bearwoody

Over Thanksgiving, a German customer in one of the ORD lounges shouted, "You mean I spend over $5000 for a ticket, and I have to pay for a drink? There is absolutely no reason to fly United anymore!" And you'd better believe he passed this story along to his business friends in Germany.

When I recounted this to the supervisor at one of the DEN clubs, he visibly winced. He admitted that some of the changes weren't thought through, and that they are currently "experimenting."

The main question is how high up the chain stories like this are passed. Something tells me SMI/J never hears them.

LaserSailor

Just wanted to open another avenue of discussion on this.

I think most will choose one and only one "high fee" card...ie either chase Club OR Amex Plat. While I could see both working for me, I think if the Centurion a Club became my lounge of choice the 1.5x miles bonus would have pay for itself on thE Chase Club...that's something like 50k additional miles at my value of 1cpm, so 100k spend on just that one card.

That's a lot of real spend.

It could get real interesting if the CC side of this goes south for Chase

monserco1

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthew...ends-march-22/

It also has a nice run down of the lounges that you can still access with the Platinum card.

I think that's the crux of the problem- you hear/read all the time about how airlines are falling all over each other trying to woo the high-paying customer and something seemingly as trivial as UA's penny-pinching "complimentary" bar service is enough to tip an expense account to another airline.

kevinsac

That's the issue for me ... I doubt Centurion will be located in the many airports to which I travel.

LaserSailor

That same site reports that the Amex plat will no longer get you into AA and US lounges next year, so it will be a pure DL product

monserco1

And Alaska- which I have been to a few and are not bad.

LarkSFO

American Express knows where the frequent travelers and the money are at SFO: T3 and the connected International Terminal G...

But, when in T2 and flying AA, I do enjoy the Admiral's Club.


Wouldn't OW elites typically be coming from and going to Terminal A (from T2)? In which case they are already outside of security and so a stop at a landside T3 Centurion lounge just may make sense for some.

pbd456

I access KLM lounge using the PP comes with Amex everytime I go via IAH. The food is much better, except no shower.
I think few are aware of this.

skidooman

Customer was right.

Hell, when I pay $1,500 to sit uncomfortably for 14 hours, I think I deserve a free drink or two. Or three.

I think SMI/J is very much focused on the bottom line. Cutting alcohol is attractive, it brings immediate savings. Problem, of course, is that your international competitors are not being as cheap as you, so ultimately you end up .......izing the brand (which was not flying high to begin with). Result is that in the end you can charge less for your basic transportation services. Costs are down, but revenues even more so.

It is too bad that UA chose to align itself with the no frills American companies rather than consider its competition coming from abroad.

SFHokie

I've been a United Club member for quite a while now. (Well, back in the day it was the RCC instead of UC, but you get the drift.) For the most part I'm content with the UC as it does provide a bit of "congestion relief" from the terminals (especially at IAD) and access to agents when flight problems happen. Yes, the food selection is terrible, clubs often are too crowded, workers usually in a pissed off or "don't care" mood ... but it is way better than the alternative: sitting at the gate around hordes of people.

Recently a friend got me turned onto the the AMEX Platinum charge card. One of its benefits is access to the AMEX Centurion lounges (which I think are in LAS, DFW, LGA, SFO, and MIA ... don't quote me on all the locations, I've only been in the SFO one so far, LAS will be in two weeks) for you and a companion. The lounge at SFO is nice, really nice, and it got me thinking "Yes, this is what the United Clubs should be like". Big differences between the two clubs, some of which are small changes, others are larger/more expensive ones, include:

• Better atmosphere, seating arrangements
• Shower facilities
• Hot and cold food items prepared fresh
• Much larger selection of complimentary wines, alcohol, coffee, teas
• Waitstaff that walk around with small round trays instead of ugly grey plastic carts
• The "feel" of more attention instead of "just another passenger" from anyone you encounter
• Cloth napkins and actual plates & silverware for the food

There have been some updates to United Clubs in certain locations (notably the F terminal at ORD), but it still lacks shower facilities and people walking around with small trays instead of the push carts.

While I doubt that anyone from United is going to be reading this thread, if they do, I suggest it would be very valuable to visit numerous AMEX Centurion lounges and experience the difference and figure out a way on how to make this happen for the United Clubs! Heck, and I hate to say this, but if anyone at United is reading this, you might even want to add multiple tiers that you can "purchase" a "subscription" to (or a one-day "cover charge") to help defer the costs of such a different type of lounge. (You already do charge different fees for things like checked-bags and alcoholic beverages while on a flight...)

Anyway, I know I'm rambling a bit on this thread, so I'll wrap up with a question: Has anyone else experienced other lounges like the Centurion lounge from other domestic airlines or have other suggestions on how to make, as a brand, the United Clubs better?

UA-NYC

Unfortunately, as long as the clubs are full (as they always seem to be), UA has zero incentive to improve them. We've even seen a bunch of small little cuts to the F&B offering.

IMO DL & AA lounges are both better...DL for a decently solid food program, and AA for at least offering for sale a wide variety of quality, yet reasonably priced food. UA does neither.

I can attest to the LGA AmEx lounge being equally as good!

mgcsinc

United completely fills its lounges with folks who pay plenty. Why would it improve?

xox

United certainly knows how to do decent lounges ... just look at HKG and T2 at LHR.

And I will get the AMEX Platinum just for the Centurion lounges if they expand to more domestic locations ... of their Centurion locations we usually only travel through SFO ... if they add a Centurion lounge at ORD and EWR, or at ORD and IAH, hey I'm there.

Maybe ORD will be next ... they have both coasts covered, the Caribbean, the center south of the country, maybe next will be center north ... would United welcome them to ORD? How much does UA make (or lose) from their domestic clubs?

dulcamara

ORD really needs a Vino Volo, but I'll take an AMEX lounge as a decent 2nd choice.

I've only been to the Centurion Lounge at LGA, and it's made me an AA flyer on the RDU-LGA route now that DL won't let my wife in the club.

mre5765

And how long will the UCs be full when AMEX continues to build lounges in UA concourses. People aren't stupid, especially the type of people who fly frequently enough to justiify an airline club membership. I won't be renewing my UC membership.