Lifetime Member Edition: UC access changes Nov 1, 2019 (same day BP on UA or partner)
 

I'd bet well under 1% of the total UC Membership is a lifetime UC member.

Likely an exceedingly, almost immeasurable percentage of overall membership, but likely be an exceedingly vocal and overly miffed group of folks on FT.

Regards

You rang?

I paid for a lifetime CO Club membership based on being able to access it regardless of what airline (or even if) I was flying. I would not have paid if it was this limited.

Sounds like it's time for a class action if UA doesn't carve out an exception for lifetime members.

I have a receipt in my email for the purchase, but there are no terms.

I've emailed GS CS, United Club CS, and Oscar. I'm sure they'll say too bad, but let's see where this goes

Me too; I use the UC for many non-UA trips since I'm Lifetime UC and Lifetime 1K. I no longer fly much on UA; moved most of my travel to DL.

I agree. I also purchased a CO Club lifetime and would like to know how they can change our particular benefit. I can understand when people renew having the new rules apply but they need to exempt lifetime members. I'd join onto your class action.

I'm in the 1%. I bought my LT membership from EA in the late 1980s with 100,000 EA miles. That transferred to CO, then to UA. I think I've gotten my "miles worth." Since UA and AA are in the same terminal at BOS, I do use the UA Club a few times a year when flying AA. It was nice while it lasted.

I think your response/approach is far more rational than the "lets start a class action lawsuit" approach.

Regards

Easy to be rational when you've gotten 3+ decades of use for 100K miles versus a decade at an upfront cost of thousands of dollars paid under the promise of lifetime airport club membership without airline restrictions.

When one airline buys another, do they have to grandfather in such things?

This simply aligns with DL and AA, the other legacy carriers. One would have thought that for all the whining about overcrowding, this is the best way to thin the herd in the UC's.

From a business perspective, the UC is part of a package to keep passengers loyal, not a stand-alone service such as any airport restaurant.

Those who threaten class actions will learn very quickly that they are throwing good money after bad chasing t&c changes. The lawyers who take these things for a contingency, only take the cases they can win. The ones they can't, you front the fees. When those screaming for court action are asked to pony up $100K or more just to get things going, there may be a substantial quieting. Can't sue because the old President's Club served drinks with four ice cubes and now you only get three.

When it's a sale of the business, as opposed to a sale of assets, yes. The acquiring party takes subject to liabilities.

{L}iterally every single aspect of travel, be it airlines or hotels, is going to get worse, not better, with every passing year (or quarter?). The sooner one comes to grips with that and adjusts their plans/expectations, the more rationally they will be able to deal with it.

I'm sure there is a long line of attorney's who have nothing better to do than shepherd a class action lawsuit on behalf of lifetime airport lounge members...

Regards

I'm a lifetime Fairmont Plat member and am heading a settlement case with Accor after they decided to end our annual free stay certificates. It's been in negotiations for 11 months, but they are now very motivated to reach a settlement with us and I'm confident we'll come up with something fair by the end of the year. Otherwise I'll be happy to see them in court.

Same goes for United. They may try to hide behind their deregulation immunity, but my lifetime club purchase had nothing to do with flying. I paid thousands of dollars for a lifetime club membership that was valid even when not flying. This is a clear breach in terms of that sale. Arguing that they have immunity in this case will be to their own detriment.

So no, I don't plan on going away quietly. Even if that's what the airlines, hotels, and {others} would prefer.

Many moons ago, back in the last century, Continental Presidents Club discontinued it's policy of free booze. Lifetime members were were offered chits for drinks at check in.

Another lifetime UC membership purchaser (for ~$3k irrc) from CO. I understand that renewals and new purchasers can make a decision based on the benefits offered (hence the 1 year notice), but this is certainly not what I signed up for all those years ago. I bought the membership to use the clubs irrespective of which airline I'm flying or (back in the gate pass days) whether I'm flying that day. I didn't make a fuss when they added the same day flight restriction since it wasn't a significant use case for me.

I would join in seeking a carve out from UA or join lawsuit if there is merit. I understand there are probably provisions in T&C noting they can change T&C, but this seems like a pretty big one.

Here are the current weasel clauses. No idea if they existed at the time of my lifetime membership purchase though.

First of all, lifetime members need to write to UA and Oscar expressing their concerns.

