There are way too many people with the card. There have been lines so long, I wasn't even able to get in before my flight. Wow
This whole we are full thing at the lounges infuriates me
LoungesYep holidays and weekends - mostly on the east coast. I'm sure there will be more complaints on or around memorial day too.
Get a black card. Problem solved.
Exactly. Every other post on this sub is a complaint about being poor. Im poor but i have came to reality about it. 🤣😂
I'm not rich, I'm infuriated....lol
Rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie. Mao did it. You can too! 😂
I already used the "I am Spartacus" quote. Crap.
Anyone have this experience at SFO?
I fly through there every week but at the same time, and never had a line. It's been busy for sure, but I've always had a seat since they expanded.
Not a line, but a bit back there were a few people looking around legitimately trying to figure out where they could sit and not be on top of other people.
The rear side of the lounge is pretty big and there's many single spaces (rather than tables that can often be sitting one person).
Never
Just look for a restaurant at the airport, the food is better and the wait is shorter.
Indeed.
I got down voted for agreeing with a comment that got upvoted? We Amexers are a mercurial bunch.
Probably because one word comments that don’t contribute anything are spam.
Genius.
😂
This is called a straw argument. I never placed blame on anyone. I never said the problem was distinct from me. If there are there too many cardholders and I have the card, ipso facto I'm one of the too many and part of the problem . As I said in another response, next time if there is a line, I won't get in it and all will be fine for me. You inferred something I didn't imply, bubbah.
I agree there’s too many people with this card!
Start the movement and get rid of yours. Then they’ll be less people in the lounge
2 days late and that's your contribution? Please revise and resubmit.
Yeah sorry was too busy hanging in centurion lounge on vacation just got back today.
You must’ve canceled your card TONS of open seating in centurion this weekend
Oh I see, this your revised snark? I came back to the thread thinking you had something helpful or funny to offer. Maybe someone else will play with you here. I'm gone.
3rd grade argument and writing capabilities
I know you are but what am I? 😆
Sorry, it's me. I paid for my family of 6 to enjoy the lounge with the elites.
And you are all the pasta salad. Smdh
We are all pasta salad on this blessed day
Say it louder for the people in the back! Be gone demons, you have no place here.
Ken's been a cardholder since 1965.
rAmen to that!
Your point is valid but not germane. My post reflected my feelings. My feelings in that instance became the facts to be interpreted objectively. People employed bias in interpreting the facts in my post. Did I say, or even reasonably imply, there were people who shouldn't be in the lounge over me? No sir. That would be a wrong inference on the lsat.
👋
This has been a great exercise in seeing how many people responded to what they feel instead of what I wrote. Let's all buy tickets to go to a concert, but not be personally annoyed when we can't get in to see not any part of the show. And no, you aren't mad at the people in the concert venue, you're annoyed at the organizer and just upset you couldn't see the show. Carry own fellow Amexers.
Great analogy - the show shouldn't be oversold. Maybe the venue should expand more before selling more?
Yes. Unfortunately, the expansions likely mean upping the price. It is a business after all.
Grrr. People in lounges, grrr.
Meh, AMEX and Sapphire lounges were full, so we just went to the Delta lounge. NBD. If we hadn’t gotten to go to a lounge also NBD.
I'll be honest. "Infuriates" was hyperbolic and troll-ish. After I put my name on the wait list, I sat and read at the gate. Oh , and I refilled my water bottle. I think my BP stayed in the normal range. These guys would have you think I stormed HQ with a list of demands and pictures of unworthy deplorables.
Get a black card and skip the line :)
The crazy part is that cars is exclusive, but the daily use peeks aren't as plentiful/useful. And the points are yuck.
If you’re spending 250k + a year, and in most cases 1 million + I don’t think those people care about “points” and they can easisly match points because those black card spenders are spending a lot more than your usual platinum holder. 1 million points = 1 million points, doesn’t matter how you get them and they can get them simply by 1X alone. Plus the perks on Centorian are far better than the other AMEX cards or I should say area very catered, to people who are spending money that are in totally different class of people than those browsing this forum most likely, are the elite. You want the elite and status? Get the black card.
