dw

This is actually EVERY lounge at MIA early in the morning following the arrival of the Brazil/Argentina/Chile flights, including the Cent.

dhuey

But why make the distinction between cardholders and guests for purposes of the cap? We're trying to reduce the number of bodies in the lounges. It doesn't matter whether they're cardholders or guests. Let cardholders decide how to divvy up their allowance.

mia

One issue with eliminating immediate family guesting is children. If guests are not permitted many Platinum cardholders would buy a supplementary Platinum card for their spouse or older children. That would seem to be a good thing if it generates more revenue for American Express (and if they can realize that the lounges are responsible for it). However, they won't (knowingly) issue a card to a child under 15. This means the only way to bring younger children would be to purchase day passes, unless American Express created something similar to Delta Skyclub's Executive Membership.

I appreciate that some would be perfectly happy to have fewer children in lounges, airports and on planes, but I think American Express would be reluctant to implement a policy that could be characterized as unfriendly to families.

nyc2socal

Perfectly said Mia! I probably bring my kids (11 & 9) into a Centurion lounge 3-4 times a year. They are well behaved and don't cause any issues. If families were excluded, I would have serious issues with keeping the card.

stimpy

I don't buy this, because every other airport lounge out there limits free access holders/members to one single guest. As a BA Gold card holder, or AF Platinum member, I cannot bring in my family to the lounge if they are traveling in economy. I can only bring in one guest. This is a global fact about airport lounges. They have limited space so all airlines have this language in their lounge access rules and some don't even allow a guest!

mia

The lounges operated by the USA legacy carriers are membership clubs, and guest privileges similar to that offered by American Express are typical. Delta is the most restrictive in that you have to buy the more expensive Executive membership to retain guest privileges..

AA

AS

DL

UA

dhuey

At SFO there is a special play room for kids. I've seen a lot of kids in the lounge, but never any misbehavior. The only problem with kids I see is that they take up space -- same problem as adults. When addressing that problem, I don't see why we care whether someone is a kid or adult, cardholder or guest. Cap the number of people per year per card.

Katlor

I visited the SFO, MIA and IAH Centurion lounges this week on two flights that routed through those hubs. Regarding crowding, what I noticed is that there are many, many more full families (parents and kids) in these lounges than when I first started visiting the Centurion LAS, SFO, and DFW lounges in 2014. When the lounges first opened the visitors were mostly single business travelers. Now I see as many sets of parents w/ kids as I see business travelers.

If kids are quiet and well-behaved it's not a problem, but in IAH a kid was shrieking repeatedly while his parents fought on the daybeds. In MIA a kid was screaming next to me. This is becoming a common experience in Centurion lounges, whereas the non-Cent lounges I visit tend to have a higher proportion of business travelers who usually just work on their laptops and are hence much quieter.

What this has caused me to realize is that (1) there is a huge noise difference in a lounge that serves a lot of leisure travelers versus business travelers and (2) that Centurion lounges are attracting a larger percentage of leisure travelers (or people who usually travel for business but are on vacation and bringing guests in) than other lounges, making the lounges noisier and more stressful.

The solution to my mind is to limit guest access. This would make the lounges more adult/business oriented. It wouldn't just lower the number of kids in the lounge, it could also limit the problem of groups of drunk vacationers making noise together (a particularly bad example of this happened in SFO, where a group took over the couches at the entrance and were talking/laughing/cursing in booming voices for an hour).

I know it might be considered less "family-friendly", but the problem is that these lounges weren't built to handle the sound of booming voices, screams and shrieks. One screaming kid in the lounge and it's not a relaxing lounge anymore; whereas out in the airport if a kid screams the noise is dampered by all the other people/noises around.

My guess is that the 'comfort'/luxe of the lounges leads some families and groups to treat them like living rooms, which then makes the lounges really hard to use for other people. Limiting guests would reduce the clientele to primary cardholders who are more likely to be adults and single travelers.

scubadu

If you are going to assert something emphatically, on a public forum, you should at least make a moderate effort to ensure that you are, you know, actually correct.

In this case you are not. In fact not even remotely so.

Regards

stimpy

Don't be stupid. Look things up before you post. Like maybe here. https://www.flyingblue.com/lounges.html

dw

Is it possible that this is in part influenced by the time of year currently? As surely there are a lot more leisure travelers/families and fewer business travelers during the month of August?

Every year I inevitably find myself in a northeast Admirals Clubs during the February school break week... And it's always the same zoo that you've just described.

mia

Lounges operated by the USA-based airlines are different than the ones you mentioned, in that they are membership clubs and anyone can join. They are not restricted to elite or premium cabin passengers.

This dates back to the 1960's when US carriers were still regulated. If you have a subscription to the New York Times, you can read an article published February 1, 1967 headlined: Airlines Preparing Defense of V.I.P. Clubs

The issue was resolved in 1974. NYT, March 17, 1974: Thanks to One Stubborn. Man, Everyone Can Be an Airport V.I.P.

American Express (USA) introduced the $200 airline fee reimbursement benefit -and- announced the airport Centurion lounges after losing access to the AA/US and CO/UA lounges networks. I think it seemed natural to mimic the guest policies of those airline clubs. They did not have to go this direction, but they did, and I think it will be awkward to roll back.

Katlor

That's a good point that there are probably even more leisure travelers right now than usual, but I've been seeing a higher proportion of families in Centurion lounges all year (I travel a lot). Some of the lounges are worse than others.

Regarding the crowding at SFO, this one should have been entirely expected by AMEX given that tech salaries are so high in the Bay Area that a $450 AF is nothing to most. The irony is that there is little quiet/exclusivity in the SFO lounge bc so many people can access it. There are also tons of families at SFO. AMEX probably knew the lounge would be really oversubscribed but there wasn't much they could do; they had to open at SFO because they are so many United status flyers there and are making do with the space they have. Nowadays I prefer to go to the KLM/Alaska lounge if I have time.

stimpy

That's not completely true given what I wrote. First of all, AF and BA, for example, operate lounges in the United States. And as I posted twice now, they do not allow extra guests beyond the one. Secondly, AF and BA top elite members, for example, can access the lounges of DL and AA, etc. But they cannot bring in family members beyond just the one, per the rules of DL and AA. But it is clear that this is a complex issue and you cannot come to an absolute conclusion. And as I said, globally, you cannot bring in extra family members into lounges. Of course there are exceptions and even lounges that do not allow it per the rules, may sometimes make exceptions.

And what should really be clear from this long thread, Amex needs to address this issue one way or the other. It's out of control, especially at MIA.

dhuey

Yes, but mia was talking about "USA-based airlines".