Guest made to leave UA club when I left
Sep 29, 2014, 8:11 pm
#76
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
How is it customer-unfriendly? The guest is not a customer. The people using the lounge legitimately are the customers. At times I go into the Lounge at SFO international and can't find 2 seats together for me and my wife to sit. I wonder how many "guests" are consuming space that paid flyers should have access to. Protecting that is customer friendly.
I don't understand why this is so hard for people. There's like an average of 0.2 unaccompanied guests per club at any given time. Enforcing this rule accomplishes precisely zero crowd-reduction and is incredibly obnoxious.
Sep 29, 2014, 8:24 pm
#77
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: EUG
Programs: UA Gold; IHG Spire Elite
Posts: 443
How is it customer-unfriendly? The guest is not a customer. The people using the lounge legitimately are the customers. At times I go into the Lounge at SFO international and can't find 2 seats together for me and my wife to sit. I wonder how many "guests" are consuming space that paid flyers should have access to. Protecting that is customer friendly.
Anyways, I agree with the folks who have said that unaccompanied guests are likely a very, very minor contributor to overcrowding (I'll be generous and say maybe 1-2% of the problem).
Sep 29, 2014, 9:12 pm
#78
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA MM Gold, AA Ex Plat, SPG Plat,Hyatt Diamond, Marriott Gold, National Executive Elite
Posts: 992
Or imagine if you were traveling with your spouse and your flights were to leave at the same time and suddenly MX or weather causes them to be delayed for hours? Something similar happened with massive storms in ORD and my elderly mom was stuck for an additional 4 hours after I left on time...I could not imagine her having to go sit on the floor near the gates since the airport was a zoo. There are always rules but I would imagine most of you in all your days of flying UA have asked them to bend or look the other way
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Sep 29, 2014 at 9:15 pm Reason: fixed BBcode
Sep 29, 2014, 10:36 pm
#79
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: US Gold, DL, AA, UA
Posts: 145
On more than one occasion, usually when I am on a late flight and the person next to me is going to misconnect, invited them into the club to avoid the long lines. We normally have a few drinks and, if I have an earlier flight, I leave them to enjoy. I warn them they could be asked to leave and have never had a problem. I look at it as "passing it forward."
Sep 30, 2014, 2:21 am
#80
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: TLV
Programs: UA Platinum, Avis Chairman, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, GA Pilot
Posts: 3,225
Ultimately I think the thing to do in this situation is what someone once told me about how to deal with my wife: just smile and say "sure, whatever you want" and then go do whatever you were going to do anyway.
Sep 30, 2014, 7:46 am
#81
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,417
+1
Or imagine if you were traveling with your spouse and your flights were to leave at the same time and suddenly MX or weather causes them to be delayed for hours? Something similar happened with massive storms in ORD and my elderly mom was stuck for an additional 4 hours after I left on time...I could not imagine her having to go sit on the floor near the gates since the airport was a zoo. There are always rules but I would imagine most of you in all your days of flying UA have asked them to bend or look the other way
Or imagine if you were traveling with your spouse and your flights were to leave at the same time and suddenly MX or weather causes them to be delayed for hours? Something similar happened with massive storms in ORD and my elderly mom was stuck for an additional 4 hours after I left on time...I could not imagine her having to go sit on the floor near the gates since the airport was a zoo. There are always rules but I would imagine most of you in all your days of flying UA have asked them to bend or look the other way
Sep 30, 2014, 9:26 am
#82
Join Date: May 2006
Location: STL
Programs: UA Platinum, AA Platinum Pro, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 1,429
sorry, you really think that a few dozen FT'ers giving/receiving free access for an hour or two a week is what has led to club overcrowding and service quality decreases? if you honestly believe that i have a beach house in Arizona on the market... 
i've posted looking for access in the Wiki about a dozen times this year and been contacted by another FT'er to gift access exactly once.
similarly, i've offered access a few times and never been contacted by someone seeking access on the same dates and time.
blame Chase and UA for being in bed with them if you are looking for a scapegoat. 2x club passes per year times millions of card holders = a total s*** show in the UC's.
i've posted looking for access in the Wiki about a dozen times this year and been contacted by another FT'er to gift access exactly once.
similarly, i've offered access a few times and never been contacted by someone seeking access on the same dates and time.
blame Chase and UA for being in bed with them if you are looking for a scapegoat. 2x club passes per year times millions of card holders = a total s*** show in the UC's.
