Over the past six months or so, I have been lucky enough to change my flying behavior and fly private most of the time. And with the recent changes at Centurion Lounges, I am very grateful for that. Today was the first day I used the SFO Centurion Lounge since the three-hour time rule began. I arrived at the Lounge at 11:30PM, which was exactly 10 before I was allowed to be admitted (2:40PM departure time). The three-hour rule was strictly enforced, and I had to wait in the United terminal for 10 minutes. At 11:40AM, I was admitted into the Lounge. It was approximately 90% full. (The last time I was at the SFO Lounge was on a Saturday, and the people at the front desk had commented about Thursdays being the worst.) Most of the empty seats were the second seat at a table where a single person was sitting. (Basically, only seats where you would have to share a table with a stranger were open.) Luckily, someone got up as I was looking for a table, so I got a tiny table for myself. (The table was so small that nobody else would even attempt to sit on the other empty seat at the table.)

CORRECTION: If you count the cheap plastic seats lined up against the walls around the Lounge, then the place was far less than 90% full. But without a table to place food/drinks on, those seats are highly-undesirable, and I saw nobody using them.

As for the food, they had saffron chicken, brown rice, tomato basil soup, spicy lentil stew, sauteed kale, brussel sprouts, and basic sald fixings. For dessert, panna cotta with berries and chicolate chip cookies were available. Amazingly (considering how crowded the place was), there was only one person ahead of me in line at the bar to get my sodas. And, yes, the coffee machine was functioning properly.

With the three-hour admittance policy and the inability to enter upon arrival (which I occasionally used in Las Vegas), I am more glad than ever to pay a bit more for a private flight and just try to avoid Centurion Lounges as much as possible. So, yes, American Express has reduced my usage of their Lounges to clear up space for others. I still have to do the calculation on whether I’ll keep my personal Platiunum card or not.

When I fly out of SFO, it’s usually from T2. If the Centurion Lounge were in T2, the three-hour rule would be a bit less odious to me. But even with TSA PreCheck and the facts that I walk very quickly and travel very light, having to go from T3 to T2 makes me want to get to the Lounge earlier than three hours prior to departure so that I can leisurely make my way over to T2 for boarding.

If you arrive three hours before and then stay 90 minutes, that leaves 30 minutes for the “leisurely stroll” plus another 60 minutes before departure. How long do you stay in the lounge?

Obviously, what is a "comfortable" or "right" amount of time is going to vary from person to person based on personality, logistics, the way one is accustomed to being treated, etc. For me, 3-and-a-half hours (from Lounge entry to flight departure time) feels just about right at SFO. This builds in enough extra time for me to feel secure that, even with unexpected circumstances, I will not have any issues. There are very few things in my life that are as time-sensitive as catching a flight before it departs, and I build extra slack into my timing to ensure no substantial errors are made. At the same time, for me specifically, three hours feels like more than enough time at LAS. And, for me, entry to the Lounge upon arrival at SFO is almost completely irrelevant, but entry to the Lounge upon arrival is occasionally useful at LAS. Clearly, American Express does not care what feels right for me specifically; American Express simply wants to create a black and white policy that can be easily and consistently enforced and that will not upset a significant number of customers to the extent that it affects their bottom line. My whole point is that I am uncomfortable and unsatisfied with American Express' new policy. I am accustomed to being treated better by other businesses. I can now make a decision about whether this change in policy is enough to change my business relationship with American Express. The calculation is going to be different for each person. I am in no way telling others how they should feel or what they should or should not do.