Before I go down the rabbit hole of your esoteric response, where did I say I wanted status?
Ok, not directly but you’re asking for things to be more exclusive. Limit card holders, make it more scarce. These are things that make the appearance of “elite status” versus, everyone now getting in the lounge. Black card makes you skip the entire line (your major compliant), that is a status thing because to even get that card you have to be rich to some extent. So correct you did not directly state “You want status” but what you’re complaining about and the solution to solve it is basically making the experience less and more of a status thing.
You're like reverse Santa, telling me what I want. But since we are doing the "you know me better than me, thing," tell me this: could my next option just be to recalibrate my expectations, not get annoyed maybe not even bother getting in line? Or, is it only to decide I have to get in the lounge and be better than everyone who can't with awesome secret decoder ring?
People are traveling a lot this year. It’s going to get crowded.
They better not or I'll be infuriated.
And you’re one of those people, stop being so elitist man.
Say you have a bias without seeing you have a bias.
It’s not being bias. A bias is saying that too many people have the card because you have to wait in a long line to access the lounge, even though you’re in the same said line.
Meanwhile, the people behind you in the same line are possibly thinking the same thing as you while ironically grouping you in with the other large amount of people that they’re complaining about having access to the lounge with the same card as well.
I’m just pointing out the flaws in your thinking. You’re one of those many people who have the card, just like me, and everyone else here.
The sad part is that if American Express changes the requirements in a way so that you’ll no longer have access to it, ex.) super high spend requirement, limited visits, etc… You’d complain in a way that’s basically saying “I said them, not me!” since those people would still access to it, but you no longer do. That’s what I intentionally intended in the original comment. Also, in a way it’s also me saying be careful for what you’re asking for.
We’ve seen it happen when Delta announced limited lounge visits with the SkyClub last year. People were complaining about the overcrowding before then and went, “no not like that!” I’m not affected by the overcrowding, but I do hope that AMEX, Delta, and others find a solution to accommodate the increased demand for lounges soon.
You're applying the bias to the wrong issue. I never said too many "other" people have the card. The bias is actually the rationale you are employing to argue the flaw in my thinking, which, ironically, is flawed. I made a stand alone statement about my feelings. The bias is that all but a few assumed I was saying anything more than simply "I'm annoyed and here is why." Everyone is adding class and status b and my desires...based on their own bias imputed to the fact of my feelings.
The thing is that your statement potentially infers that you have bias towards other cardholders because of the “too many people hold the card” part. So yes, your opinion may cause interpretation to others that you feel a certain way to other cardholders. Your opinion pertaining to there being too many cardholders could’ve been left out, then yes, we wouldn’t have to have this conversation honestly. But, with it being said, it opens a whole lane of interpretation that could be taken in the right or wrong way, which is currently happening.
Regardless if my previous comments were biased or not, my stance is always going to be that you’re still one of those many people who hold the card, and there isn’t anything that separates you from the other people that has the card as well. You’re making the line just as crowded as everyone else, so it isn’t fair to place the blame on everyone else when you’re just as big as a part of the overall “issue” as everyone else.
Everyone has bias. It’s kind of impossible not to have bias.
Duh. But it's not impossible to read objectively before you start arguing about a point that hasn't been made.
Except saying that the lounges are too full and the too many people have the card is also subjective. I don’t think someone can establish objectively that there are too many American Express Platinum card holders.
One could possibly establish for each lounge that there are too many people based on AMEX’s planning. So, you could objectively say they’re too crowded based on max capacity, the intended capacity (making this up, but basically what would be deemed comfortable by AMEX), and what AMEX considered a reasonable average wait (if any). AMEX would possibly have daily or hourly measures for how often those can be exceeded.
I think that’s the only real, objective way you could establish that a lounge is over-crowded: if AMEX considered it so as they designed and run it.
Was just in Miami and they had a 45 min wait 😤
It's DJ Khaled. No, no... it's Flo-Rida....
