After sending a distressed tweet on Twitter that I thought the Admirals Club was crazy for only serving cookies until 3pm on Sundays, I exchanged a few messages with @AdmiralsClub about the club offerings. I replied something to the effect that the recent improvements in inflight service were not reflected in the Admirals Club product and only heavily discounting membership (by giving $70 off – which is upwards of 25% for some membership levels) made me (and some others) decide to join.
I figure I can't be alone that American's no alcohol and no food policy must keep some flyers from joining. I know American has missed out on at least two years of revenue from me due to these policies and Josh's recent post made a number of good points on why a lot of flyers hold off on joining.
However @AdmiralsClub assured me that in customer surveys, most were happy with the status quo. So I thought I would do a survey of our own. Obviously not all Upgrd listeners and readers are AA flyers, but they are seasoned travelers and had great feedback.
Survey Participants
We only received 45 responses, but I think its enough to at least indicate a few trends. Obviously take these results for what they are: just me having a chance to rant about the cookies a little more. ;)
First, overwhelmingly the people that took the survey travel a great deal and are prospective customers of the airlines clubs. Over 80% of the respondents are either top tier (75,000 or 100,000+ miles) or mid tier (50,000 miles) at their respective airlines.
Airline affiliation was split between the big four carriers: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines.
The majority of the people surveyed have access to their airline's lounge. I was surprised at the large variation in how people access the lounge, and the low paid membership percentage.
| Paid cash for membership | 27.5% |
| Redeemed miles for membership | 10.0% |
| I gain access through elite status on an another alliance airline | 22.5% |
| I gain access through another association (Amex Platinum, etc) | 20.0% |
| Only access lounge with free entry when traveling internationally as an elite | 10.0% |
| Paid F Tickets that allow lounge access | 5.0% |
| No answer | 5.0% |
Services
Next we asked what are the most important features required in a club membership. The overwhelming winners selected by the majority of respondents were:
- Complimentary internet access
- Number of club locations
- Helpfulness of staff with upgrades, rebooking, irregular operations
- Complimentary food (not snacks)
And in a close set of secondary requirements, selected by more than half the respondents:
- Complimentary alcoholic beverages
- Showers
However, when we rephrased the question to ask what you would pay for a-la-carte, the answers changed slightly. Admittedly our a-la-carte pricing was a flat fee of $75 for each feature, which is not a fair comparison as each feature will have a different cost in reality.
Features most requested by the majority of the respondents:
- Complimentary food (not snacks)
- Complimentary internet access
And in a close second with approximately 50% of the users selecting to pay for these items:
- Staff to help with upgrades, rebooking, irregular operations
- Complimentary alcoholic beverages
- Showers
Interestingly with Google's recent free wifi at 47 airports until early next year, I think wifi access will be less and less of a draw for club membership. I wouldn't be surprised if Google sponsors free wifi year round at some point in the future.
Pricing
Then we discussed club pricing. The two questions were “what is a fair price for your club now” and “what would you pay if your club had the features you wanted”. I know I would pay much more for a club membership if I could have a small snack and free drink away from the masses. I guess I am spoiled from living in Australia where the Qantas Club provided these features just as Delta, Alaska and Continental continue to do here.
Unfortunately I put the lowest survey value at “$250 or below”. From the looks of the responses, I think a number of people would have liked a $1 Price-is-right choice. So the graph is probably a little skewed to the high side for the “as-is value”. But you can see the difference, where the current status quo is heavily stacked towards under $250, while the survey participants clearly indicated their willingness to pay more for a club that provides more. Hell, I know I would.
Anyway, @AdmiralsClub, I probably can't convince you to join Delta, Continental, and even lowly US Airways in offering free alcohol and more substantial snacks, but perhaps I can convince you to fire your survey company and use the money saved to implement some new features. I know if there isn't a $70 coupon next year, I won't be renewing.
Comments
A busy club, with bad coffee and soft drinks and maybe some pretzels, all that really amounts to is help during irrops with shorter lines.
Free wi-fi is nice but hardly a plus, it's pretty basic actually in a place you're paying to join. The idea of a club is that they accomodate you, take care of you. And that's worth something.
Helpful agents trained in upgrades and re-booking.
Access to food. I didn't mind American's idea of charging for food if the offerings were actually good. If they're not going to do food ('heavy snacks') then there has to be some way to permit bringing in outside food. Last week in Charlotte (Ok, not an AA club issue per se!) I skipped the lounge during a 90 minute layover because I was hungry.
Showers are nice, important at an international gateway, less so in secondary markets.
Drinks are nice, I don't mind paying, I rather like the pay for premium stuff but don't charge for the swill model. But that means actually having premium stuff to charge for.
Really, it's the overall combination of things that matters not one benefit versus another. Although I do think that paucity of snack options, combined with the inability to order anything decent, or even to solve the problem yourself by bringing something in front the outside is the #1 problem.
Look, I don't want outside food either, it DOES cheapen the place. But American has ALREADY DONE THAT ON ITS OWN.
A place where you're served well, your needs are met, is a premium service worth paying for. A busy lounge, not that much less croded than the rest of the airport, without options for decent food or drink, isn't worth paying for.
I mainly make a beeline for the cubicles, put my stuff down, use the clean bathrooms, then surf Flyertalk.
I like the cubicles because I don't work in one.
The women's bathrooms are usually clean and functioning, even in United's RCCs.
I don't pay my own money because it is a corporate benefit, but I am tempted to buy another membership to fill in my travel gaps.
I kind of agree with Gary - it's the overall package and the service that really make a difference. I travel with/for work so complimentary alcohol isn't really a necessary benefit. I certainly wouldn't want to pay more for membership to include something I would use infrequently.
Also - a sample size of 45 is pretty weak. I can't imagine it's really representative. I could probably find 45 people that would say they wanted nannies in the clubs as a top priority - but that doesn't mean the vast majority would.
@Barbara - yes 45 is weak, that's why I said to take this as just a rant, not scientific fact.
At the end of the day I believe the other majors provide a better soft product than American and that the recent heavy discounting indicates a problem with their offering.
I'm not sure from your reply if you are happy with your membership or if you, like Gary, would like to see other improvements. The "overall package" in my opinion is sorely lacking.
I am guessing that Hunter is a member of the now SkyClub just for the clean bathrooms and the magazine selections.
I still think that the Skyclub and the President's club is the best out there as they have the amenities I need, plus drinks. Not that it is important, but it sure comes in handy when you need one, or two, or three......
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