Anonymous
07/16/2024 23:28
Subject: Amex Centurion Lounge opens at National Airport July 17
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Every lounge has long lines - because all of them give their benefits away to card holders. Its a broken model that no longer requires actual frequent flying.
The Polaris lounge at IAD doesn’t allow people to get in off cards and it’s very nice.
Worked really well for a late evening flight to have dinner there and sleep on the plane.
You must have been there just after the main bank of flights to Europe around 4-6pm. I guess you were on the late departure to LIS, FRA, FCO, LHR, or DUB. The Polaris lounge isn't too bad then, but go in late afternoon and it's packed too.
Anonymous
07/16/2024 18:33
Subject: Amex Centurion Lounge opens at National Airport July 17
Anonymous wrote:Every lounge has long lines - because all of them give their benefits away to card holders. Its a broken model that no longer requires actual frequent flying.
The Polaris lounge at IAD doesn’t allow people to get in off cards and it’s very nice.
Worked really well for a late evening flight to have dinner there and sleep on the plane.
Anonymous
07/16/2024 16:58
Subject: Re:Amex Centurion Lounge opens at National Airport July 17
Anonymous wrote:The issue is AmEx Platinum cards are free to service members, instead of the $695 annual fee regular folks pay. DCA is going to have a lot of people in that category, so just a higher % than most airports of travelers who have a Platinum card.
At least they got strict on the guest policy and you can't bring in guests for free unless you spend $75k/year on the card, but since that's in place, I haven't seen much change in the lounge access lines.
Yes, and also free to their spouses and immediate family. The difference versus places like Denver or Miami is that there isn't a lot of connecting traffic at DCA, so in theory people will be there for a shorter time Also most people there will had PreCheck, so probably don't show up super early at the airport anyway.
But based on other airports, yeah lines/waits are likely unless it's early in the morning or late at night