A few years ago, a man in China discovered a free way to eat good food, grab free drinks, and lounge about in relative luxury.
He bought a full-fare, first class airline ticket, flashed it to the attendant at a a luxury airport lounge, and spent the day inside. At closing time, instead of boarding a flight, he changed the departure date on his first class ticket to the following day.
The next day, he came back. Then again, and again, and again, for more than 300 days before the airline caught on, according to reports. Then, he cashed in the ticket for a refund.
Obviously, that’s an extreme case. But with the end of the pandemic, along with increasing airline travel and the value that many employees now place on their ability to work remotely, some top-tier public spaces are getting a lot more crowded.
Now, customers who pay to access those spaces, and who use them as originally designed, are beginning to notice-;and in some cases, complain.
Case in point: Delta Air Lines, which recently made a significant change to its policy regarding who is allowed to use its Sky Club lounges in response to customer feedback.
In short, eligible passengers — a category that includes premium class travelers, those with frequent flyer status, those with eligible credit cards, and those who simply pay an annual membership fee — can use Delta lounges for three hours before their scheduled departure (and not a minute more, as a reporter discovered).
Previously, there were no time limits. The rule changes are modeled after the policy at American Express Centurion Lounges, according to Delta, which is a partner to the airline. Exceptions to these limits exist for travelers on layovers or whose flights experience delays.
So far, the Wall Street Journal reported, United, American, and Alaska airlines haven’t made similar adjustments.
“We’re not a WeWork,” Claude Roussel, managing director of Delta Sky Club, told the Journal, adding that the lounges are designed for…