BecauseItsAFriday.GIF
I had a wait to get down the elevator at the Miami lounge. It was a joke 🤦🏻♂️
This is the second time the Miami lounge is full for me. Who has 45 min to wait in addition to the broken sky train 🤬
It's DJ Khaled. No, no... it's Flo-Rida....
Dug this up, but for anyone who wonders how and why Amex changed (and they did this on purpose), The NY Times article from 2017: “Amex Challenged by Chase is losing the Snob War”
*looks in the mirror: "I'm Spartacus!"
You did a good job explaining what Amex used to be like, but for most people under 35, they don’t remember or weren’t alive for the Amex of the 1980s. I remember when someone pulled one of those out as a kid and my parents would whisper to me later “they are rich.”
The article does a great job explaining the thought process and marketing behind today’s platinum card, and the competition they were facing with millennials, and now we have what we have, for better or worse.
They’ve likely made more as a result of catering more to the millennial crowd despite the OP’s ire.
They absolutely have. They really started changing up the Platinum card and catering to millennials after 2015. Look at their revenues, even during the down year of the pandemic. The pandemic was the same as the early 2010s for them, but the recent income in the last few years is pretty amazing - I don't think they are going back to the old model any time soon:
https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/axp/revenue/
They will be failing their shareholders if they did! How will Gen Z influence them? 🧐
Virtual lounges on tik tok will be fine for them. No need for real cards or lounges. 😅
Entry based on completing challenges successfully.
Tenderizing the horse meat for the lounge buffet
But... that's a camel. Sir... you're beating a dead camel.
Camels don’t have hooves. It really is just an oddly-drawn horse at a strange angle.
See now, despite your dousing the joke, I appreciate your objective (and oddly informed), take on that GIF. Where were you when this post started?
Thank you, I just looked closely while walking my dog after I saw no visible hump. 😂
What's wild is, I travel all the time, from what's apparently the "busiest airport in the world," and have never had an issue with lines at the lounges. Where are you all going?
Las Vegas, either on my way somewhere or just there. 🙄
Have you not visited The Club in the international terminal?
Oh never. If I'm there I'll go across the hall to Delta (or now Centurion).
Well the lines and the food are reason enough to stay away
Let's start with Wed leaving SLC.
Ah touche. I've never explored that part of the world - but it is on my list!
May or may be deserving of a list spot, but that's my point. It's a delta hub, so it gets doubly high volume out west.
I guess my point is ATL is my home airport and it's also a Delta hub and I never have issues here. I imagine we get more traffic? I typically fly out Mondays or Tuesdays for work and Thursdays/Fridays for pleasure (returning Wednesday/Thursday or Sunday/Monday respectively).
I'd be surprised if you had problems finding a lounge at ATL. The place has like 100 Delta lounges and the new Centurion lounge is the size of the Roman Colosseum....
Traffic, timing and lounge size/lounge options maybe? Not sure but if you haven't encountered it, I appreciate your perspective
My money's on timing. All it takes is a couple overlapping flight times and you hit a rush. Like a restaurant.
What do you think they should do about it? Most people's solution is to establish some sort of threshold which they themselves meet.
Are the lounges that crowded?
Maybe they should just raise the fee to like $2500 a year. That should probably get rid of the crowds and they can provide even more luxuries in the lounges.
Some type of minimum spend with better multipliers ideally. The card barely gets any spend that isn't required or beneficial for most people
Some serious sensitivity in here. OP made a factual statement about over crowded lounges and said Amex needs to do something about it. They made no mention of certain people not deserving it.
They aren't wrong, it's a huge problem and Amex has pushed for many more new users without simultaneously expanding it's lounge numbers or capacity. That's a mistake.
Vegas, jfk, Miami, can all be shit shows and people waiting in giant lines are hilarious. Just accept it's not your day and move on. But Amex has to counter act it somehow. Raising fee, raising lounge entrance fee to 150 for 8 hrs, or something like that. The military thing is a law I believe, Amex can't do a thing about it.
