MW147

I will be at the JFK CL on Monday 2/6, around 3:30 PM, with a guest (I qualified with the minimum spend threshold so still no charge). We will see how it goes.

Then my return will be from Vegas on Sunday 2/12, around 7 AM. For that one I will have 2 guests. It is Super Bowl Sunday so I expect no crowd at all.

wakesetter93

There are many folks that don't pay the AF so raising it won't really help there. And for those of us that do travel often, a $300 difference won't push me away.

Thankfully I hit the $75k threshold so I'm good for 2023. Will be going through the DEN CL on 2/12 and interested to see if there is a difference. Yes Super Bowl Sunday but also peak ski season.

mia

Beginning 1 February 2023, USA-issued personal and Business Platinum cardholders cannot bring Free guests into Centurion lounges unless they spent $75,000 on the Platinum account in the previous calendar year. They can only bring guests by a) adding additional Platinum cards to their account, or b) paying $50 per adult and $30 per child per day. This policy change does not apply to Centurion cards, Corporate Platinum cards, or Platinum cards issued in other countries.

Please report how the lounge entry process changes. Is there confusion, controversy, anger? Are lounges making Exceptions to the new policy? Is American Express selling "instant" additional cards? Do you notice a difference in the number of people in the lounge?

Steve M

<< They can only bring guests by:
a) adding additional Platinum cards to their account, >>

I know what you're try to say, but to clarify: adding additional Platinum cards doesn't enable guesting privileges - rather, the cardholders of those additional Platinum cards get (non-guest) entry for themselves.

mia

I have edited the Wikipost text to clarify this. Feel free to further refine it. I intend to delete my post (3) once we have some February visit reports.

SPN Lifer

If more than a dozen readers up vote this fine Post # 3, will you reconsider?

michael1023

yay today's the day. $50 dollar fee. lets see if/how this helps. while i would probably continue to use the card for it's other benefits, i cant take credit cards seriously anymore touting lounge access, when all lounges are full and have lines

Troopers

Today is the day the Lord has made

ChurnieEls

The more I think about this, the more I think it'll make very little difference if we draw a line from SkyClub crowding - no free guests there yet the lines are still huge.

Even moreso in JFK/SFO now the overflow ability of the Virgin lounges to cater to excess pax is gone.

scubadu

Agreed. I think many folks here are really in denial. Skyclubs have had stronger guest policies in place, for a longer period of time, and there are more locations than Centurion Lounges and yet they are as crowded as ever. You make a very good point that many are ignoring.

Regards

ziggy29

To **some** degree, I think this is also the result of a post-pandemic travel boom. Many travel-starved people had 2 years of discretionary income (and miles/points) saved up with nothing to spend it on, so once things opened up again, it all exploded. Between tightening access rules *and* getting all this excess leisure travel budget out of the picture, I suspect overcrowding should improve somewhat, especially if we also see an economic slowdown in the months to come. Of course, if business travel makes much of a comeback closer to 2019 levels, that could be an offsetting factor.

Hipplewm

As Noted below - this is for USA cards - other countries YMMV
For an economic note - i pay $175 and get 3 extra cards - Wife, Son and Daughter. I could either pay $50 each or $175 and if they go into the club 3-4 times a year (That is our historical average) then the $175 fee is paid for in guest passes easily.
Most people think it is $175 PER extra card, but that is for "Extra cards" up to 3

YYJMSP

that all depends on where the card is issued. for example, if the new rule expanded to include cards issued in Canada, it is $175 for EACH additional card..

Hipplewm

Ouch, yeah, then i guess USA cards then - same principle applies, you just need more visits to break even

cricketer

2nd hand report from SFO today -- person had hit the spend threshold and guesting rights show up as earned on their account, but was denied a guest. Guest had their own card, so it didn't really matter other than faster entry - but sounds like at least one teething problem.