Being on the younger side myself, I love my Platinum for the access it gives me not just to the centurion lounges, but the priority pass lounges as well. I read another comment on the type of travelers lounges now attract, and in fact many have commented on it: it’s not your typical ‘business’ class traveler. It took me 25min simply to snag a seat the last time I had a connection. My least favorite is Miami-the overcrowding is abysmal. Even when it gets crowded, it’s never so crowded that I can’t find a seat.
JFK is my favorite lounge to date out of all the Centurion’ I’ve been too.
But I travel often enough in the year to be affected by this, especially in the last couple of months. I’m not traveling every month, or even every other. However, even that is getting hit and miss these days…the AF lounge at IAD the other day was completely overrun as an example. The only time I will use a lounge now is International (when they are decent). I have been maybe twice inside one in the past two years and I fly every few days. I can access any of the Big Three lounges whenever I want, along with PP and Centurion lounges. After things opened and then the chaos of air travel became like at no time ever I just was in that mode already and continued because I wanted no part of maximizing any time in these airports with the hordes of crazies like we see now.Īnd yes, a decent carry-out from a good offering at an airport while sitting at a quiet empty gate certainly beats for me the junk they offer at the domestic lounges now and for which you stand in line behind 25 people to get as you later try and find an empty seat where to eat it. I actually started traveling like this during Covid (as I kept going the entire time) when lounges were mostly closed and I wanted to minimize airport exposure time. Now they are feeding troughs for everyone and their kids disgusting, dirty, and over crowded. I used to enjoy a connection because lounges were pleasurable and a nice way to break up a trip. And if I find that any missed connection will result in more than a 4 hour wait in a hub I will just reschedule things totally or opt for an overnight at the hub city and a more leisurely go the next morning.ĭid I use to be like this? No.
Sometimes it’s better to start from the beginning rather than throw yourself into the unknown of mid point anxiety. As well, the few times you do see a potential issue early just rebook on the app from the original departure city a whole new routing. It’s very rare that I have any issues unless weather or mechanical and, anyway, usually even two hour connections at that point are affected and the situation is not just with short ones. If I do need a connection though I go for the 45 minute to one hour type which puts me right off the plane and boarding the next. First of all I tend to always forgo any sort of connections and opt for non-stops 80% of the time. “Tight” connections, as you call them, are different from short ones. Perhaps there is really is nothing American Express can do without more notice, but at this point it should eliminate all guest access…there just isn’t room for them. It has gone from bad to worse and summer has not even started. It is amazing to me how crowded the American Express Centurion Lounges have become. And in the meantime, lines out the door and waiting lists mark an urgent problem that must be addressed. I know that likely cannot be done so quickly, which is why American Express has announced that Platinum cardholders will need to spend $75,000 on the card in 2022 to continue to enjoy guest access in 2023.īut spending $75K is likely not all that hard for most cardmembers and I cannot imagine it will make a huge dent in guest access.
It should not even be available for purchase access should be reserved for cardholders and their authorized users (who are also cardholders). It has taken me some time and observation to reach this point (as a husband and father of two who loves to travel with his family), but American Express should immediately eliminate guest access. American Express Should Eliminate All Guest Access I’ve seen crowded lounges and waiting lists, but how pathetic to pay $695 each year for a credit card and have to wait in lines like this in order to enter an airport lounge? Nothing screams “relaxing” or “luxurious” like long lines in Las Vegas. This is just the line to get into the lounge! Can you imagine how crowded it is inside the lounge? Then I noticed my friend Ed Pizzarello, who writes the Pizza In Motion blog, posted the following video outside the American Express Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas (LAS): I walked away shaking my head (the Capital One Lounge was not nearly as crowded).
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