AMEX will do what is best for their shareholders as they’re required to do. That involves maxing profits. Service members should definitely have lounge access over whingy whiners.
You're absolutely correct. Unless it affects the bottom line, it will continue. And they are signing up new users like it's being uninvented soon. It's working for them.
What’s the military thing?
No annual fee for their products while in active service.
Actually. They don’t have to do something about it. As long as there is demand, their business model is working…
Haha fair point. I shouldn't have spoken in an absolute. Until it affects bottom line, they won't. You are correct. And until enough people are mad and cancel and it can be seen on a balance sheet, it's more of the lounge thunder games!
Stop with the overreacting.
I didn't say "those people" or some dog whistle.
I'm saying just like when you pay to get on the express lane and it's still slow and crowded, the perk is gone. It sucks for everyone, bc at some point everyone may hit the line and not get in. I don't think that is cool for me or for anyone else.
Before the switch to metal, and even earlier than that, there weren't limits on the amount of lounge time nor were there lines. Now more people have cards b and it sucks (to me). That's not time def or elitist, just a statement of opinion unrelated to any particular class, status, race, age or whatever.
Funny that some of yall are karen-ing me, while accusing me of karening.
You and everyone else are paying for something slightly better. It’s only an issue if literally everyone is doing it because then there needs to be a higher tier. In the case of an express line, it is a bit funny when the express line is longer in some places. Means no reason one should pay for it and every incentive for companies to maintain it (because folks are paying!)
I accept.
There are definitely times when I would pay slightly more for an even better experience, or because I really CBA to queue. I actually cannot stand queueing, so I try to avoid it.😅
I ❤️ you, man. In another response I was saying almost the same thing. I just won't get in the line next time. No harm, no foul.
Amex changed the way they marketed the card. No longer is it a luxury card, but a travel and experience one.
I'm new to amex but I've already noticed people on sub will freaking crucify you if you dare be unhappy about something amex-related. Everyone will attack you for thinking you're more deserving than other card holders, when in reality I think it's a legitimate point to expect a certain perk to be available when you pay a yearly fee in order to receive this perk. I am excited to use a lounge for my trips this summer and it would also made me sad if I'm not able to because the lounges are not big enough to meet demand to a point people can't even wait in line long enough to get in. I'm not sure why everyone on here acts as if that's something extremely unreasonable.
That’s a Reddit thing about any brand. Check out SoFi
My man ain’t a singer because this post is the definition of tone deaf.
He’s not working late
Naw, I'm working late. Got to be able to pay that annual fee.
The card is not really that exclusive or really exclusive at all. Yeah it has some requirements but it's not that hard to reach. If you want special treatment get a centurion card and you might have better luck depending on the lounge.
Yeah. It’s pay to play and you need decent credit. It is not exclusive at all.
Decent income and decent credit. Not everyone qualifies but it's not at all hard to get there.
I got mine when I was making like 60k a year lmao
Yeah, I will never really understand where the idea that this is a super exclusive card came from.
It was back in the 90s early early 2000s. You had to have good enough credit to get the green, then had to upgrade to gold then you could apply for platinum if you kept everything tight.
You couldn’t even apply for the Platinum when it came out, you had to be invited, like the Centurion card is today.
Because it used to be. When the card was first introduced, it was an invite only card for Amex’s highest spenders.
I didn't know that. That def helps add context.
But then the brand suffered especially when Chase Reserve came around - especially for millennials. Amex lost a ton of customers as a younger generation cared less about prestige but about value and Chase created a card that catered to younger charge card holders who liked to eat out and travel, and max out credit card points. Amex felt threatened and redid the platinum card a few years after. The NY Times wrote a great article about all of this about 8 years ago: https://web.archive.org/web/20190422205755/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/business/american-express-chase-sapphire-reserve.html
I would def agree with this as a Millenial, I don't really flash my cards around, I just want them to give me good value and good benefits.
agreed. most of the time I’m using apple pay or buying online and no one even sees the card.
