Aug 7, 2018, 2:43 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
Lifetime Admirals Club Membership is not currently offered.
NOTE: Admirals Club Lifetime members are exempt from the requirement of flying AA and qualifying partner airlines the same day of access that became active 1 November 2019.
When the Admirals Club, originally established as the Flagship Club at La Guardia Airport in 1939, it was to serve VIPs and “friends of aviation” selected by American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith as “Admirals of the Flagship Fleet”.
In 1967, the Admirals Club network opened to public membership. Fees then:
. . . . Annual Member: $25.00
. . . . Lifetime Member: $250.00
By 1992, Lifetime Membership was $2,500.
In ~1997, a member purchased a senior lifetime Admirals Club membership for $800
In 2005, another member purchased lifetime Admirals Club membership for $5,500
During the 2009 Admirals Club 70th Anniversary celebration, AA held a drawing for a lifetime membership to the Admirals Club. (They also offered a $70 renewal discount for 15 months). Ditto previously in 2007, 2008. Valued at $5,500 by AA.
There are several Lifetime Members among the FlyerTalk Membership. Some of them have multiple Lifetime Memberships in airline lounge schemes. See Any other lifetime Admirals Club members out there - (archived).
TWA offered lifetime membership to their Ambassadors Club, but AA did not acknowledge that Membership, extending a “current and next year. Admirals Club Membership, iirc.
Link to Admirals Club History, Logo, Name thread (FlyerTalk)
NOTE: Admirals Club Lifetime members are exempt from the requirement of flying AA and qualifying partner airlines the same day of access that became active 1 November 2019.
When the Admirals Club, originally established as the Flagship Club at La Guardia Airport in 1939, it was to serve VIPs and “friends of aviation” selected by American Airlines CEO C. R. Smith as “Admirals of the Flagship Fleet”.
In 1967, the Admirals Club network opened to public membership. Fees then:
. . . . Annual Member: $25.00
. . . . Lifetime Member: $250.00
By 1992, Lifetime Membership was $2,500.
In ~1997, a member purchased a senior lifetime Admirals Club membership for $800
In 2005, another member purchased lifetime Admirals Club membership for $5,500
During the 2009 Admirals Club 70th Anniversary celebration, AA held a drawing for a lifetime membership to the Admirals Club. (They also offered a $70 renewal discount for 15 months). Ditto previously in 2007, 2008. Valued at $5,500 by AA.
There are several Lifetime Members among the FlyerTalk Membership. Some of them have multiple Lifetime Memberships in airline lounge schemes. See Any other lifetime Admirals Club members out there - (archived).
TWA offered lifetime membership to their Ambassadors Club, but AA did not acknowledge that Membership, extending a “current and next year. Admirals Club Membership, iirc.
Link to Admirals Club History, Logo, Name thread (FlyerTalk)
What is the Admirals Club?
by Claire Turrell, 18 March 2019, Blacklane — link
...The club was created by the American Airlines president C.R. Smith as a marketing promotion after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. He wanted to make his particularly valued passengers feel like “admirals” of the American Airlines “Flagship Fleet”, which was marketed using a nautical theme. So in 1936, the first Admirals Club members were announced. Those invited to the club were celebrities, politicians, VIPs, and customers who had been particularly loyal to American Airlines.
At that point, there was no Admirals Club lounge, members simply received framed certificates they could place on their office wall. The world’s first airport lounge was created in 1939, when American Airlines turned New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s press conference room at the airport into the first Admirals Club. The club lounge maintained its nautical theme – the receptionists were called “skippers” and the bar staff were called “stewards”.
If you’re a bit of a history buff, you might also be interested to know that the second Admirals Club was in Washington Airport, which didn’t have a liquor licence, so members stored their own bottles there. At one point the club was looking after 9,000 bottles.
Becoming a member of the Admirals Club was by invitation-only until 1967, when American Airlines decided to give everyone the chance to enjoy the VIP experience by paying a yearly membership fee (allegedly because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could adversely affect AA because of the invitation-only policy).
by Claire Turrell, 18 March 2019, Blacklane — link
...The club was created by the American Airlines president C.R. Smith as a marketing promotion after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. He wanted to make his particularly valued passengers feel like “admirals” of the American Airlines “Flagship Fleet”, which was marketed using a nautical theme. So in 1936, the first Admirals Club members were announced. Those invited to the club were celebrities, politicians, VIPs, and customers who had been particularly loyal to American Airlines.
