nole1

Even if the main club in C was open you wouldn't have received that kind of experience. You should have flown through somewhere with a flagship lounge if that's what you were expecting.

LovePrunes

Have you seen the line to get into the CLT Centurion Lounge?...it's worse than what you waited in for B. No way Amex would agree to take all AA club members.

These seem like very unrealistic expectations for ANY airline. CLT even on a good day with everything open, is devoid of premium lounges like an Flagship Lounge experience. Was this you're first time connecting fhere? Have you ever connected to thru JFK or MIA? they cater more to folks looking for the experience you were.

ChurnieEls

CLT.

Tbh it should be relatively well flagged at this point that if you're on a J/F ticket and want the whole lounge experience then you need to be routing through a hub with Flagship/Polaris etc.

robertablake

Seems the CLT Elite Services team has been in the witness protection program since the main C/D Admiral Club has been shut down.

taxatty56

This looks like a viable alternative to the B AC at CLT if you have the Priority Pass card: https://charlotte.axios.com/292975/n...t-opens-today/

fastflyer

The lounge situation at all of the AA hubs is problematic -- perhaps with the exception of DFW, which has the greatest capacity.

DCA, CLT, PHL, ORD are all packed to the gills. MIA D-30 is the same partly because the quasi club at E remains closed and D-15 is out-of-the-way. To be fair, all of the LHR clubs operated by BA (I just visited) were packed. The premium cabins are full, and yet the airlines haven't kept pace on the ground. I think the participation of extra credit card folks has really exacerbated the problem.

It wouldn't be popular here, but restricting the credit card access to primary cardholder only and limited to one guest might help. It would also incent Admirals Club memberships through the direct-pay option.

MarkOK

I don't think restricting CC based access is the route to go.

The only answer to this is to first of all reopen the closed lounges and then look at expansion.

To Add: The lounges are usually packed during peak business travel days/hours, and during that time, I'd wager most CC based access travelers are the Cardholder anyways. Don't think there'd be much relief to speak of. And, guest access has two big benefits --
1. Access when you travel with your family. The biggest reason for me years ago to get access was so that during the 3-5 trips a year with the family, my then 6 year old could play in the 'play room' (available at many ACs). Much easier to keep an eye on her, get her snack, etc. in the lounge than a busy terminal. Without it, I'd wouldn't have done as many trips.
2 I have brought work companions in the lounge with me about five times in the last three years. Not too often and in all but 1 case, it just 1 guest anyways. Slick way of advertising, btw, especially when IRROPs happens and you can show your colleague how easy it is to get rebooked and set-up by the AAngels. Really, that is a big advantage to me -- nearly always when I am traveling with someone, we are co-presenting something somewhere and both need to get there on time.

EXP100

While I don't disagree with you realistically AA isn't going to expand clubs or open new ones. Some of this is due to space constraint at airports. I think the one guest rule is appropriate. Since AA has decided to push ccs with lounge membership something has to give and it's not going to be a perfect solution.

What's scary (from a focus group I took place in) AA is actually considering something that would drive even more people into the lounges tied to admittance from ccs. Can't really say anything more. But I'm not surprised. AA (and of course other airlines) obsession of having as many seats as possible on an a/c and every seat filled is now happening with lounges.

MiamiLisa

There’s usually a line out the door and an AA bouncer limiting the number of people entering.

LovePrunes

Just hazarding a guess here, but I'm pretty sure Barclays would like to get in on the action of having a premium card at annual fee to get their cardholders who have it into the AA clubs. Their Silver card just isn't on the same level as Citi's Exec card with club access, never mind Barclay's convoluted process to even try and get it.

So far the club access distinguishes the 2 banks' cards. It's otherwise weird having Citi in clubs and airports, and Barclays on board but NOT in airports, for their marketing presence.

taxatty56

There is a huge open area on the upper level in front of the MIA D15 AC that might be available for expansion. That AC isn't really that out of the way due to the MIA D Skytrain that can get you anywhere in D in a few minutes.

EXP100

Actually some years back when construction was being done to D15 that space was utilized and today it remains an open, empty area. I'm not sure what's going on with the old E club. I asked about six months ago and no one at the AC had any information. The D30 club seems to be used more for whatever reason. I often use the D15 club even when my flight is going out of the higher D or E gates because it's typically less crowded. I'm not sure even how much a re-opened E club would help alleviate crowding at D30 since it's right near E Security.

Mr. Vker

The only thing I will say about CC restriction is that AAngels have brought up to me a couple of times that I can add 5+ (I think 9) AU's to my account-free. They all get Admiral's Club access and two guests. That's over the top. I didn't do that, but certainly bumps the numbers. If 9 AU's is correct, that's 30 people accessing the lounge off my CC account if I did that.

MarkOK

Oh, I agree that having -that- many AUs is over the top. Again, I would wager it is NOT really a significant factor with regards to crowding though.

Solving a problem by working around the fringes isn't the way to go.

MarkOK

I don't know -- AA has opened and/or expanded several lounges over the last few years. Lounges open, close, move, etc. quite often.

And sure, some airports are tight on space, but many aren't, and right now, there are ACs that EXIST already that are still 'temporarily' shut down.