Yeah- it’s why Amex had to pivot and offer all these benefits. The status was no longer valuable for millennials the way it was for baby boomers. And it’s how we wound up with this card now where I’m constantly checking to make sure I’ve used my Uber credit and entertainment credits every month (and god forbid I don’t get something at saks every 6 months!)
What makes you more deserving of the lounge versus the people that are there before you?
Talk about interpretive dance. Where did I say anything about anyone being more or less deserving?
There is a third option where we stop deciding which of us is an a hole and Amex… builds more lounges…
How much would it cost them to build more lounges and run them? What would be the overhead as well? What kind of permit is required? I guess what I mean is: what’s in it for AMEX, and do they get more out of it than they put in?
That's too much common sense for these folk.
Or restore the Priority Pass restaurant benefit, which isn't likely to happen given that even Chase has just nixed it off the Sapphire Reserve. But to me, that seems like a way to reduce lounge demand without having to spend the money to build more lounges. Clearly I'm missing something, but it feels like low hanging fruit to me.
Priority Pass lounges in some US airports are really poorly run though.
Agreed. I'm just saying that having the restaurant benefit could reduce the demand for the lounges.
Fair. To your point, some non-airport not bad food and a place to sit for a bit while cover a lot of ground.
Or just change the business model of the lounges. Make the card a requirement to be able to buy access instead of having complementary access.
I think they are probably going to focus on adding lounges to more cities before adding more to airports that already have them.
Yes. But in SFO for example they doubled the size of the existing lounge, and it did make a big difference.
And yet still people complain about "lousy food" and it's still "too crowded". There's never pleasing everyone. Frankly I think the people who think SFO CL is too crowded don't bother to walk down the hall to the expanded area.
Yeah. The food is fine. If they think it's bad, try the Chase lounge once a week for a year like I did.
Huge difference.
Yeah no one else should get access but you and people like you. Screw the hoi polloi!
How often do you reinvent reality?
Active duty and veteran military members get the platinum card for free. Just start charging them and watch how lounges get empty.
Or stop letting people with their entire family in.
Veterans do not receive this benefit - only active duty.
Wrong. Vets don’t. But reservist might; even tho we aren’t supposed to. I went 2 1/2 years and Amex didn’t catch that I was no longer active duty. But now I’m back getting it for free.
No. I’m not wrong. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Military Lending Act only apply to active duty. You can get it as a reservist if you have active duty orders for >30 days. You getting something you weren’t supposed to doesn’t make me wrong.
I see now. You edited your comment 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I did not edit my comment at all.
My apologies. Responded to the wrong one…. 🙃
That makes a lot more sense now, lol
I’ll show my self out.
Naw, stay. The water is starting to get warm.
I just spent 2 1/2 years as a reservist after 4 years active duty. I didn’t pay a dime in AF and I open the delta reserve and didn’t pay a dime. If you re read my original reply you’ll see reservists aren’t supposed to get the benefits. I was never on orders for more than 30 days. YOU ARE WRONG about vets. You don’t get your fees waived….
I literally said vets don’t get the fee waived. What are you saying I’m wrong about?
They should at least charge them half the rate or something which would weed out a portion. Otherwise they open each premium card and just milk the benefits
You’re god damn right 😎. Platinum, Delta Reserve, and CSR all for free and all the benefits. Almost $2k in AF all WAIVED.
Good on you. Like a boss. 😎
And they all have them. They are told about about it when they first get in.
Yup I tell every junior sailor about them when they get to my command. If their credit can support it and are financially literate.
Yeah, I love the free platinum card, especially for the lounges!
Facts. I love how everyone is downvoting you lmao.
Haha. Why are they so mad?
They’re jellin’. Enjoy the benefits, you’ve earned them!
Cause we get the cards for free and they are all paying what’s the fee at now? $700 a year? 😂. I never use my plat card. I have it specifically for lounges.
The ones downvoting you are the same ones that bring their entire family in.
sucks to have to sit with the peasants at the gate...first world problems right there
Captain kirk need to beam you back up. That wasn't the point in was making at all.
Imagine invoking the worst Enterprise captain.
Scottie would likely disagree.
