Category Archives for Lounges.
Earlier I wrote about upcoming changes to the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, the premium co-brand card that comes with American Airlines Admirals Club membership. There’s going to be a big new card bonus offer, and changes to American Airlines clubs as well.
Bethenny Frankel is best known as one of the Real Housewives of New York but is also host of Money Court and a former Shark Tank shark. She also has opinions on travel, and in particular the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Newark. Her verdict: garbouj. Based on this video, she isn’t wrong.
A premium offering in Admirals Clubs or several years has been guacamole and chips, but that’s available not because American is willing to make that (very modest) investment but because the credit card that offers club membership is a Mastercard and Mastercard pays for the avocados.
If you want chicken nuggets inside an Admirals Club, they have those! But they’ll charge you for it. Indeed, they’ll overcharge you for it.
You used to be able to access Plaza Premium’s own lounges via Priority Pass, but that partnership ended two years ago. But now it’s back.
Readers have shared a frustration by e-mail and in the comments to various posts about access to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses in the U.S. using their credit cards which are supposed to provide them entry.
Access rules can be complicated, but it appears that especially for the San Francisco lounge, a manager there has instructed staff to in essence violate their contract and deny access out of an antipathy for credit card guests.
Chase’s first U.S. airport lounge, announced nearly two years ago, is about to open in Boston. Opening day for the Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club in Boston Logan’s Terminal B-C connector between gates B40 and B39 will be May 16.
Delta has a new option to entice people not to take up space in their New York JFK lounge: a grab and go where you can get food and drink, but this requires a ticket that you get by agreeing to forego use of the lounge.
Delta’s biggest customer is American Express, generating over $5 billion a year from the financial services giant. Their contract with American Express runs through 2029. And lounge access sells credit cards.
As a result, the airline isn’t in a position to do anything about the true cause of crowding. And crowding tends to be worst in major markets with the greatest concentration of premium American Express cardholders… like New York.
America Express has had a huge conundrum with its Centurion lounges. They promote access to acquire premium credit card customers, but customers show up and have a subpar experience because the lounges are too crowded. They’ve been battling this over the past half dozen years and nothing has worked.
In airport lounges people shovel food and drink into their bags, and stick their feet up on the furniture, going to sleep on couches, and generally acting as though these ‘nicer’ spaces are U.N.-administered refugee camps.
One airline passenger saw another’s behavior, and decided to take reform into their own hands.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
