I posted this morning that Delta Air Lines has announced some pretty major changes to its Sky Club membership and access policies. The gist of the changes are:
- If you want what I will call “traditional access” to the Sky Club, where you can bring along your spouse, kids, or two guests, you have to purchase an Executive Membership, and that will cost $695 per year, effective immediately.
- In the spring of 2014, Delta will introduce an Individual Membership option which will cost $450. Individual means individual. If you want to bring anyone (including your spouse, children, etc) into the club with you, you will have to pay $29 per guest.
- And finally, on May 1, 2014, if you receive complimentary access to the Sky Club via a card product, i.e. Delta Reserve Card, Amex Platinum or Centurion Card, you the cardmember, will continue to receive complimentary access. However, the ability to have 2 guests join you for free is going away. You will have to pay $29 per guest….even if you’re married to them.
Other news: if you are a Gold or Platinum Medallion member, you can receive a discount on a purchased Executive Membership through February 28, 2015. The discount for Golds is $50, while Platinums receive a $100 discount. I checked in with a Delta spokesperson, and they confirmed that as of this moment, there will be no discount for Medallion members after that date.
MJ’s Take
This might actually work. At the very least, I’m willing to wait and see if it does…not that I was going anywhere else anyway. $695 for an Executive Membership seems steep, and is certainly a big price increase, but overcrowding in the Sky Clubs is a legitimate concern. Whether this is the ultimate solution or not remains to be seen. I’ve never quite fallen for the theory that the reason the clubs are crowded is because of credit card holders and day pass buyers, but I remain open to the idea. My personal situation is that if I could not obtain access through the Reserve Card or Platinum Card, I would buy a membership without hesitation. Maybe I’m one of a small group of travelers? Time will tell. MrsMJ, as an authorized user on my Amex account, has her own Amex Platinum Card, so I do not see this impacting me at the moment. It will be interesting to watch what happens.
MJ, January 10, 2014
Wow, so this really means the value of haveing American Express Platinum card is definitely going to be almost next to nothing with losing previlige to U.S. Airways and Admiral Lounge access soon and now I cannot take all of my family members into Skyclub (we are mom and date and two children)….I guess this could be the time to reconsider whether to continue with high annual fee.
@Sandy, I think that depends on an individual’s personal situation. If you find no value in the annual $200 airline benefit, cruise privileges, FHR, and Priority Pass Select, then it’s probably time to part with the card. I use those things, and still have Sky Club access, so it makes it worth it for me.
@Boraxo,
I wish the US carriers were more into the European model as well, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’ve been out of the industry for a while now, and can’t promise that every airline looked at their club product the way mine did. That said, my employer saw the lounge product as it’s very own unique profit center, complete with separate management chain from the rest of the airport operations.
The Citi® Executive® / AAdvantage® World Elite MasterCard® is still there for those who want to
move our loyalty to AA – and their lounges.
It is nowt the world’s largest airline.
What would work would be to do what Europeans do and upgrade the lounge (a la Amex) and limit access to C/F flyers. The loss of guest access is a huge minus for those of us with families – already the reason priority pass doesn’t work for me.
The market for one-time passes just went up.