sydneyracquelle

Next time try F. Showers available. DM line last week was only a 5-minute wait.

ChurnieEls

That's kind of wild that a Wednesday afternoon after a holiday weekend is still generating a line.

dw

So much for the hope that all would be fine after Labor Day.

Adelphos

For the past couple of years, Flyertalkers have predicted demand would "plummet" after some specified date (usually after "leisure" travelers either get theit pent up demand out of the way or run out of money). They have been wrong so far. United just said that they are seeing strong demand for the fall, and leisure demand looks like it will be elevated (relative to normal seasonal patterns) through at least early 2023.

Outside of normal seasonality, airports and airplanes will be crowded until we see the real consumer recession (which we obviously aren't in yet). Obviously more people structurally have club access than they did a couple of years ago due to Amex cards.

If you want emptier lounges and airports, maybe check from mid January through late February. That's about it

nineworldseries

Your fanciful and obtuse strawman is certainly entertaining, but we're talking about waiting in these giant lines extending out into the concourse (which I've never seen at any AC or FL) and not the queue inside the lobby to check credentials, which takes like 3 minutes, tops. Yeah, they're the same line, but clearly there is a difference in scale between an AC and a SC line at this point.

CKs are simply not standing in line out in the concourse at DFW or JFK while being hand fed orts like baby birds by lounge attendants. Apparently that's what the equivalent status gets you at a SC. I would be really annoyed if I was worth 50k+ to an airline and I couldn't even get in a Lounge at their hubs because too many Amex holders were already in there.

xjoedx

I may be wrong, but the problem you are referencing seems to be only at JFK. DMs/360 have separate lines in Atlanta where I have never seen anyone waiting in line (since this whole thread is anecdotal data, might as well add mine, right?). I can’t imagine this will continue to persist and JFK will implement the same program as Atlanta. But who knows…

Also, I haven’t seen consistent reporting of lines anywhere other than ATL and JFK. Sure, the occasional line at SLC, LAX, FLL, etc.

So that said, calling the previous poster’s argument a “fanciful and obtuse straw man” is a bit of a reach.

WillBarrett_68

Obtuse, a little, sure, but this isn't a strawman.

In any case, there are multiple pictures in this thread of "360 enter here" signs that bypass the regular schlub line.

flyerCO

AA has electric carts just to move CKs around airport. Trust me when I say AA agents know when they're in presence of people more important than everyone else.

sydneyracquelle

I waited 10-15 minutes in the 360 line last week at ATL F.

BA850

A somewhat delayed data point from 31st August, but I’m posting it nonetheless as it seems issues are still ongoing:

Flying International Business on KLM from JFK with a five hour (-ish) layover having connected from DCA.

Arrived at the SkyClub at 13:00, to find no line:



At this time, the Club was relatively quiet and I was able to take a shower without waiting. The SkyDeck was almost completely empty - doubtless because someone had put up a sign saying it was closed, when it wasn’t - so I perched there for a while before finding a seat inside, as the lounge was starting to fill up very quickly.



I left for my flight at around 17:30, by which time the scene below greeted my outside the lounge:



As others have noted (and I suspect this is JFK-specific), I did not see a separate line for Delta 360/International Business/Diamond Medallion.

Some other general observations:

- The selection of complimentary food and beverages is better than what you’d find in an Admiral’s Club, but I’ve never seen lines like that at an AC, or a Flagship Lounge. It’s a matter of personal preference, but (guaranteed) lounge access is important for me, so I’ll be sticking to AA when flying domestically in the US.

- If you’re flying International Business (as I was), the SkyClub is actually rather sub-par. Paper plates, plastic cutlery and paid drinks are not features you will find in a Flagship Lounge (although I concede that you won’t find a Flagship Lounge at every airport from which AA flies internationally). I can’t comment on Polaris Lounges, as I only very rarely fly United.

- While I arrived early enough to avoid the enormous queue, it nevertheless stinks for Frequent Flyers and those who have paid thousands of $$$ for an international business ticket* to have to wait for access like that.

*Again, I know that there’s a separate line for this category of traveller at many airports, but there isn’t at JFK and the operation there is enormous, so it isn’t good enough.

Adelphos

Delta’s model is to have higher quality “normal” lounges than basically anyone, and have them be very accessible via credit card. They have not yet unveiled a business class lounge yet.

You can say “well as an international business class passenger, I am getting a worse product than AA Flagship.” Well, I can say, as a coach passenger flying from LaGuardia to Portland Maine or Fort Myers, FL, Delta offers by far the best lounge experience available.

BA850

You can indeed - if you can get in

As I noted, it’s a matter of personal preference, but I would prefer to fly AA domestically and be all-but guaranteed access to a lounge which isn’t quite as good as a SkyClub (although the refurbished ACs do come close, IMHO) than fly Delta and spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for access.

Just my two cents.

jetsfan92588

But you did get in, with no wait... Sounds like you're not going to fly DL after this experience because other people had to wait/ maybe you would have had to wait?

Of course, everyone is free to use their own criteria on who to fly, but to me it seems silly to refuse to fly an airline in the future because of something that could have happened, but didn't even happen. I would venture to guess most people here have enough problems that actually do occur on their travels where they don't have the energy to be upset about what could have gone wrong.

StayingHomeIsBetter

I had no trouble on my last trip. Of course, two departures were at 6:00 AM and I avoided ATL.

First rule of travel bliss... avoid ATL.

BA850

This is a 31-page thread about it happening with regularity. It didn’t happen to me by sheer luck. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say I’ll fly with an airline which doesn’t have such issues.