lensman

Like all businesses, the cost of consumables is but a small part of the cost of providing the service. It's like they tell you on those restaurant makeover shows - if you don't include enough margin, you'll go out of business. Let's compare pre-merger RCC with today. How many drinks did UA think they could give away for free and not lose their shirts on RCCs? Two per international premium class customer. I guess they tried out giving away more and it hasn't worked out for them. Obviously another miscalculation by management based on applying a management technique based on the pre-merger CO demographic to the post-merger UA demographic and having it not work out.

We're seeing the same thing at the company I work at. The management from one side of the house is applying their management instincts to my side of the house and it has resulted in a number of issues for the firm. Ultimately they learned their lesson and are making big corrections.
I don't go into the United Club for the food, drinks or to sit on Corinthian leather. I go there to relax and read, have quiet conversation with my wife or colleagues, and do some work on decent wifi someplace with conveniently placed power plugs. While there I need hydration and sometimes a small snack. I don't know the psychology of day passes but I know I didn't didn't buy my membership to get sloshed or for the food.

That said the mentality of offering an embarassingly low quality bottom shelf liquors, beer and wine is questionable. But maybe this is just a first step and the second step will be the announcement that they've decided to drop the unacceptably low quality stuff altogether and we'll have to pay for everything.

Duke787

LGA UC (which is one of my favorite's apart from it being outside security) is still serving Seagram's 7 as of right now. The actual pamphlet which lists complimentary spirits still have the list we've always known. Perhaps they are just drawing down existing reserves.

andyh64000

Except that membership cost has gone up at least 33% since then and most other airlines in the world give it away for free to their premium flyers with a much higher level of service. This is just another way the airline is trying to nickel and dime is best customers.

sanfran8080

+1. That's great.

cerealmarketer

2 day passes are given free to every Explorer credit card holder upon account activation and anniversary date. I think that's what the bartender is referring to - a flood of those.

lensman

How do you calculate/define "at least 33%"?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the timeline is that at the end of 2008, RCC general membership went up from $425 to $475. I'll assert that this was to rationalize UA RCC membership fees with CO President's Club membership fees. It's not surprising that they would rationalize pricing to the higher of the two. You *might* also guess that the $50 is supposed to pay for the free alcohol for domestic or Y international travelers.

End of 2012 and they raise prices by another $25. Simplistically, I'll assume that they might be trying to cover the ever rising costs of the free alcohol program.

What do they discover? This is a bad strategy. It's not the paying members drinking all the booze, it's the *A Golds, Explorer pass folks and the Priority Pass members drinking all the cheap booze. International J/F customers are paying their way drinking premium wines like it's water and domestic business travelers are keeping sober on their way to work or because they have to drive home after landing after a hard week's work - either that or they are also paying their way buying top shelf bourbon.

I'll argue that their best customers are buying the top shelf stuff not the swill.

Maybe this is a trend? I wouldn't mind paying for better F food/beverages or even higher grade BOB Y food.

kale73

Are you implying that the pmCO demographic was composed of a comparatively greater percentage of teetotalers or that the pmUA demographic was composed of a comparatively greater percentage of alcoholics?

Kmxu

I visited CLE UC today. I use a MAC. It is very painless to access to the united_club wifi. That is, type in my MP number and its PIN. UCs in IAD, EWR, BOS, PHX have not adopted the new procedure yet. Happy travels.

kit125

To add insult to injury on the "improvements", the F UC at ORD is closed today for a private event.

Duke787

Forgot to add that WiFi was still unlocked and was accessed in the normal (old) way without the need for password / pin / log-in / MP # / etc.

worldtrav

Were you able to access the wifi using multiple devices?

Kmxu

Sorry, I cannot answer your question. Hopefully, someone will answer this question soon. Cheers.

lensman

Neither, my hypothesis of demographic differences is that to some extent pmUA but certainly the merged carrier has many more super-high frequency travelers and commuters - as an example in the LAX-SFO market and that the all-you-can-drink for $50 model is uneconomic for that demographic.

Also, it's a bit improbable but for illustration let's suppose a dual-carrier pmUA/pmCO frequent flier. Prior to the merger, she buys *both* RCC and PC memberships. After the merger, she only needs to buy a single UC membership. Also, since she is now 1K on UA instead of middle tier on both pmUA and pmCO, that membership is actually cheaper due to the better 1K membership discount.

It's actually one of those cases where the merger could creates some negative economics for UA. Though of course they will have positive economics from consolidating clubs in cities where both pre-merger airlines had clubs. Net net, there are probably more negatives for the club system because the existing clubs will end up overcrowded.

LarkSFO

How long ago was it that the United Club introduced complimentary alcoholic beverages?

Has it even been two years?

andyh64000

I thought mine went from $300 2 years ago to $400 today.

UA is once again looking at things in a vacuum. They figure they can make more money by skimping on the Alcohol except that the people using the club frequently view this as part of the whole UA experience not the Club as a separate enterprise. This is just one more reason to consider the switch to Delta or AA or at least drop my membership (which I will almost certainly do now and just use as *G).