iluv2fly

I would agree with this. However, if the "guestor" leaves, the guests should too. That's the rule. Never heard of it being enforced, but that's not the point.

Are you against following the rules? Or selectively following the ones you like?

sbm12

Sure, but once you leave they have no right to be there.

Inside the UClub they are, actually. Their access is predicated on someone else with more rights being there.

The agent tossing out the "if your guest gets drunk" bit is silly but otherwise enforcing the rules isn't a problem IMO.

cbrown5294

I did not, he just went into that rant.

1353513636

How the heck would they enforce that if you spent any longer than 5 minutes inside the club?

Baze

Then you may have been the victim of a very rude customer that checked in just before you. The employee should be able to get over it and approach every member with a smile. But I think all of us can be guilty of taking a few minutes to get over something and it is those few minutes that can cause the problem. Of course we weren't there and we only have your side of the story so no way I am going to pass judgement one way or the other on the attitude. But enforcing the rules was the right thing to do.

mgcsinc

Rules exist as enforced, not as written. And I say that as a lawyer. It's a basic part of the reality that I live in, and I'm surprised that so many people on this board seem to live in an alternative reality where unenforced but written rules are considered rules at all.

The rules-are-rules stupidity here is insane to me. Others disagree.

Baze

Seems like a lot of what people do on here drives you insane, like people getting into lanes before boarding starts or people who check bags and have to wait for the bag at the end. You must be a really insane person

iluv2fly

But that's the reality he lives in.

danville 1K

Never happened to me at a UC, but did happen once at the Maple Leaf Club in Toronto about 12 years ago. The agent held both our boarding passes to ensure compliance. A bit more difficult to do that today with smart phones.

mgcsinc

Hehe, you're getting to know me so well!

I live in the reality where rules are decided by practice, not by writing. I promise you that that's the real world, notwithstanding what a bunch of fine-print-reading FTers would like to think. It is remarkable that anyone here is supportive of this disgusting, anti-customer behavior.

mre5765

The club was in SEA. A small club. Even lighter attendence now that the tpacs are gone and DL has moved into SEA. Probably a ghost town now. So the ratio of lounge gate keeper to lounge customers is an order or two magnitudes higher than at a hub club. So easy to police. This gate keeper probably patrols the club looking for unescorted guests every five minutes.

jewels421

I'm of the mindset that having the rule is fine/necessary. But, it seems exactly the opposite of pro-customer to enforce it in a situation where the Club is not crowded. Not sure how you could claim the guest staying an extra half hour in that case would be hurting any "real" members (although, if it's crowded I can see a better rationale for enforcement). And I would assume that situation is rare enough that the total number of, say, extra carrot packets consumed is pretty minimal.

Anyways, the rules are the rules, but I think knowing when to bend them for a customer (and when not to) is an important part of customer service. Bending the rules to make a customer happy in a way that doesn't have a meaningful impact on other customers or the company seems like a reasonable thing to do to me.

mherdeg

Well, I dunno about that, but I think the "lounge staff" does come with some patrol requirements. Once saw agents at IAH come by about once every 15 minutes asking people to take their feet off the furniture and pointing to the big "please don't put your feet on the furniture" sign next to the guests' feet on the furniture. Why guests kept failing to comply, I have no idea. Whether this is part of the job you know you're signing up for when you bid for it, no clue.

flybit

my thought.

MSPeconomist

Most airport lounges have similar rules, although they don't seem to be uniformly enforced.

What I found disturbing here is not the policy or its enforcement, but the way the lounge dragon spoke to the OP in front of the guest. The rudeness and worse must have made the situation very awkward for both member and guest. This would be extremely embarrassing if the guest were a business client.

However, the OP didn't discuss details of the guest and the relationship, although that's not the business of the dragon. The drunk comment makes me wonder whether the guest were underage and the lounge had a self serve bar. In that case, there could be special concern about enforcement. In fact, for all we know, the lounge could have been warned/cited recently for providing alcohol to minors in a situation in which a teenaged guest remained unsupervised after the host left.