checked luggage reciprocity should become a reality by Q4 between AS/AA. Now let's look into those upgrades...

The only other lounge access a paid AC membership gets you is the QF lounges or Regus. For reference, a RCC membership gets you into the *A lounges, and a Sky Club membership gets you into the SkyTeam lounges and the Board Rooms. Like others, I will not be paying to renew my Admirals Club membership when it comes due. I'll just enter on the AmEx. If a paid AC membership were to get us into the OW partner lounges plus the Board Rooms, I might consider keeping the membership.

dabears1020

AS members do not get EQMs on AA unfortunately, only RDMs. I think you're right in that most AS elites would be none too pleased to be bought out by AA or any other airline. Though speaking for myself, I'd much rather AS be closer to AA rather than DL. We're getting upgrades on DL soon, but I'd really prefer this be AA. At least priority seating selection would be nice.

seacarl

Alaska has not said that they will open a BR at SJC. They were asked at a recent MVP Gold event and said that they do not have those plans, and would only do it if they closed their SFO BR. I wouldn't count on that switch.

AS doesn't have much more service at SJC than AA did.

dabears1020

As of now AS does not, but it's obvious that they are making SJC into somewhat of a hub. I would guess in about a year there will be plans for a BR at SJC. I believe what was said at the Gold event was they wont open a BR at SJC unless they close SFO, and honestly I can't see SFO staying open much longer.

SFO777

Maybe true at the moment, but each views SJC entirely differently. AS has recently added and continues to add numerous PTP non-stops.

All American Flyer

From reading the thread, it seems that a few folks are not going to renew their memberships as a result of this closure. Others are shifting their traffic more to AS/WN. Others are leaving AA entirely for UAL at SFO (or other carriers). Obviously, the FT forum has only a fraction of the SJC elites and AA FTers tend to be more loyal on average than average elites as they are more concerned with the specific benefits (high UG %/SWUs, etc) and are willing to inconvenience themselves more to stick with American. Thus, it is fair to assume that many other elites in the SJC area will either abandon their club membership (loss of $350-500/year per person) or abandon AA entirely (loss of thousands of dollars/year per person) as a direct result of this closure.

Thus, the question is this: Does the cost of running the club outweigh the loss of many AC members and loyal flyers?

I know a number of people will say "Well, AA clearly made the decision that the cost of running the club does outweigh the loss of loyal flyers/club members so what's the point of this?"

Well the point is to better understand the factors surrounding the closure.
I personally have no idea of all of the costs involved in running an Airport Lounge but I would be interested if anyone could give me a general idea of how much AA spends annually (or monthly) to maintain the SJC club. I'd be interested in comparing that number with the anticipated loss in revenue from loss of loyal flyers/AC members. Any thoughts?

ashill

They don't? My wife does, and Alaska's web site says they do.

dabears1020

Ack, you're right, they do! No idea why I thought they didn't for a moment. I guess I was thinking about the lack of other benefits that we do get on DL.

riteshraja

For those of you who are based out of SJC - isnt an AC at your destination or connection point more valuable then at the home airport? I find myself using my home AC (SNA) quite a bit and they have saved me quite a few times by rerouting me and/or letting me know of delays but it were to close I would just get to the airport a little later - go straight to the gate and wait it out the 5-10 min before boarding.

An AC at my destination and of course connection point is a lot for important.

Edit: The delayed flight info/rerouting has started to come from the EXP desk as well recently.

scubadu

Fair enough. Of course, this response included 2 or 3 more salient points (i.e. more EQMs, cheaper fare, etc.) that weren't apart of your original comment.

My comment was based on your stated reason, which was, and I quote (again):

I took "just" as meaning the only reason, which was what your comment implied. Had you included the qualifying info I would never have made my comment

Regards

tegelad

I knew it was there ... but it took a special secret handshake

+-ADT

tegelad

I am waiting for a response from the AC contact page, so I will hold back the full comments; however, it appears as other's have stated ... it is all the SJC airport's fault. So I don't blame AA for kicking SJC to the curb, if they are getting highway robbed. I also heard the exact same thing from a 20-year cab vet at the SJC airport, who stated that SJC makes him pony up $1.5 per traveler coming into the airport.

I will blame the local government / SJC airport authority before I fully blame AA on this .... I don't get rental cars when in SJC (cab it) ... however this so pisses me off I may Bart it -or- use the monterey air bus shuttle and just fly into SFO, and tell SJC to stick it ... The slide deck by mvedda [post #24]that was posted earlier in thread basically spells it all out.

As for the staff .... I will definitely be replying back to AA AC mgmt that these folks deserve a job at SFO and proper placement as I care that if they still want a job they get a good one ...

cheers and very sad

+-ADT

tegelad

It is especially valuable at your destination point, when delays happen (which happens alot with ORD ....

Jamie e.g. has called me several mornings and stated ... unless I wanted to start drinking early and for a long time to stay in bed and have pleasant dreams .... which I was *extremely* thankful for ...

+-ADT