At that point, there was no Admirals Club lounge, members simply received framed certificates they could place on their office wall. The world’s first airport lounge was created in 1939, when American Airlines turned New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s press conference room at the airport into the first Admirals Club. The club lounge maintained its nautical theme – the receptionists were called “skippers” and the bar staff were called “stewards”.
If you’re a bit of a history buff, you might also be interested to know that the second Admirals Club was in Washington Airport, which didn’t have a liquor licence, so members stored their own bottles there. At one point the club was looking after 9,000 bottles.
Becoming a member of the Admirals Club was by invitation-only until 1967, when American Airlines decided to give everyone the chance to enjoy the VIP experience by paying a yearly membership fee (allegedly because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could adversely affect AA because of the invitation-only policy).
Lifetime Admirals Club Membership: lifetime members, discussion
Aug 6, 2018, 5:28 am
#1
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Lifetime Admirals Club Membership: lifetime members, discussion
When I was in college, I flew alot as National frat president. It was prior to the advantage program. Was a VIT. Always first for me and friends with escort to plane. Private club prior to admiral's. Used to freak them out as flew "student standbye" but got auto first with the VIT. Those were the days
Aug 6, 2018, 6:05 am
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YIKES!! Dare I ask when you went to college? Admirals Club was founded prior to World War 2, I think. I joined when I was in college, either in 1971 or 1972. My first visit at an Admirals Club was at IAD. I wasn't flying, just wanted to see what it was like. They loaned me a blazer, which was required at the time.
Aug 6, 2018, 6:22 am
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YIKES!! Dare I ask when you went to college? Admirals Club was founded prior to World War 2, I think. I joined when I was in college, either in 1971 or 1972. My first visit at an Admirals Club was at IAD. I wasn't flying, just wanted to see what it was like. They loaned me a blazer, which was required at the time.
Believe Admirals started as a lawyer sued to get in. I bought a lifetime membership in maybe '72 for $250
Aug 6, 2018, 8:19 am
#4
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Admirals Club began in 1939, Though initially as “Flagship Club”. It opened to the public in 1967, a sequel to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Admirals Club History.
The $250 membership was a serious deal! Congratulations!
Aug 6, 2018, 10:47 am
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Aug 6, 2018, 12:55 pm
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Aug 6, 2018, 7:00 pm
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Yeah but most people's 50-year investment strategy isn't just to keep pace with inflation. If he had put in in any decent index fund, the $250 would be worth tens of thousands. The real question is whether the poster would have come out ahead investing that amount and then buying annual memberships, but that's definitely a calculation I'm not willing to do here. (My guess is the poster came out ahead)
Aug 6, 2018, 10:47 pm
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Aug 7, 2018, 6:09 am
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Plus, if your argument is that small financial decisions don't matter to rich people, that's a pretty silly argument. Rich people don't get rich by making one stupid financial decision at a time. Most of them get there little by little; the small things add up and become big things over many years. Look at the people with seemingly modest means who end up surprising their families with huge estates, versus celebrities and athletes who can make tens of millions evaporate into thin air in a matter of years.
Aug 21, 2018, 3:02 pm
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Your first paragraph is redundant, given your handle.
Admirals Club began in 1939, Though initially as “Flagship Club”. It opened to the public in 1967, a sequel to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Admirals Club History.
The $250 membership was a serious deal! Congratulations!
Admirals Club began in 1939, Though initially as “Flagship Club”. It opened to the public in 1967, a sequel to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Admirals Club History.
The $250 membership was a serious deal! Congratulations!
Aug 21, 2018, 3:04 pm
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Aug 22, 2018, 7:08 pm
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I'm one of those who bought a Lifetime Admirals Club membership back in 2005, although my card says "member since 2006."
Anyone else: have they ever sent a new membership card or luggage tags? My nearly 18 year-old card shows its age.
Anyone else: have they ever sent a new membership card or luggage tags? My nearly 18 year-old card shows its age.
Jan 14, 2019, 10:38 pm
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DL this week rolled back the requirement of having to have a same day boarding pass on DL or partner airline for their Lifetime Sky Club members. I would hope that AA management values it's Lifetime AC members, and will adopt the same policy.