jamesteroh

I don't think that many kettles would have a CSR with a $450 fee. It's more for the people who charge a lot of travel expenses.

If overcrowding is an issue due to so many people having the CSR then what they should do is restrict entry to the cardholder only and eliminate guests. When Delta stopped allowing Am Ex cardholders to guest in people and limited it to the cardholder only it really cut down on overcrowding. Now the United no longer allows Am Ex entries I've noticed their clubs aren't nearly as crowded either.

jamesteroh

Could be but not sure about LAX. They used to allow Delta Skyclub members in the BR and I'd think they would have had more Delta members using the AS Boardroom than they would priority pass members at LAX.

When I flew out of LIM a few months ago I used the Sumaq lounge and a PM on Delta was trying to get in stating they had lounge access as a Skypriority passenger and the agent said access was only limited to those flying in J and SP passengers in Y didn't have access (not sure if it was just at that time due to overcrowding or a general policy, this would have been a little after midnight when there were a lot of US flights leaving and I know a lot of airlines use it for their J passengers). I know they are a PP lounge and wonder if that had something to do with it.

ty97

*looks down in embarrassment* I am a frequent traveler, have been for years, and have had an airline club membership of some form for nearly a decade now. I never really paid any attention to PP, but I got the CSR due to the sign-up deal (as did a friend) and we walked up to a PP lounge at SIN one morning and presented our shiny new credit cards just to told we had to enroll in PP. Oops

So I guess I'm part of the problem?

Zorak

This is general policy. The Sumaq lounge is considered a third party/contract lounge and STE+ on DL metal in Y does not grant access.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...l-lounges.html

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...-benefits.html

jamesteroh

You need the priority pass card and chase doesn't send it automatically for some reason. If you google how to enroll in pp with a csr it a couple websites will walk you through how to do it. Once I figured it out it was pretty easy and I had the ocalagebin about a week

One thing I don't like is with the csr pp you can't use it digitally in the priority pass app so make sure you always have the card

C W

I think many non-frequent travelers got lured in by the word-of-mouth and the 100,000 point sign up bonus, along with the dining bonus category. Chase specifically aimed the card at a younger demographic and seems to have gotten it.

And in fairness, it's a $150 annual fee because the travel credit is essentially a $300 rebate.

DCFinanceinFlight

Respectfully disagree. There are a number of threads in the Chase/Amex forums about who the CSR is targeting etc, with the main conclusion being millennials. I'm a millennial(28) and about 4 or 5 of my co workers who do not travel frequently have the card and have talked about how their friends have it.

Further evidence, it is safe to presume that a frequent traveler would of already had a card providing PP or a club lounge membership. The major change in the system has been the introduction of the CSR, leading to more PP memberships.

Conclusion: In the US Today there are only 3 groups to be blamed for anything; Conservatives, Liberals, and Millennials. I guess we will take this one.

MSPeconomist

AFAIK AmEx doesn't send the PP card automatically either, although it does arrive automatically at renewal time for the PP membership card. Certainly when PP was first introduced as a benefit for those with the regular AmEx Platinum charge card, it was necessary to call customer service and request it.

jamesteroh

You're right it is a $150 after the $300 travel credit. And the sign up bonus is what lured me to the card.

But if someone only travels a few times a year and has kettle status there are a lot better cards out there. Unless someone has a LOT of restaurant spend, if they don't travel much the 3 points/$ isn't going to add up enough to pay for the $150 annual when Citi has a double cashs back card with no annual fee.

And with the reports of people having issues with PP at the Alaska lounges, as a frequent traveler I'm not even sure if it's worth renewing the card myself. The PP benefit is one of the things that makes the card attractive to me since I fly out of Vegas a lot (if the Club at LAS ever drops PP I will drop the CSR). When I travel I usually use my Delta Am Ex for delta purchases and my Hilton card for Hilton charges and the bonus points on my other restaurant and travel charges over the two percent I would get on my citi card might not be enough to justify the $150 fee.

I sure wouldn't have the CSR if I only travelled a few times a year.

All this talk about people blaming CSR for the conditions at the MSP escape lounge is reminding me of some of the threads complaining about Am Ex members getting into the skyclub for free. But since they have stopped guesting privledges into the SC (which as a long time SC member I was biased and appreciated it) the crowds were thinned and the food quality went up so maybe that will happen at the Escape lounge as well. Maybe the smart thing to do would be to is to follow Deltas policy and limit entry to just the PP holder and no guest. IIRC it wasn't a PP lounge when it first opened.

C W

I don't disagree with you. I think there is a disconnect between many of those who have the card and the utility of the card for those people.

DCFinanceinFlight

I do not want to turn this into a big CC conversation, however, with the shift of Escape MSP to Amex Plat, and the CL at LAS; why not switch over? The Club at LAS is not even in the same universe as the CL. Well worth the AF IMO. I fly out of LAS about 5-6 times a year and despite what these forums would have you believe, I have never found it to be obnoxiously full.

C W

Same here. I seem to end up at the LAS Cent lounge about 10 times a year and I have never had a problem getting a seat at the bar.

bj27

I think the lure of having access to airport lounges (which used to be quite exclusive and restrictive) has attracted lots of "kettles" (I use that term reluctantly but I digress) who aren't your typical frequent flier.

Escape @ MSP was not a PP lounge when it first opened, though IIRC they began accepting PP sometime last year (before the wave of CSR happened), hence my hypothesis that the # of cardholders (Amex Plat and Citi Prestige and Ritz cardholders) was not that large. Then CSR happened and everyone and their mother had a PP.

It's sort of a multi-party fault here so it's tough to say it's one party's responsibility: lounges for wanting to maximize revenue by selling empty capacity to PP, banks for adding benefits to premium cards and approving a lot of applications, PP for wanting to add lounges to increase their attractiveness to banks and consumers, and consumers for wanting the exclusivity of an airport lounge. Add these all up and the balance falls apart since there are more PP holders than lounges had anticipated at the beginning.

As we can see the lounges are not necessarily exclusive anymore since it seems everyone has a PP now.

With regards to PP holders being denied at AS lounges, I never had this problem until CSR hit the market.

A contact at AS mentioned that many employees now have the CSR to use the AS lounges when they are flying nonrev/ standby--which has contributed to the overcrowding issue (but she couldn't say by how much).

jamesteroh

Main reason is I already have three Am Ex cards (two deltas and one Hilton) that I use for all my Am Ex purchases and a lot of places don't accept Am Ex. I probably wouldn't get the use out of the $300 travel credit anyway on Am Ex since I only fly Delta/Skyteam and the rare time I check bags I can do for free.

The Am Ex lounge access would be nice in LAS and ATL and if they opened up an Am Ex lounge in DTW I would definitely get the Am Ex card just for lounge access.

bj27

The Cent in LAS is one of my favorites. I visited it long back in 2014 when it first opened (I think? my year might be off) and it was great. I'm not sure if it's overcrowded or whatever now, but when I visited the food, bev, and alc selections were fantastic, fresh, and delicious.

They even had their sponsoring bartender signing books at the bar for guests. That was a neat experience.

I was excited when the Cent came to SEA but it is nowhere in the same league as LAS (and I'm sure SFO, DFW, etc.).