For some of us who have to travel to the DC area, IAD is way out of the way for me and DCA is very convenient with easy access to Metro and close walk to gates compared to IAD with Metro that will probably arrive in 2055 and having a long truck to the gates.

Yeah IAD is almost never a good option. If not checking bags, I can arrive at T-35 (thanks Clear). Can't do that at IAD.

I'm surprised they didn't do this earlier with the DCA-LAX D1 service launching.

Have a couple of glasses of real champagne at the Air France lounge and you'll be fine.

They may have wanted to see if it went over well enough to continue it.

Also the LAX-DCA route was only upgraded to D1 service a few months before launch so probably not much time to do renovation work in that short time frame especially with the peak summer travel season coming up around that time. It makes sense to do the renovation during off peak months.

There's really nothing wrong with the club- I don't know what all this whining is about.

I'm sure the upgrades will be nice and I'm looking forward to them, but anyone who lives inside the beltway and regularly takes IAD doesn't value their time; unless you fly United and want the directs.

Bolding mine, the directs would save someone time, which makes your argument bizarre.

The bar needs to be updated in DCA. IMO the best thing they could of done is move the bar to the windows, allowing patrons to look out the windows at the capital/downtown.

Has anyone been sent to the VIP/protocol room to alleviate crowding in the DCA SC during the construction and partial closure?

They have opened up a room (there's a pic above in the thread) that if you walk towards the restrooms and take a left (down a previously closed hall) that is now open for business.

Would make sense if that was previously used for the purpose you describe.

You can see the front door of the VIP/protocol room from the hallway as you enter the DCA SC. It's to the left. Does the back entrance that you describe lead to the same room?

The room is off to the left of where the entrance to the SC is for us plebs. So could be.

Didn't notice any door in the room, but wasn't looking. Will check Friday and report back.

I checked it out yesterday. Basically the same as the rest of the club, except the carpet and furniture are obviously less worn. It's a nice space.

It's small, particularly the food and bar area as well as the bathrooms.

The renovation is inconvenient, but it should be finished rather quick. There's not a lot of physical renovations they can do in that space - mostly cosmetic, I suspect.

The DCA SC agents are some of the best in the system IMO.