Centurion Lounge crowding (2015-2019)
 

Given that the original plan for the Centurion lounges was to be free for Centurion Cardmembers and paid entry for Platinums, it seems it will soon be one of two choices for Amex:
1. Increase the size of the lounges to handle what seems like an ever more typical over-crowding scenario.
OR
2. Revert back to the original plan of charging Platinums for daily visits.

I think they just need to open more of them. Start charging Platinums for entry and I would expect serious attrition in the ranks. I suppose they could split the difference and stop letting AUs in. That would help. When I was in the SFO lounge a few weeks ago I was stunned by how many college-age kids were in there.

The more they chip away at the AU benefits, the harder it would get to convince people to PAY for an AU unlike most other cards. But yeah, it does seem like something needs to be done.

Another Possibility: Amex could restrict Platinums to two free visits to Centurion lounges per year. After that, paid access only. This is how Chase does it with their United Explorer Card for access to United Clubs.

If the Platinum card only had an annual fee of $95 a year, similar to the United Explorer card, then I could perhaps see that.... It would be ridiculous for it to be restricted to two visits when we pay $450/year for the card.

The first Centurion lounge opened in Las Vegas in 2013 and was initially pay for entry for any but Centurion Cardmembers. Here's a quote when the Las Vegas lounge first opened:

"Any eligible American Express Cardmember may purchase a one-day Access Key at the Lounge for $50. If you hold a Centurion Card from American Express, or if you received a promotional mailing with an Access Key, access to The Centurion Lounge is complimentary. Purchase of one-day Access Keys is subject to Lounge capacity."

The Platinum Card annual fee was increased to $450 in 2007. Long before the Centurion Clubs were an idea much less a Platinum benefit.

The lounges were never built or intended to have the type of volume they're seeing. Most have reached capacity and are turning people away at peak times.

Sure but since 2007 the Platinum Card has lost access to Continental, US, and AA clubs. Lounge access was a key benefit of the card back then, and it has now been thoroughly gutted on the domestic front. The Centurion Lounges have become the means by which Amex are trying to redress this.

The compounding issue has been the loss of access to Admirals Clubs which represented a fairly important benefit and component of the (what is for me) C$699 annual Plat card fee, C$499 if one tosses in the annual travel credit. I would certainly not welcome a per visit charge levied on Plats unless there was some offset, something like 12 comp visits a year, then charge. Or comp for those Plats who were Charter Members of that card/program, or Plat cardholders who have been members since the 1970s.

Let's face it, hard to criticize the success of these lounges, given the overall mediocracy of most US airline lounges it's not surprising. And remember that most of those using the DFW lounge have had to endure taking the skytrain around DFW to get to D Terminal.

Centurion Lounge crowding
 

Recently spoke with someone who manages the SFO lounge...

Says they have ordered furniture to increase capacity. They've run into issues on days with large conferences in town.

They also turn away pay for day access customers on those days and may add text alerts for crowding.

Said the Vegas lounge avoided turning anyone away during CES with extra furniture added there.

But they still have no process for handling people who are turned away.

For example an ideal recovery would be to offer statement credit for purchase of a day pass for another lounge.

That fell on deaf ears.

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Wonder how many folks buy day passes? Saw someone with a clear AMEX given a tour in LAS last week- not sure if they indulged or not.

As for more space- what is above the SFO lounge- room to go up?

I was at the DFW lounge a week ago and it was absolutely packed. We couldn't find seating with a table to eat our food, it was so crowded. They really need to figure something out to fix this issue, or I'll just drop my Platinum card and switch back to using airline clubs.

Last DFW and last two LAS same thing....packed with no good seating choices

They are going to need a way to start thinning out the number of people with access (maybe re-introduce some sort of fee for non cents?)


i know i know.....that would be nonsense lol.....i read it :p

DFW lounge is atrocious on many levels. Love LGA.

Maybe make the $200 fee credit an either or with Centurion access.

In DFW now. Crowded, but still able to book a free massage...

And airline clubs have never been packed? Give me a break.

Have there been any reports of turning Cent's away? I would hope that Cent's are always given access, and then Platinum and day-pay guests limited based on capacity.

Good Question. Not sure how that works. While I have been at the SFO lounge three times, I've seen three scenarios. 1. Close to empty. 2. Full but manageable. 3. Standing Room only...reminded me of a college fraternity party! Although they continued to let all in.

The turn away scenarios have been reported on FT, though I haven't personally witnessed it.

