WeekendTraveler

The AA website states:

You're required to wear a face covering in the club, but you may briefly lift or lower it while eating or drinking.

However, in both Admirals Clubs in Charlotte, plenty of people don't wear face masks at all, whether or not they're eating or drinking (and if they're eating or drinking, they don't wear a face mask when food or drink is in front of them).

Why does AA not enforce it own rules? And don't get me started about the people who talk on cellphones, with speaker full blast.

I'll be taking Amtrak in a private room as much as possible instead of paying cash for first-class tickets on AA due to my own concerns about Covid, which would be alleviated somewhat with clear enforcement of these types of rules.

Thanks.

metallo

I sort of view the AC like a restaurant/bar in this scenario. You can’t really expect people to be perfectly masked if food/drink is being served.

I’ve generally avoided indoor in-person dining throughout the pandemic (but would do something like FFD, where there aren’t crowds and tables are fairly well spaced out).

You can typically find space away from others when needed at an AC. When I’ve been in clubs where things have been very crowded, like the DFW B club recently, I’ve sought out quieter areas of the club where I can relax (I went to one of the business cubicles).

At some point, probably soon, we will all need to be more comfortable with fewer restrictions. Getting your 3rd vaccine booster dose (if eligible) and continuing to wear your own protective equipment is the best policy, as opposed to worrying too much about what others are doing, in my opinion.

WeekendTraveler

People in the B and C/D ACs in Charlotte walk around, maskless, while talking on their cell phones.

Let's please stay on topic: the precise question asked is why AA does not enforce its own rules in ACs. I'm not looking for feedback from others about how to protect oneself from Covid, or why I should let others' noncompliance with rules continue.

UKtravelbear

Maybe the staff did try and enforce it previously and then got a load of abuse for doing so.

In those circumstances I'd just not bother either and save myself the grief.

enviroian

Because it's too difficult to disseminate and/or decide whom to police the regulation when anyone can say "I'm eating" or "I'm just about to eat". The AC is for all practical purposes a restaurant with sitting areas.

WeekendTraveler

In the AC in concourse B in Charlotte today, I'd have been satisfied if a staff member had simply walked by the following people and said, with a smile, "Sir, would you mind putting your face mask on, please? Thanks so much.", said with a Carolina smile.

* The couple playing with their dog, on the floor. (No food or drink with them.) I believe that the dog was a Standard Poodle or Doodle, to their credit.
* The guy sitting in the work stations along the windows, watching videos on his phone with the speaker on full blast. (No food or drink with him.)
* The other people talking on their cell phones, with speaker on. (No food or drink with them.)

Perhaps AA is concerned about offending these types, but I'd offer that tolerating such poor behavior costs business, too.

catlike

My personal opinion: I believe AA has this stated rule, but there is not a practical way to enforce it.

I don’t believe it’s reasonable to expect staff to enforce/police/remind people of this. The amount of verbal abuse I imagine the staff would face would be immense. If I worked in an AC I would personally not enforce it not because I disagree with the rule but because it wouldn’t be worth the personal toll on being yelled at and degraded by people because of it.

JBKettle

They were enforcing it in the LAX 4 club last week. I got chided because I had finished my food and drink and simply forgotten to put my mask back on. (Had I thought about it, I certainly would have.) I hadn't moved around, just sat in the same seat I was in. The agent (it was an AA dragon, not a contract lounge attendant) was a little direct about it, but I simply acknowledged her and put my mask on.

WeekendTraveler

Then why have any rules at all? And why doesn't AA enforce any of them?

From dogs running around, barking (in the C/D AC in Charlotte) to kids running around, screaming and fighting (also in the C/D AC in Charlotte) to people grabbing food (the chips/dip, vegetables, etc.) with their bare hands (again, the C/D AC in Charlotte) to people walking around on speaker phone, full blast--I've seen everything. Never have I seen any AA staff member enforce any rules in light of any of this behavior.

I don't have polling data for "what percentage of Americans oppose dogs running around, barking, in airport lounges", but I do have polling data showing support for mask requirements in these situations, airline rule or not. If AA staff, with their Carolina charm in Charlotte, politely asked people to wear face masks (or prevent their dogs from running around and barking), I'd expect that passengers would largely support that. And if rule violators resisted, AA should be able to revoke their memberships, and AA should do that.

SKYEG

While I understand your frustrations and agree that people are being jerks about the mask.... what you describe sounds like a normal day at the AC or any domestic club with any airline, pre covid. Maybe less dog barking but I've seen waaaaaaaaay worse in airport lounges. I think you need to lower your expectation of humans in general. I know I have, having worked in the US through the pandemic. AA frontline staff are not capable, paid or trained enough to deal with unruly pax that will clearly fight for their "rights" and break the rules. I'd hate to be in their spot.

WeekendTraveler

Here's what AA advertises for Admirals Clubs, and I renewed my membership based on this:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...ge-changes.jsp

You're required to wear a face covering in the club, but you may briefly lift or lower it while eating or drinking.

I don't have a choice as to traveling these days, but I do have a choice as to which carrier I use--Amtrak from now on, in a private room.

I would suggest that rather than telling people who paid for a service that they should just avoid traveling when the service is not as advertised due to others' refusal to follow published rules, instead, people who refuse to follow published rules should...follow them. Period. If anyone should bear the consequences of rulebreaking, rulebreakers should, not law-abiding people.

AAway

Your question has been answered multiple times, so I'll just add that it's not just CLT, it's pretty much every AC, and every other airline lounge for that matter. Please be advised.

enviroian

People exhibiting this behavior at the AC don't need to be told to don masks. They need to be told to leave the club.

sbrower

If they remove that rule from what is published (it probably wasn't in the rule book when you first signed up), would that solve the problem? Would you be comfortable traveling AA instead of Amtrak or a private room if no one was wearing masks because the rules didn't require it? My point isn't that mask are, or are not, appropriate. My point is that you are phrasing this as a concern about what the rules say. (P.S. - If you really want a refund, based on a failure to enforce this rule in the manner which you feel is adequate, I suspect you can get one.)

Dea Certe

Why would the Club tolerate the staff being abused?