StayingHomeIsBetter

It's Las Vegas. They can no longer afford a hotel room.

jetsfan92588

Not disagreeing about finger pointing, you can complain to amex, Delta, cfpb, AG, DOT, but the fact is if what you actually want is a prorated refund of the annual fee, it's very easy to get that. You just downgrade your card.

emma dog

I'd like to give DL the benefit of the doubt and presume they've run the numbers on how many excess people are trying to access the clubs at any given time and have identified the marginal changes that are needed to accomplish these numbers.

DL is a highly-data driven company and I suspect they know their club's business model better than any of us armchair CEOs. I'd also bet dollars they also talk clubs with Amex to identify possible Centurion Lounge locations, etc., and coordinate. Hence the once being built in ATL which otherwise doesn't make a ton of sense given the selected terminal (e.g. it's not in the C gates) that would be convent for WN fliers. (Before anyone throws stones re WN and Centurion... I'm basing my thoughts on the location in DEN that is only convenient to WN and NK fliers).

N515CR

That's well-said, and on top of all that, throw in the physical reality of 'where can you put another club, of any type, in the ATL airport without a massive construction project.' The former LH-lounge space starts to look very attractive in that sense.

MSPeconomist

There was a time when the regular AmEx Plat charge card was difficult to get. In fact, when it was first introduced, it was by invitation only and required a good history with AmEx as well as income and credit history requirements. Now it seems that everyone and their dog has one, which makes it difficult to offer the traditional benefits like lounge access. It once was more of a travel card (with benefits like PTS, FHR, fine dining, elite hotel status, Hertz upgrades and free additional hours, free delivery of foreign currency, free travelers' checks, etc.), not something that offers discounts or additional points through offers (that you must first add to your card) with a large number of merchants, most of which don't interest me at all.

IMO AmEx has lost its focus and especially the Plat charge card is trying to be too many things to almost everyone. The result is mobbed lounges, including their own Centurion lounges as well as SkyClubs, but without the flexibility of access to other airline lounges (AA, CO, and US were once included) or even to all of the PP lounges.

I wish they would undo what they've created and bring back the traditional Plat charge card with its traditional benefits and not the garbage.

Adelphos

I know this has been discussed for years on the Amex board, but

1) Amex is no longer able to offer AA, CO and US lounges due to airline mergers and exclusive bank contracts - can't blame Amex for that
2) Outside of access to those lounges, AA has retained all travel benefits they used to have and added new ones (5x airfare, various travel credits, Clear)
3) People claim to be unhappy with Amex Platinum, yet the card is as popular as it ever has been, thus resulting in some of the crowding issues we see
4) The traveling public as a whole has expanded dramatically since Amex Platinum was introduced - I don't see any evidence Amex Platinum cardholders are less creditworthy or less able to afford the experiences relative to earlier, more people simply have money than they did in the 1980s and 1990s

Those asking Amex to reverse changes to the Amex Platinum are asking them to give up revenues and growth voluntarily

ekozie

A couple updates:

-Phone complaint to Amex yielded a modest statement credit and a promise to escalate the complaint re: new access rules. I'm planning on writing in too, and haven't written my nastygram to DL yet

-Currently at LGA Term C club - the now infamous "we're at capacity" banner was up outside, the by agents welcomed me in and the club is ~60-70% full (aside: the smaller LGA T3 club is now closed in advance of the move to the new headhouse)

-I've heard from a couple agents that they hate the changes, were not consulted in any way about the changes, and - perhaps most ominously - the people at DL running the clubs are relatively new hires who previously ran hotel exec/concierge lounges. If this is true, the problem soon won't be overcrowding, but rather no food, no drinks, and lounges closed 80% of the time.

Bonus shower thought:

-Is "overcrowding" perhaps a catch-all word for the problem that includes legitimate overcrowding, but also lack of general decorum by club guests? Kids running around, loud phone calls or conversations, getting hammered at the bar, etc.?

JTE458

Ah yes, I LOVE the M lounge that is closed literally 95% of the time I try to use it. Marriott is a joke for closing on weekends.

StayingHomeIsBetter

And we know what happened to those lounges.

KDCAflyer

Well, it looks like my "B-team MBAs made this decision" comment up thread was spot on.

MrHockey

I can guarantee you with certainty that 99% of the employees you encounter and voice your "displeasure" at will stare at you for a minute. This minute that they spend staring at you will be to stifle the gut busting laugh they're desperately trying to push down to not embarrass you. Knowing someone close to me who works for the widget I can assure you that your dilemma about not being able to score free food, drinks and be pampered like a low tiered medallion is thee LAST thing on their mind. I can tell you that having enough staff to cover the PM shift and all that entails comes first. Your emergency rates about 35th down the list. Suck it up buttercup and go to the food court.

rylan

I for one will be calling to complain to both Delta and Amex. I also just recently paid my annual Reserve Amex fee, and still have some paid SC memberships from years ago that are active. I consider the removal of arrival access a significant benefit reduction, as I utilize this often for things like a cleaner bathroom, to grab some water or a snack and wait a short time for my ride to get picked up at the airport or to avoid having to sit in rush hour traffic depending where I'm at.

cubeman

Another thing I'd say in 2022, the fact they don't announce the statistics of how bad it was just makes me believe these are measures that FIRST save money, SECOND help with overcrowding. Delta trying to be the most "Consumer friendly" Airline should just have released a statement saying "10-15% of a skyclubs capacity is arrivals and 30% is people longer then 3 hours". At-least we'd have a data point to understand. I'd also be surprised if they even had a system that tracked the metrics considering how sub-par their IT systems are. They probably just paid some guy minimum wage for the day to track incoming guests for a few hours at ATL or LGA and based everything off those results

KDCAflyer

Reminds me of when they had an employee with a manual counter sitting at the Qatar gate at ATL a few years back 😂

I can totally see it.

UnevenGray

I've got a buddy at the widget, and I can tell you that it is unfortunately a lot less true than you'd expect or want it to be.