Captain Kirk is dead Jim, we are all that is left
But actually it does
No easy way other than raising the AF or making a minimum spend
Minimum spend for unlimited access will be coming, you watch.
Getting rid of free guests and kids would do it too. Having wailing kids in lounges defeats the whole point of lounges
No free guests unless you spend $75K or more in a calendar year.
They did this.
Guests? Yes. Kids? I’ve recently seen - and unfortunately heard the wailing from - some in SF a few weeks back. Maybe someone paid to bring them as guests?
People are still dragging their gaggle of whining, pesty kids into the lounges, they’re just paying for them.
The free part. They are no longer free. So yes, people paid for them.
Or they all flew up front
Aren't you part of the problem too? Lol
Didn't say I wasn't. Just said it infuriated me. Great insight though.
Seriously. It’s like complaining about traffic while you’re sitting in traffic—you’re actively contributing to the thing you’re complaining about. You do, in fact, have to share spaces with other people sometimes. Everyone in the lounge is paying a pretty penny to be there, just like you are.
Admiral Obvious, thank you for the remarks. If you were in line, and then ultimately couldn't get in at all before your flight 2hours from then, you wouldn't at any point say to yourself: "this sucks?"
Okay—you seem upset, so I’ll give you my genuine two cents. At the end of the day, Amex is going to do what makes them the most money. There seem to be folks on here (I’m not saying you, necessarily) who long for the days when the Platinum was a super-exclusive card for the very wealthy, like what the Black is now. That’s simply not the case anymore. Given that, raising the AF or annual spend on the Platinum to a level that would significantly reduce lounge traffic would ALSO lose them customers, which is bad news for their bottom line. Now, if they receive complaints about crowded lounges from, say, a certain percentage of their customers every year, then maybe they consider responding to that feedback by building more lounges or streamlining access somehow. But if I’m Amex, Reddit is incredibly not the place to go to determine whether a truly significant portion of my customers are experiencing issues with the service I’m offering. So my advice to you is 1. Take a deep breath, and 2. Get off Reddit and contact Amex with your feedback. You’re free to keep writing back to every single commenter here if that’s how you really want to spend your weekend, but I think you’ll have a better chance of being heard by someone at Amex who can do something about your problem if you, you know, contact Amex. But hey, this is all coming from Admiral Obvious, so maybe you knew it already.
I salute you, Admiral, sir. But, you're taking this way too seriously. I'm old-ish and have had the card for some time. It was just a random vent on what was previously a fun forum. Nothing more. I know how to adult, I promise. If you read through my responses, you'd see this was more tongue-in-cheek than it was a cry for help. But, I do appreciate your insight because it seems genuine.
This is an honest question—what in your original post was meant to be taken as “tongue-in-cheek?” You used the word “infuriates” in the post title, and I see you being sarcastic and name-calling people in the comments. We’re all just responding to the words that you wrote. You seemed/still seem like you wanted this taken seriously, hence the replies in kind. There’s nothing wrong with that. It just seems like you’re spending an awful lot of time and energy on this for something that was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Anyway, I’m off—all the best.
Look at all my responses. All but maybe 3 were really more on the humor side. A few posts i responded to with a hint more seriousness because the responses were pretty aggressive and reactive rather than thoughtful. Plus, the thread became a silly caraciture of itself, which captured my attention as I stayed up all night. All good though. Like I said, I appreciate that you were being sincere with your last response. So, in return I'm being sincere.
Congestion pricing is a thing so or raising the annual fee to 5k a year will weed people out quickly
That’s a Centurion Card annual fee.
Yeah. Every time people posts this they're like "well I want access but you shouldn't give it to them I'm special"
I guess my Spanish isn't very good. I never said anyone should excluded. I just said it sucks to have a perk that van be consistently enjoyed by anyone because of the sheer volume of its being offered.
I want to get in doesn't have to equal I want them out. Yall either need to stop smoking...or start smoking.
In my experience, the lounges are way more busy on the weekends. It's not the business travelers filling up the lounges Monday am through Friday afternoon.