mia

When Sapphire Reserve was introduced, Chase purchased their Priority Pass memberships through a third party. If that's still true, Chase may have been insulated from cost increases due to price changes and utilization frequency. The timing of this announcement may be driven by a contract renewal, rather than a market assessment.

STS-134

Interesting. I'd expect a company the size of Chase to basically do the equivalent of self insurance, with PP/Collinson as the plan administrator only.

abaheti

Aren't they supposed to check for a boarding pass -- wouldn't that stop crew? If there was a PP option at BUR or OAK, I'd certainly be getting my money's worth, can't blame people for using the benefit. But I agree, limits could solve the super user issue. I have rarely been able to use it but was very happy vs lounge food.

Adelphos

A lot of people mentioning the Venture X here, which I kind of understand… but not really. The Venture X offers 2x on all spending, and some benefits. But the lounge access aspect for the primary cardholder are now similar to Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Venture (not X) at $95 offers many of the same other benefits outside of lounge access - particularly 2x on all spend. Unless you live in one of the Capital One airports, Venture X doesn’t really do much to solve the lounge issue.

At the end the day - if you want lounge access in the US, you really need an airline club network. That was largely true before all this and especially true now. The alternative is not Venture X or whatnot, it is Amex (Delta Reserve or Amex Platinum), Citi (Exec) or United (Chase United Club)

anrkitec

I'm sure Chase's PP vendor is raising prices for full access because of the Groupon effect - restaurants hope CSR holders come for what is effectively a free entre and spend a whole lot more, or bring the whole family, but that never materialized. Just not enough David Brookses out there buying five or six doubles of top-shelf single malts to go with their free burger.

I'm just a bit surprised that Chase didn't pay the new price, even if they had to raise the AF a bit to do so, in order to stand out in a crowded field instead of becoming an also-ran.

dw

Perhaps some restaurants weren’t policing the boarding pass requirement in the interest of getting more swipe fees. A few years ago, when PF Chang’s at LAX was part of the program, I checked it out once and was surprised at how many crew in uniform were eating there (and from what I could hear when checks were dropped, using PP).

notquiteaff

Literally just now walked out of the Brewtop at SEA. They asked for my boarding pass and scanned it (and I saw the app populating my flight info). Not clear why Collinson couldn’t enforce that to kill of the crew usage/scam.

(incidentally there was quite a line at the Amex CL the entire time I was at Brewtop.

scklumb

Crew can add themselves as a nonrev to a flight very easily. Which generates a boarding pass.

psychtobe

i have noticed a ton of flight crew using this, and inviting friends, moreso in the last month than in the last twelve months combined. makes me wonder if some critical mass hit and suddenly costs went vertical.

i can think of many ways to have limited without killing. one lounge per hour or two. one guest instead of two. cut the dollar limit to $20.

econ

I don't recall the SFO restaurants asking for a BP. Mustards has not, at least.

vanillabean

Lark Creek Grill asked for mine less than a week ago.

guv1976

It is a Priority Pass requirement, but it might not be in the financial interest of a restaurant to enforce it.

dw

In the past I’ve seen not just flight crew, but airport employees (gate agents) using it during their meal breaks. I’d imagine just one week’s use would exceed the average cardholder’s typical annual usage.

lowfareair

Would have been very tough considering The Club's parent company is the same owner as Priority Pass - would have decimated the program, and probably would make Amex pull out, at least for lounges in US/Canada/Mexico. I'm not sure Collinson would agree to a sale of Airport Dimensions' US properties unless it was part of Priority Pass and/or there was a long-term (10+ year) requirement to accept all Priority Passes at the door (maybe with a different food/drink menu and/or space for CSR holders inside).

Also, the refresh wouldn't be immediate - some like CLT could probably be refreshed very within a few months as they are still new and would probably be new furniture and an upgraded food/drink menu. Most of the lounges, however, like ATL or MCO would take time as it would likely require a full-ish reno to be brought to Chase standards.

crimsona

Multiplied by the number of airports around and they were probably taking a bath on it