American Express (Premium Plaza) Lounge will now require a boarding pass

[infiniteregulus]

Definitely just witnessed a pilot get arrested/escorted out of the Plaza lounge in YVR. He was demanding that it was his right to enter without a boarding pass. What a tool. Way to represent our profession there buddy....

[plhought]

Definitely just witnessed a pilot get arrested/escorted out of the Plaza lounge in YVR. He was demanding that it was his right to enter without a boarding pass. What a tool. Way to represent our profession there buddy....

Wait whaaaat? Like actually escorted/arrested (which is it?) by airport RCMP or asked to leave by lounge staff?

Part of me wants to say "about time" - and if lounge staff are enforcing the rules then good on 'em. Was travelling back and forth between YVR and home for couple years (fare paying and not in work clothes) and early on that lounge was pretty good - before it became a new crew/CSA lunch room...

[.80@410]

Jesus.
The people working the desk there don't deserve to deal deal with idiots like that. I hope he was arrested and charged . Serves him right . Yvr has some of the nicest staff.

[WeedPro2000]

It's not yelling FHITP at a reporter on live television, but the incident does raise concerns for the employer regarding one of their employees behaving in such a manner at the airport, in uniform. Good luck.

[infiniteregulus]

Affirm. RCMP escorted the individual out (not in cuffs). The lounge staff were pissed haha

[godsrcrazy]

Now i am Curious if this individual is from one of the major airlines. Hopefully if whom ever it was creating hell at minimum gets suspended for a period of time for making the company look bad while they are in uniform.

I would think with this being on airport property if this individual raised to much hell and RCMP getting involved their red pass could be in Jeopardy.

[PostmasterGeneral]

And for what? Some shitty leftovers and a free can of Coke?

[.80@410]

From the horses mouth :

It was a dine and dash, and is being handled by the RCMP.
I won't divulge the airline suffice to say I'm happy it was not WJ/ WJE.

[mbav8r]

From the horses mouth :

It was a dine and dash, and is being handled by the RCMP.
I won't divulge the airline suffice to say I'm happy it was not WJ/ WJE.

I’m very curious, how can you dine and dash at a lounge that requires membership to enter?
I suspect said pilot has a membership and they were denying access, so he/she walked in grabbed some stuff and was then reported to police.
I can imagine if you signed up recently under the old rules or not enforced rules you’d be pissed when they start denying access, perhaps a prorated refund should be issued.

[justwork]

it is absolutely demented to me that a pilot would ever think they're not a scamming the system. You pay a couple hundred bucks for a CC and expect free meals. When clearly the intention is that the card be used by the travelling public not pilots who have a quick turn, every day, all the time, always.

[mbav8r]

it is absolutely demented to me that a pilot would ever think they're not a scamming the system. You pay a couple hundred bucks for a CC and expect free meals. When clearly the intention is that the card be used by the travelling public not pilots who have a quick turn, every day, all the time, always.

It’s more than a couple hundred bucks, my understanding is that it’s 750.00. How many of the traveling public would pay that for a couple flights per year? Frequent flyers doing 4 or so trips might justify the cost and is not really much different than a pilot using it.
Clearly some pilots ruined it for everyone and personally I don’t really care but I think if you just renewed your membership and they decided to enforce the rules, that’s still the same as changing the rules in my eyes. Should be giving a refund

[montado]

I think justwork is referring to the additional cards you can add to your account for 200 bucks. One account, 10 cards at 750+(200x9).

It is hard to argue a refund becuase how do you put a value on the lounge access. This card has several perks such as CDW for car rental. So you could ask to be refunded but what if you rented cars for 100 days last year taking advantage of this coverage. How do you divide the value of perks? What about the bonus points on sign up? Simple answer from Amex would likely be “it’s in the terms, not our problem, they were never supposed to give access from the beginning, so maybe you owe us for abusing the privilege.”

If you no longer want the card, cancel it. But don’t fool yourself thinking you deserve a refund. Sorry, but AMEX did nothing wrong here. Sometimes you just have to admit a good thing came to an end, wash your hands and move on.

[Oxi]

so who did it

[Shady McSly]

Swoop

[infiniteregulus]

It's irrelevant who or what company. It was a pilot and it looks bad on ALL of us.

[Rowdy]

Rumour mill says a certain smaller western operator...

[Donald]

Rumour mill says a certain smaller western operator...

