Following the tragic news we saw out of Washington D.C. this week, I want to express my condolences to all impacted by American Airlines Flight 5342 and the involved U.S. Army helicopter. I’d also like to express my gratitude to the thousands of airline employees, first responders and others who work diligently to keep us all safe.
BK
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It’s been many months in the making, but today is the day. Effective Feb. 1, Delta Air Lines is dropping the hammer on Sky Club overcrowding.
Aside from buying Delta One tickets or an annual Sky Club membership, your only other way to get unlimited entry to the lounge is to spend at least $75,000 on your eligible Amex card each year.
While some travelers will no doubt hit the new $75,000 spending threshold, I, for one, won’t.
That means I’m working on a new strategy to manage my Sky Club visits. For one, I’ll only enter the lounge when I actually have time to relax at the airport — it no longer makes sense to me to enter the lounge just to grab a coffee or a snack. (I certainly won’t use a visit on one of the grab-and-go lounges.)
I’ll also make sure to limit my Sky Club visits to outposts that are worthy of an entry pass. Delta’s newest outposts are some of the nicest lounges in the country, so using a visit at one of these locations — like Chicago, Los Angeles or New York — means I’ll likely enjoy some predeparture relaxation.
Finally, there are Amex Centurion Lounges in many of Delta’s biggest Sky Club markets. There aren’t (currently) any caps on how many times eligible cardholders can visit a Centurion Lounge each year, so I’m planning to enter Amex outposts more frequently going forward.
That way, I can save my Sky Club visits for the trips when it really matters — and when visiting the club will actually make a difference in my travel day.
Of course, time will tell whether these new rules will help combat overcrowding. But if they do, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other lounge networks adopt similar caps. If that happens, TPG will be there to break down all the news and share strategies to maximize your travel.
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