So its a place for me to go work, have a drink, EAT, and whatnot. Definitely not at today’s standards, but the lounges were a nice, QUIET retreat from the busy-ness of the gate and terminal.įast forward to today, and I’m an Alaska Lounge member not out of “bouhgy” or show-off, but for the fact where I live (in Alaska) requires some type of LONG layover in SeaTac for 3/4 of our flights to my city, err outpost. 2 years later, I had earned United 1K status and bought a membership, and it was nice. I remember as a dear child (well, felt like a child) at the age of 21 in Chicago O’Hare, eyeing with envy the folks going in and out of the Red Carpet Club, and those travelers with the maroon leather RCC bag tags. Gary, I’m wondering if the utility of the club has been lost with the now-defuct “exclusivity” of the lounges. Are there really now so many rich leisure travellers who want to spend $500 to $700 year to get into an airport lounge? I’m guessing there are. Indeed, after I’ve eaten and drunk something in a lounge, I often leave to sit in the less crowded terminal! What surprises me a bit now is that, with business travel dramatically down the past 2 years, the airlines should have sold FEWER memberships. But I’d never pay for these overcrowded experiences: I’d eat beforehand, bring my own food, or buy it from an airport vendor.
#Buy gate in unmatched air traffic control free#
The food and drink has generally gotten better in the past decade or so, and that has some appeal to me in an airport setting (hey, who doesn’t like a free meal, especially since you’re now LESS likely to get one onboard). For various reasons (mostly historical), I get into tons of lounges for free, and I try to use them whenever it makes sense to do so. I wouldn’t pay a dime for membership now. It worked beautifully even if, in America, the food and beverage in the lounges was often mediocre (at best). Decades ago, I paid membership fees for airport lounges to get AWAY from the crowds. I don’t really understand the mentality behind these super-crowded airport lounges. That’s the whole point of having an intern, right?
My advice: if you have interns, buy them a refundable ticket and send them to the airport to wait in line for you. So the challenge is ensuring line-sitters making a credible commitment to stay bought. But line sitters aren’t abiding by contracts and taking higher bids as they get to the front, according to reports. There are apparently line sitting services at the Russia-Kazakhstan border for people fleeing Putin’s war and conscription. Sure they’d need to buy a ticket, but with no change fees the same ticket could be used by each line-minder day after day as a credit towards the next one. Someone really should start a line-sitting service and sell spots.
Doesn’t this photo make the case for the American Airlines-JetBlue Northeast Alliance to introduce some competition there? It seems to me this photo captures just how many passengers Delta has at LaGuardia, when you consider the subset that are club members, and then subset of those willing to stand in line before 5 a.m. I have to wonder, though, what is the point of a club you have to line up for it is not Studio 54, and you’re not going home with anyone or getting excellent molly?
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