*A new lounge policy for Guest access eff: May 3, 2021
 

Guest must fly on same flight now

https://loyaltylobby.com/2021/01/13/...ge-may-3-2021/

I'm missing something maybe, but doesn't the wording relative to domestic flights apply to UCs, not *A Lounges. I don't see a change in that respect, only the guest-being-on-same-flight change.

Edit: I've re-read it twice - it doesn't look like any aspect of lounge access has changed except for companions of *A Golds, who must now be on same flight.

Please correct me if I'm wrong (which I am from time to time)...

I agree. I don't see a major change here, just that you can no longer guest in a companion if you're not on the same flight.

I totally read that wrong. I believe you are correct. oops on me. Ill edit it.

This appears to be a *A change, not a UA change.

And thus probably not the best forum for this thread.

Agreed

Will move

If UA changes the policy its UCs, time for a UA Forum thread


WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

Poor judgment by *A. Reducing benefits in the midst of the worst crisis the industry has seen. I mean how big of impact does this have vs. the notion 'we are cheap and we are further reducing benefits'. Why do this? It's super stupid.

Not that I agree, but...

It may have been on a list of things to do. This pandemic has given them an opportunity to alleviate the problem without much incident since no one who likely utilized this approach is traveling right now (though it was probably a tiny fraction of travelers who did to begin with).

When travel was at an all time high, it probably would’ve garnered attention. Today (Early 2021)? Not so much.

I can’t see this as a recent problem someone brought up. My best guess is someone brought this idea to management before 2020 and was shot down. They probably saw an opportunity to cut some cost, and when it was brought up again recently ‘voila’.

Or, it was a large enough cost cut but they couldn’t justify it at the time.

Just my opinion.

Or.. it could be a way of reducing the spread of the virus, not saying it will, but could be the motivation, however I think if that was the case they would have used that excuse, then again to avoid the anti virus containment sentiment in the US, maybe not @!

I’m not sure I understand “anti virus containment sentiment in the US”.

I agree that if that was their goal, they would likely made sure it was known that it was in fact their goal. They would have made a point about it, but they don’t seem to have, so it was likely a smaller problem (in their view) that they fixed while travel demand was low.

The change from 'same day' to 'same flight' was kicked off by the 'big five' in the *A. Lufthansa went public first: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luft...ay-2021-a.html

Expect it to be rolled out *A wide in the course of the year.

Honestly, the previous policy is just such an obscure loophole, and I would not be surprised if few people beyond the realm of FT were even aware that it was ever OK to invite random strangers on different flights into the lounge as a guest. I can imagine someone from LH or another airline caught wind of people exploiting this policy and decided to crack down. Perhaps if people had only utilized it on the rare occasion where they were traveling at the same time on a different flight from a close acquaintance, there would have been no reason or cause to crack down. But with people openly advertising to random strangers to be escorted in (sometimes in exchange for payment), it was only a matter of time before this benefit would be cut. As long as they do not require everyone to be on the same PNR, it seems like a reasonable and inevitable rule change that will have little impact aside from reducing overcrowding.

I used this benefit exactly once to guest in a colleague at YVR after a team meet when I was flying PDX-YVR-FRA and he was flying PDX-YVR-HND.

I'm not going to lose sleep over it but sad that they've taken that away.

A pity imo. Will put an end to offering to guest FT-members who happen to pass through at the same time as me and perhaps share a cup of coffee. Never been able to take advantage of it myself, but offered it when I could. Can't imagine there are many cases of guesting people not on the same flight, so seems like just another small degradation in the never ending list of ways to save a penny by cheapening the overall experience for the customer.

Nothing is "free" it is simply included. I have no desire to subsidize entry for people who hang around lounge entrances hoping for a hand out. Access available to anyone who purchases an appropriate class of service or flies enough to have it become worthwhile for the carrier to subsidize.