Sep 30, 2014, 9:38 am
#83
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57,613
And don't get me wrong I realize the intent of helping fellow FT's out. I suppose when I see posts "need to be guested 9/14 at EWR and then 9/17 at ORD and then 9/25 at SFO it gets out of hand. If club access is so important when you travel buy it. Consequently if F is so important when you fly buy it. The premium products have been cheapened because no one sees them as much of a premium.
Sep 30, 2014, 10:17 am
#84
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: London; Bangkok; Las Vegas
Programs: AA Exec Plat; UA MM Gold; Marriott Lifetime Titanium; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 8,745
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.
The rules-are-rules stupidity here is insane to me. Others disagree.
And I say that as an admitted, practicing lawyer.
What it sounds like to me is a self-centered person who wants to pick and choose what rules should be applied to them.
There is nothing valuable on UA any more.
Sep 30, 2014, 10:27 am
#85
Join Date: Jul 2003
Programs: UA1K 3MM, AS MVP 75K Gold
Posts: 2,706
Interesting thread. Looks like it's the "rules are rules" crowd vs. the "rules are meant to be bent" crowd.
In the years I've been going to the club, I've never been asked if any guest I was bringing in was on a different flight. Unless I'm the exception, I suspect it's not a matter of policy to ask every member if their guest is leaving at the same time due to liability issues, etc.
I've also had the situation, say, at the SFO club where I went to the restroom and it was being cleaned so I walked out to use the restroom outside. I've never been called back and asked if I'm leaving, did I bring a guest, where is that guest, and so on.
I also find it interesting that no one has slammed the "meet up" thread here in FT where members are willing to "guest" in total strangers into the club. Then again, I wouldn't want to get into a long discussion of that existentialist question, "What is a guest?"
In the years I've been going to the club, I've never been asked if any guest I was bringing in was on a different flight. Unless I'm the exception, I suspect it's not a matter of policy to ask every member if their guest is leaving at the same time due to liability issues, etc.
I've also had the situation, say, at the SFO club where I went to the restroom and it was being cleaned so I walked out to use the restroom outside. I've never been called back and asked if I'm leaving, did I bring a guest, where is that guest, and so on.
I also find it interesting that no one has slammed the "meet up" thread here in FT where members are willing to "guest" in total strangers into the club. Then again, I wouldn't want to get into a long discussion of that existentialist question, "What is a guest?"
Sep 30, 2014, 11:13 am
#86
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NCL
Programs: UA 1MM/*G. DL Gold for one more year.
Posts: 5,305
Both answers are wrong, of course. I wish the disclaimer "Nothing in this manual supersedes common sense" from the CO of old had survived long enough to make it into the merged entity.
Sep 30, 2014, 11:45 am
#87
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: EUG
Programs: UA Gold; IHG Spire Elite
Posts: 443
Count me in the "rules can sometimes be bent when there's not a meaningful negative impact on the company or other customers" crowd.
Sep 30, 2014, 12:04 pm
#88
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Suburban Philadelphia
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG Gold
Posts: 3,392
Love that common sense quote. I mean, I think most people would be seriously up in arms if that cbrown5294's elderly mother had been kicked out because her flight was delayed and his was not. That's pretty common sense to me.
Count me in the "rules can sometimes be bent when there's not a meaningful negative impact on the company or other customers" crowd.
Count me in the "rules can sometimes be bent when there's not a meaningful negative impact on the company or other customers" crowd.
Lost in this whole debate is the crass behavior of the lounge dragon. Anyone who complains when we refer to them as "lounge dragons" should refer to this thread.