Jan 24, 2019, 7:51 am
Last edit by: mia
Policy Changes effective March 22, 2019
Source: https://thecenturionlounge.com/info/access/
NOTE: FOR PLATINUM CARD MEMBERS ONLY
The Centurion Lounge is a day of departure lounge. We will not admit arriving Platinum Card Members with boarding passes for flights that have just landed. We will admit Platinum Card Members with layovers or connecting flights who produce proof of connecting flight.
We will not admit Platinum Card Members more than 3 hours before the departure time on the Platinum Card Member’s same-day, confirmed boarding pass. This does not apply to Platinum Card Members with a connecting flight.
We will admit children under 2 years of age free of charge, provided an accompanying parent or guardian is able to produce a “lap infant” boarding pass or proof of age
The Centurion Lounge is a day of departure lounge. We will not admit arriving Platinum Card Members with boarding passes for flights that have just landed. We will admit Platinum Card Members with layovers or connecting flights who produce proof of connecting flight.
We will not admit Platinum Card Members more than 3 hours before the departure time on the Platinum Card Member’s same-day, confirmed boarding pass. This does not apply to Platinum Card Members with a connecting flight.
We will admit children under 2 years of age free of charge, provided an accompanying parent or guardian is able to produce a “lap infant” boarding pass or proof of age
Centurion Lounge crowding (2015-2019)
Oct 6, 2017, 5:48 pm
#1081
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,195
Economics and fairness aside, one reason to keep free guests...or at least give each Platinum member a few free guest passes each year...is to make it socially smoother to bring in guests. I have guested people in who would otherwise make some fuss about not wanting money spent on them.
I've paid the Sky Club guest fee a few times, and it's a little more pleasant when I can honestly say it costs me nothing extra to bring them in, like I can at CL (and until recently, Admirals via Prestige).
I've paid the Sky Club guest fee a few times, and it's a little more pleasant when I can honestly say it costs me nothing extra to bring them in, like I can at CL (and until recently, Admirals via Prestige).
Oct 6, 2017, 6:04 pm
#1082
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 57,084
Oct 7, 2017, 12:58 am
#1083
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
definitely not when the solution that everyone's been advocating for conveniently is to their personal preferences. It almost feels like 70+ pages of DYKWIA (cue firestorm of how people saying that they're proposing rational solutions...)
Oct 7, 2017, 4:27 pm
#1084
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Newton Centre, MA, USA
Programs: DL 2MM Gold, AA Plat Pro; Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium (via SPG), IHG Plat
Posts: 2,192
Oct 7, 2017, 6:10 pm
#1085
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LAX/JFK/SFO
Programs: Amex Plat, Hyatt, IHG cards
Posts: 120
I just cannot believe that this thread has been going from January 2015 about crowding at an Airport lounge. They are at airports moving thousand of folks daily, not your Country Club where maybe it's a 100 on any given day. If you don't like the crowd in the AMEX club leave. (Its not like AA, DL or UA clubs are never crowded.) Everyone else is paying an annual fee to be there too, so suck it up and eat the food and drink the booze (which is better then at AA, DL or UA club) and stop complaining and enjoy them while you can, before these Centurion clubs go the way of the last Centurion clubs - closed.
Oct 7, 2017, 8:55 pm
#1086
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Proud resident of flyover country.....
Programs: MS AMEX PLAT- Marriott Titanium-HH G- UA Silver-JPM RC . DL-AA-BA
Posts: 3,892
Personally I think the changes should have been:
Platinum +1 guest
Centurion +2 and/or immediate family
Just an observation on my part but I was sitting near the entrance to IAH lounge on Monday and there appeared to be quite a few Plat +2's coming in.
Nobody was refused so either they weren't enforcing the no more day pass or there weren't any.
Platinum +1 guest
Centurion +2 and/or immediate family
Just an observation on my part but I was sitting near the entrance to IAH lounge on Monday and there appeared to be quite a few Plat +2's coming in.
Nobody was refused so either they weren't enforcing the no more day pass or there weren't any.
Oct 7, 2017, 9:37 pm
#1087
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,195
Again, it's an airport lounge. Don't we all have better things about which to worry? Funny.
Oct 7, 2017, 10:11 pm
#1088
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: East Coast, USA
Posts: 1,032
SFO on Thursday. Crowded as usual around 10 AM, but not too bad (open seats here and there). By the time I left around 11:30, started to get more and more crowded. I actually stayed at the Centurion Lounge the whole time because of the United Club crowding...
Oct 7, 2017, 10:16 pm
#1089
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,417
I suspect that part of the problem with airport lounge guest policies is that receptionist agents make exceptions far too frequently. The extra cute kid is admitted, or an agent doesn't think that children under age X should count or be charged, or some pleasant and well dressed business person talks his/her way into free guest privileges for excess people. The result is the overcrowding we're seeing. It would be far easier to have the rules actually enforced in practice if there were strict no exceptions standards: you can have a certain number (including zero) of guests depending on the color of your card, no exceptions regardless of how young/old the guest is, how little they will eat and drink, how short will be the lounge visit etc. Excess guests can either be forbidden, be charged some nontrivial amount to discourage guesting, or cardmembers can be given Y guest passes per year (after annual fee has been paid, so introductory free card offers never generate guest passes), again based on the color of the card.
Oct 8, 2017, 8:54 am
#1090
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,195
My experience when it comes to admittance to airport lounges is completely the opposite of what you describe. The gatekeepers tend to automatically respond with "no".....at times even when one is entitled to enter.
Oct 8, 2017, 1:07 pm
#1091
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Proud resident of flyover country.....
Programs: MS AMEX PLAT- Marriott Titanium-HH G- UA Silver-JPM RC . DL-AA-BA
Posts: 3,892
My thoughts were not intended to be selfish but the fact remains that AMEX might need to make changes to their policy based on capacity of the lounges. As a Platinum card holder i don't believe I am entitled to the same privileges as a Centurion. Whatever changes they might make should be as fair as possible and easy to understand and put into practice.
Either way i won't loose any sleep....
Oct 9, 2017, 2:25 pm
#1093
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,959
New York Times article from 1986 mentions: complimentary membership in the Centurion Club, an international network of 25 private clubs . I don't have any firsthand recollection of this feature, but that sounds like access to clubs operated by others, rather than by American Express?
Oct 9, 2017, 5:18 pm
#1094
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LAX/JFK/SFO
Programs: Amex Plat, Hyatt, IHG cards
Posts: 120
New York Times article from 1986 mentions: complimentary membership in the Centurion Club, an international network of 25 private clubs . I don't have any firsthand recollection of this feature, but that sounds like access to clubs operated by others, rather than by American Express?
The article mentions access to a health club in Singapore (questioning the usefulness for the average American customer) . I'm not sure if this was part of the Centurion Club network or not. The article doesn't even say whether the Centurion Clubs were in airports. Maybe some locations were more like gyms, spas, or nightclubs than traditional airport lounges?
Do we have anyone here who actually went to one?
Oct 9, 2017, 6:06 pm
#1095
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,959