Gee, thanks for narrowing that down.

[justwork]

It's irrelevant who or what company. It was a pilot and it looks bad on ALL of us.

This.

I think justwork is referring to the additional cards you can add to your account for 200 bucks. One account, 10 cards at 750+(200x9).

It is hard to argue a refund becuase how do you put a value on the lounge access. This card has several perks such as CDW for car rental. So you could ask to be refunded but what if you rented cars for 100 days last year taking advantage of this coverage. How do you divide the value of perks? What about the bonus points on sign up? Simple answer from Amex would likely be “it’s in the terms, not our problem, they were never supposed to give access from the beginning, so maybe you owe us for abusing the privilege.”

If you no longer want the card, cancel it. But don’t fool yourself thinking you deserve a refund. Sorry, but AMEX did nothing wrong here. Sometimes you just have to admit a good thing came to an end, wash your hands and move on.

And no, $750 vs $250 vs $1000. The intention of this CC isn't for Joe pilot to use while he has a few minutes. It's intended for someone who A) doesn't give a shit about the annual fee. B) Travels for work & pleasure. It's was never intended to be exploited by airport or airline employees as a cheap lunch. I flew with FO's who had it and I shuddered at the idea of actually going into a lounge, which is totally totally intended for the public and not employees, and enjoying a shit meal and bad coffee. But hey, to each their own.

[Rockie]

Do you recall ever walking past an AMEX kiosk in an airport? If I had a dollar for each time one of them said “lounge access” to me I could retire. It is how AMEX themselves aggressively marketed that card to anybody in a uniform and you know it.

And the crew who use it are customers...not employees. Climb down off your high horse justwork.

[justwork]

Do you recall ever walking past an AMEX kiosk in an airport? If I had a dollar for each time one of them said “lounge access” to me I could retire. It is how AMEX themselves aggressively marketed that card to anybody in a uniform and you know it.

And the crew who use it are customers...not employees. Climb down off your high horse justwork.

I honestly can't believe you're debating this.

[Rockie]

What’s to debate? This card was hawked to crew for its lounge access and for a long time it served its purpose. The lounges decided to enforce the rule and now the card’s usefulness is greatly diminished so they won’t sell as many and current users will cancel and get a refund. Simple.

But you can’t deny how it was sold to begin with, and your snooty attitude towards what the lounge offers and those using it is irritating. Hence the high horse comment. Not for you to judge.

[altiplano]

Rockie is right in that this card is sold to crew by the salesmen in the terminal...

Every time I walk by the used car salesmen are throwing a pitch "lounge access" because that's their job... and obviously crew were an easy target to help them get their quota... They never said "eat for free while at work" though...

Most recently the pitch was "Get the card while you can, airline employees will soon be ineligible"... Lighting a fire in case you're on the fence... Still though, they weren't saying "eat for free at work"...

But it doesn't really matter what they say though. It's all layed out in the T&Cs that YOU READ AND SIGN. That's what plays

People come to my door with a plastic laminated badge and a contract telling me I can save on my gas and electric bills too... "Provincial Efficiency Agency" or whatever sounds good and official... How does that work out for people...

Salesmen have a job - SELL - make a product appealing and sell it, but it's your responsibility to know what your signing and buying.

No sympathy from me that they enforce the deal. The employees that abused it are nothing to AMEX vs. the high earners and spenders who got tired of sitting with them.

[justwork]

What’s to debate? This card was hawked to crew for its lounge access and for a long time it served its purpose. The lounges decided to enforce the rule and now the card’s usefulness is greatly diminished so they won’t sell as many and current users will cancel and get a refund. Simple.

But you can’t deny how it was sold to begin with, and your snooty attitude towards what the lounge offers and those using it is irritating. Hence the high horse comment. Not for you to judge.

If you dress like shit and make it there early enough you might be able to get a free bed at the local homeless shelter too.

[RidersRule]

For what it's worth I know some WestJet Crew members who have cancelled the card recently and did receive a prorated refund.

I like the new rules and as a commuter will keep my card for now. It works out to about $40 a month after the travel credit. I figure I will still hit the lounge about six times a month so it's well worth the cost. It also gives u access to a discount with car rentals with hertz. I recently saved about $200 Canadian on a car rental in Hawaii over the next cheapest fare I could find.

[Impact]

....I like the new rules and as a commuter.....

The rules aren't new though. They are just being enforced.