The Changes in Travel that make you think

[W_L]

I was just watching this documentary on youtube, probably due to my algorithm giving me hits on travel-related items from searches for my upcoming Japan trip (All hail our mighty AI overlords, please do not smite me with an outage  )

I didn't realize that my use of airport lounges was based on a false notion of "affordable affluence". Never considered it for the status symbol, just loved the idea of getting food, coffee, and a place to unwind on long international flights.

Fascinating documentary, I agree that the crackdowns by credit cards like AMEX with recent increases to $75K spending a year for access to these lounges is sad as a consumer for what amounts to "faux luxury" services like a buffet, a fancy coffee machine, an open bar, and comfortable seats with wi-fi. Maybe that's the problem, folks like me who want a place to relax at an airport instead of at a food court or outside a gate aren't the target audience, but we somehow got roped in.

Anyone else got airport lounge access for "affordable affluence" or were you like me and just wanted a nice place to rest/refresh at a long layover?

 

Edited Saturday at 01:56 PM by W_L

[Inkognito]

Sir.

SIR.

I legit had to stop and assess whether I’d been red-pill roofied into a parallel universe.

All this time, I thought “lounge” was just a fancier word for waiting area. I’ve flown MULTIPLE times thinking it was a democracy of despair.

And now you’re telling me I’ve been breezing past the secret portal to Champagne Hogwarts like a sentient duffel bag with no side quests?

Bruh.

This isn’t “tell me you’re air-poor without telling me” territory.

This is “tell me you thought the AmEx Centurion was Optimus Prime’s accountant” level delusion.

At this point, you may as well slap a barcode on my soul and call me carry-on.

[Zombie]

7 hours ago, W_L said:

Anyone else got airport lounge access for "affordable affluence" or were you like me and just wanted a nice place to rest/refresh at a long layover?

no longer

resolved never again to submit to the asymmetric (and therefore egregiously abused) power dynamic between airports/airlines and customers

(…except, maybe, for one exception next year) 

[Ron]

Please see word of the day: Ethics 

[W_L]

@Inkognito @Zombie @Ron

I guess I probably should tell you that I got the card before with a 150K point promo that paid for the membership benefits, including the lounge   It made sense on paper, I didn't think of it as anything fancy.

If the credit card companies weren't trying to reel in middle-income people, why start the spending to be $600 for a year to get free rewards? Raising new limits to $75K after they figured out folks like me were joining in without being big spenders, it's pretty bad. I just never realized that "lounges" were supposed to be for "wanna be" rich people, it never crossed my mind based on what was offered. 

Edited Saturday at 11:05 PM by W_L

[Ron]

9 minutes ago, W_L said:

I just never realized that "lounges" were supposed to be for "wanna be" rich people, it never crossed my mind based on what was offered.

Oh, I've been a want-a-be rich person at one time or another. One time I got food poisoning of the most-highest degree (Both sitting and bending over, one need fighting with the other at times no less throughout the night.) while visiting friends in London on an extended layover and the evening before a flight to Singapore the next day, late afternoon. Crossed eyed and depleted of electrolytes (I'm sure.), I slowly made my way to the Quantis lounge, where I promptly drank several glasses of orange juice [helpful, unknowingly]. There, through the grace of whatever God you want to pray to, I was able to request one of those airport jockeys with their electric carts to whisk me away to the correct gate for departure (After much assurance on my part that I was capable to make the flight. [Hint, I really wasn't. I needed fluids and antibiotics; that's clear to me now].) when the time came.

I was in Business Class, thanks to my former partner for the luxury of it. Afterwards, when everyone had settled through the proscribed prerequisites, I put on my airline-issued jammies and footies in the not-so-cramped restroom for the class I had the privilege to travel in and extended my 'bed' and promptly went to sleep.

I suppose I could reduce my post in one summation: Lounges, yea!

Just this one time! (Snort)

[Zombie]

1 hour ago, Ron said:

Please see word of the day: Ethics 

ethics, n. 

a system or set of moral principles; frequently with modifying word e.g. business ethics: “airline and airport business ethics permit treatment of customers as cattle, including herding them into confined spaces, then denying them food, water and accommodation and any information when the sh1t hits the fan”;

[Ron]

11 minutes ago, Zombie said:

ethics, n. 

a system or set of moral principles; frequently with modifying word e.g. business ethics: “airline and airport business ethics permit treatment of customers as cattle, including herding them into confined spaces, then denying them food, water and accommodation and any information when the sh1t hits the fan”;

Duh!