The day I was turned away from SFO they had someone stationed outside the entrance downstairs simply saying it's completely full.

Did they suggest any other lounges?


The other thing about SFO and many people looking young... is that it is SFO and many people making a ton of money are young...

Pulling complimentary access for Platinums isn't a solution. It's a pipe dream. If Centurion members want a more exclusive lounge, their annual fee is going to need to be more than it is today to cover that.

If Platinums have to pay, you're going to start seeing more cancellations. There's almost nothing left of lounge access on the Platinum card as is. $450 a year for Delta clubs and Priority Pass Select, neither of which include any guests?

Jeez, and to think I'm on the fence right now about keeping my Platinum card + AU.

Yeah, I mean Plats pay what, $8/week for their card?

These clubs should cut the guests of Plats immediately. LAS and DFW are a gong show a lot of the time.
How shocking. Well, other than most of us expecting it a year ago ...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ge-las-34.html

With all of the benefit cuts that the Cent card has seen over the last couple years, there is no way in hell that they can justify an increased fee.

I am gonna go out on a limb and say, Cent card holders probably won't get turned away if the lounge is full (nor should they).

That would be quite upsetting as I typically go through an additional TSA checkpoint in order to access this location.

Have you noticed a pattern (day of the week/time) for when the lounge is so full that they turn people away?

It's worth it to you to go through security an extra time to visit the SFO Centurion Lounge? (I assume you know that if you are flying on AS out of SFO you do not need to go through security to get to the Centurion Lounge.)

Just to correct this, if you're flying AS out of SFO you do need to clear security an extra time. International Terminal Concourse A (where AS flies out of) and International Terminal Concourse G/Terminal 3-Concourse F (where the Centurion lounge is) are not connected airside.

What time did you get there???!

For those that have expressed concerns about over crowding, what time of day did you go to the lounge? Just curious...

Never had an issue at DFW or LAS in the afternoon, evening or late nights. In fact, loved going to LAS before my redeye out of LAS.

As a platinum card holder, I would be canceling my card if it was not for the card access, even as I would use it 10 times a year, max.

Thanks!

I have a flight into DFW arriving at around 2:30pm and have 2 hours to use the facilities. Less crowding would be optimal.

I'll be damned. Just a couple of weeks ago I walked from the International Terminal to the Centurion Lounge (all airside), but you are correct, I was in G. It never occurred to me that the International Terminal was not connected to itself airside.

Do we know the type of people who make up the majority of these Centurion Loungers? Centurion/Platinum cardholders? Or pay-per-visit customers? If the latter, maybe they could just raise the admission fee?

Good idea. Or only allow entrance to Cent/Plat holders and AU. Although that may kill the cash cow, right?

They could also drop it down to immediate family or 1 guest. The reason you need to keep immediate family there is that parents aren't going to buy a $50 day pass for their 5 year old, and Amex also won't allow them as an AU. Plus, families don't generally travel during peak business rush.

The thing is, though, a lounge membership generally is 2 guests or immediate family. Everyone but Delta does that. If you're replacing lost lounge benefits with the Centurion Lounge program, offering an enhanced product, etc, do you really want to break par by screwing with guest access?

I think the real solution, if they're serious about this, is to build larger lounges or in the busier airports, have multiple lounges. That's what airlines do, to the extent that they care about crowding (and really, airlines don't, because you have no alternatives, but Amex does care because it's a premium product).

Here's my prediction: As the Amex lounges expand to more airports, the model will also include additional lounges in the same airport and larger spaces. Then when this thing really hits critical mass in terms of lounge presence at airports that warrant it, the Platinum card will begin to lose the airline fee credit - that started when lounge access began to erode, and it'll end when Amex's strategic play on ensuring lounge access gets far enough along.

Not scientific, but I have yet to see someone else paying the fee while I am at the desk checking in.

I wonder if they're unofficially giving other Amex cardholders a complimentary visit for marketing purposes.

Only AMEX knows how many members bring in how many guests, but I would be surprised if that many members bring in two guests. Lots of single travellers, some travellers in pairs, but many trios?

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Here's my prediction: they all go away just like they did in the 80's.

Dumb question here. Are AU's supposed to get access to Centurion lounges when they are not travelling with the Primary card holder? I ask because my AU was recently turned away from the LGA lounge and was told that it was because she was not the primary. The lounge agent was nice enough to change my AU to an earlier flight, however.