Kacee

It should get better when UA opens its Polaris lounge.

Unfortunately that's not going to cure people from the terminal self-absorption that is so frequently on display.

dhuey

I think that's going to have a big effect at SFO in particular.

JHake10

Huge line just to check in right now at SFO. I don't think I've ever seen this lounge empty.

Only one check in agent to make matters worse.

GUWonder

Competition from Amex lounges hasn't gotten he US3 airlines' club lounges to improve from being the pits that they were several years ago; rather, it's been competition across the US3 airlines' clubs themselves and the customer-losing value proposition costing the airline clubs paid membership and lounge pass revenue that has done it. The US3 carriers' lounges had become such a pit that they needed to up their game in order to maintain and/or grow their membership base and revenues.

While the presence of Amex Centurion lounges has cut into the US3 airline club lounge scene a bit, Amex was relatively late to the game and is still a bit player by itself; which is why Amex has the Priority Pass relationship.

Unless Amex finds the overcrowding lounge situation to cost it membership and other related revenue, why would Amex invest a whole lot more to alleviate the crowding situation for its customers? It may find it more useful to open more lounges and just put up with the overcrowding unless it really considers the US3 airline club membership programs to be competition for Amex lounges and revenue generated because of the Amex lounges. Are lots of Amex Platinum cardholders ditching Amex Platinum cards because of overcrowding at some Amex Centurion lounges? Until that happens, the crowd situation at Amex lounges may be considered tolerable by Amex, right?

kb9522

Amex lounges are so few in number that they are not even remotely close to exerting competitive pressure on legacy carrier lounges.

DCFinanceinFlight

Not entirely fair, as the CL has not put any pressure on 1/3 of the legacy carriers(DL). Outstations aside, one could argue that CLs have put a lot of pressure of UA with west coast and south west flyers with IAH and SFO

Kacee

Competition from AMEX isn't going to cause UA to improve it's lounges; the UCs are already overcrowded and I'm sure UA is happy to have AMEX pick up some of the overflow.

The "competitive pressure" that would cause UA to upgrade its lounges is other carriers (particularly DL and AA) taking its high value flyers away. That's the impetus for the Polaris lounges . . . attract and retain the international paid J traffic with a better lounge product. (So far of course execution has, in typical UA fashion, been a total fail.)

txflyer77

SFO is absolutely packed. Agent purposefully slowing down check in procedures as crowd control, by her own admission.

JHake10

Another day at SFO CL. I rarely bother going there anymore. I'll go to the UC which has seats, is much quieter, and has self serve soda (I hate waiting in a huge bar line for a diet coke at the CL). The food sucks, but that's a trade off I'm willing to take.

radiolarian

Just got to SFO CL after breezing through T-3 security in < 5 mins! Capacity appears to be ~70%, with some good tables still available. The coffee machine appears operational and I'm gonna give it a shot. Yes, it's chicken again.

Miles Ahead

So do I. But at least you had a line. On my one and only trip to the SFO CL, the bartender was nowhere in sight. ("He has duties elsewhere") I was pretty blanking steamed.

radiolarian

I was at the LAS CL on Thursday afternoon and there were like a dozen guests inside.

GUWonder

What happens to Centurion Lounges and lounge crowding in the scenario of Amex buying the DL SkyClubs and acquiring the DL lounge program membership base with it? That would allow Amex to alleviate some of the CL crowding and do some other things.

cmd320

I don't actually think this would do much to alleviate the crowding at current CLs. The very crowded locations are generally MIA and SFO. I'm not sure what the numbers are like of people going across terminals to visit the lounge in SFO, but I know that it isn't even possible in MIA. I mean, it would make for a much nicer lounge network though.

chrisremo

We're only two people obviously, but my wife and I don't fly UA and do regularly cross terminals to visit the CL, even if (as is usually the case) it means we have to clear security twice. We tend to travel pretty light, and TSA Pre-Check and the relative walkability of SFO mean the whole process goes quickly; we only forego the CL when we're really tight on time.