Second, we should organize a Wiki of people who paid cold hard cash for lifetime club memberships that would like to join a class action if UA won't carve out an exception for us.

Seems to me that a class action for people who paid cash will have higher odds of success over people who got it as a MM benefit as that is subject to MP rules which can be changed at any time. I don't see why a paid lifetime membership would be subject to any MP rules or to deregulation act immunity.

Should we set up a separate thread or private group to organize this? There are a few if FTers who don't agree with the sentiment, so it seems better to stay out of each other's way. ctownflyer are you volunteering to organize if folks PM you?

I started a Wiki here for people with paid lifetime memberships to add their username. Let's see how it goes or if we need to take this to PM.

Either way, I hope everyone writes in and tries to get this settled without needing to resort to the legal system.

So people who earned by reaching 3MM on UA are personae non gratae?

Added the option in the Wiki under a separate section.
I just think that based on the MM RPU lawsuit, that if you got a club membership from being a MM you won't have a leg to stand on as that is a benefit of MP and MP can do whatever they want, regardless of MP promises.

I'd like to see where it guarenteed a LT membership without airline restrictions. AFAIK they can claim you still have a LT membership and that airline restrictions fall under house rules that can be changed.

1. Safety.
2. Convenient scheduling.
3. Route network.
4. Fares (Below 1984 levels adjusted for inflation).

If the size of the pretzel bag is more important than the fact that one can now fly nonstop and more safely between cities which used to require refueling or a connection, things are worse.

I can't believe the negativity here! I'm upset about this change, but fundamentally Continental said:"https://web.archive.org/web/20060409...g/bluedot2.gifContinental reserves the right to restrict, alter or modify the fees, benefits, services and clubroom locations at any time with or without written notice to its members.https://web.archive.org/web/20060409...m:80/img/s.gifhttps://web.archive.org/web/20060409...g/bluedot2.gifContinental reserves the right to revoke membership privileges of those who fail to comply with the above guidelines and/or disrupt other members."
Like many others, I find that one-sided contracts of adhesion reflect a deterioration of the rule of law, but at the same time in this instance they are probably technically living up to the terms of the agreement. And not to be pedantic, but the courts might view people who acquired lifetime membership pre-CO Ch11 as different than post. Now from my perspective this probably should be a DOT issue, instead of a courts issue.

From my perspective it makes more business sense to address lounge crowding by increasing admissions cost, rather than restricting the ability of people who've already paid for access.

I expect that United will eventually grandfather Lifetime members into the old access rules, but there will probably be some thrashing before they get there. Having said that, even if they do my guess is that training on the issue will be so poor that accessing them as a Lifetime member will be a chore without a same-day *A boarding pass.

Not going to attempt any quantitative comparison but I think this is the primary thread for anyone interested :p

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...-1-2019-a.html

similar discussion about how this affects lifetime memberships, etc.

I will certainly miss being able to use the UC at LAS before flying from the nearby DL gates :)

For those like myself with lifetime memberships, re: the new access policy. I just talked to United Club folks and have been informed that the Lifetime Members will be exempt from the new policy that requires that one flies UA. This is an excellent news that is welcome. Nothing official but was told that they will stick to the original T&C that were valid once the membership was purchased.

I wrote to Oscar and got a call back yesterday.
First the agent was reading boilerplate terms that UA can change anything anytime, but the agent was surprised to learn about the details of the paid lifetime program and said she would go to bat for us once I explained everything.
Hoping for good news in writing!

I emailed 1K voice and that's the opposite of what they told me. They told me that the new policies would apply to all memberships, including lifetime members. I still fully expect that lifetime members will be exempt eventually (it's pretty minimal cost to do so), though, so I'm optimistic.

Do you have the original T&Cs ? or sales materials? Posting would help this discussion

All I have is the email receipt and my original lifetime PC card. The receipt just states what I bought and the price paid, nothing else.

What were the details you shared with the rep from Oscar's office?
The wording of the T&Cs would be crucial. UA should be able to recover those -- if they had the sense to archive pre-merger.
A sales receipt does not provide much support for an unrestricted access. And UA has two years of already having restricted access.

Honestly, UA does not need another "Lifetime" issue and should see if there is a way to grandfather the LT UC membership --- but exceptions are always problematic to manage.