acampbel said:
What's rarely? Less than you, perchance? ...you want people who actually pay for lounge membership to get a second-class facility, whereas pseudo-elites like yourself (most of whom achieve status on the back of travel paid for by their company) think themselves worthy of a "First Class" experience.
Perhaps I should have been clearer. "Flying rarely" isn't defined by me, but by the airlines. In the context of oneworld lounge access, sapphire is usually the defining point. In the years when I don't make sapphire, I don't grumble about being excluded by "pseudo-elites": shock horror, I hang out in the terminal along with the rest of the world.
I wasn't aware of Qantas's new J lounges, but it sounds like they're on my page and are one step ahead of us. I assumed there wouldn't be the money or airport space for
three QF lounges per terminal so I thought they'd have to combine F & J facilities... but if they can make each lounge more specific then all the better. This seems like a good solution as QCs have become way too crowded.
As for "elitism", let's face it, there is something intrinsically elitist about retiring to the comfort of an exclusive members' club for drinks and nibblies while the great unwashed grow old at the gate. Once we establish that, then we can have a rational discussion about which lounges should offer what, and to whom, without making ad hominem attacks.
If an airline wants to create an exclusive, peaceful haven for: a) premium class travellers, and b) loyal frequent economy travellers, then it causes itself a problem when it sells memberships for cash, simply because lounges become more overcrowded and underresourced. That's all.
No one is suggesting that frequent travellers are somehow "better" or "worse" than non-travellers. But they are the airline's bread-&-butter, and as such it's legitimate for airlines to give them special benefits like uncluttered lounges.
So the problem is not elitism versus anti-elitism; it's that the airline's profit motive in flogging off lounge memberships conflicts with its desire to pamper those frequent travellers who keep the airline in the sky.
And if it's elitist of airlines to give free perks to their most valued customers, surely it's no less elitist of infrequent travellers to coat-tail on that booty using cash. It's a bit contrived to hear any member of an exclusive club play the proletarian anti-elitist card. If you don't like elitism, go to the gate.
And I don't know why this is relevant, but since there seems to be such antipathy towards nasty old "employer-funded travel"... I have never received employer-funded travel and only ever get lounge access because I fly a lot out of my own pocket. That shouldn't matter in the least, but it's the airline, not I, who labels frequent travellers "elite". If that's the crime, then guilty as charged, your honour, guilty as charged...
