sdix

I took American Express up on their offer last year as an "enhanced" Centurion Card benefit.

I used it once with my family and actually thought the experience was awesome. There were a few other passengers there but it wasn't crowded. Now they are discounting the lounge for UA passengers so I expect it to actually become crowded.

If you want to divorce yourself completely from the terminal experience this is the way to do it. To me the best part was arriving back internationally. We were met on the jetway and driven across to the terminal where we cleared customs in a matter of seconds. We only had carry on but it supposedly works for checked bags as well but would take longer as they have to take your bags off the plane separately.

Gig103

Sounds pretty nifty, but at what point does the surcharge cause UA J fares to encroach on LH F fares, which also comes with a dedicated terminal in FRA? I ask because I fly J out of LAX and when I heard about it this morning (prior to popping onto FT and reading about the "Q" surcharge) I was thinking it was a reason to start pricing up UA fares.

CHOPCHOP767

Completely different category of passenger, really? Aspen? On a CRJ700... Come on, UA has underserved LAX for years, hence the reliance on a third party to try to attract high net worth pax. I applaud UA for trying this out and I hope it works, but this comes after years of mistakes at their "hub" there.

Gig103

How do you see it being crowded? The website says "totally private suites", but I haven't been there like you have to get the real picture of it.

greg99

From the FAQ:

sincx

Well, luckily, there is a solution for long TSA and Custom lines for the rest of us normal people. It's Global Entry, which costs $100 for 5 years, not $1500 per flight. Immigration and customs took, combined, 3 minutes for me last week at SFO coming in from Australia.

Gig103

Got it -- The Private Suite's website is all fluff, but one of the points bloggers did a more comprehensive review that I found after posting my question - including the fact that there are day-rooms and also a lounge.

greg99

It's also not immediately obvious from the fluff that there's only one UA room, so you're counting on there not being many people willing to drop this kind of coin, although after, for instance, Oscar week, you can't necessarily assume that.

sinoflyer

$100 for 5 years also works fine for or'nary folk like me. But admittedly, the LAX experience is much more strenuous even with Pre√ and Global Entry such that $1,500 for Private Suite really isn't all that unreasonable.

On my most recent international arrival, HKG-LAX on CX, I cleared immigration using Global Entry within 10 minutes of the pilot setting the brakes; however, the time savings were negated by the wait for baggage delivery (15 minutes for the first first-class and oneworld Emerald-tagged bags to come out). Then there is the current condition of LAX. Trying to get out of the airport from TBIT, at the armpit of the complex, took a full 10 minutes followed by more choking traffic on Sepulveda.

Location, not lounge (or how crowded/uncrowded it might be), is IMO the most attractive selling point of Private Suite. It's on the back (original) side of LAX, on Imperial Highway literally at the on/off ramp of the 105 Freeway. It has zero traffic at any time of the day, and by design there is no room for paparazzi to camp out. $1,500 just might be a bargain compared to the gauntlet of walking from baggage claim to the limo on the curb at any of the terminals of LAX.

mozilla

Is my understanding correct that in order for a TA to book this access for a single pax, he/she must:

1. Select a OW or RT validatable premium cabin fare (say, a P-fare) for an eligible market (say, LAXEWR)
2. Enter the pax as 1 STE instead of 1 ADT
3. Fare will be automatically priced with Q surcharge included on the US POS
4. Pax can sit back and relax without further action, his/her name will appear on The Private Suite access list on the day of travel?

Can any TA with general GDS access do this or only "select" TA?

mduell

I was replying to your post about Polaris, not about Aspen.

ryman554

It's too late for that now, but if you were conditionally approved and awaiting a global entry interview, why didn't you just take it upon arrival at SFO? There's a line for that, you know, just by the kiosks.

PTahCha

Because if you used the Global Entry kiosk and if you are not eligible, you get to experience secondary screening. This happened to me when I switched passport, and the new passport information was not updated correctly, so the kiosk did not recognize me as Global Entry-eligible. Fortunately, this was a pre-clearance in Vancouver, so the secondary screening was fairly quick. Not so much as a major entry point airport.

nomad420

Probably not for this thread but no I thought I had to wait for my interview which is schedule at SFO at the end of July. If you are arriving from abroad you can do an interview upon arrival without an appointment??? I have not heard this. The wait for an interview had been as long as 6 months at SFO so I blew it off until now.

fumje

You can sometimes get a walk in interview. Don't know how many walk-in's SFO does, but if you're already at the airport it's worth trying.