Following the lead of Delta Sky Club, Admirals Club and United Club — which are the official airport lounges of Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines respectively — a price increase for membership for access to Alaska Airlines airport lounges has been officially announced, to be effective as of Friday, August 30, 2019.
Alaska Airlines Lounge Membership Rates Increasing in August 2019
Although membership rates for Alaska Lounge membership will increase at the end of next month, the rates will still be less expensive than those of Delta Sky Club, Admirals Club and United Club — but unlike other airport lounge memberships, one cannot pay for Alaska Lounge membership with Mileage Plan miles.
The membership rate increases have been justified with either the remodeling of Alaska Lounge locations — as well as new Alaska Lounge locations at airports in New York, Seattle and San Francisco — and significant upgrades to the food and beverages which are offered in the lounges.
Membership rates are based on the current Mileage Plan status level of the member.
| Mileage Plan Elite Level Status | Current Annual Membership | Current Renewal of Annual Membership | New Annual Membership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Member | $450.00 | $350.00 | $450.00 |
| MVP | $375.00 | $325.00 | $400.00 |
| MVP Gold | $295.00 | $295.00 | $350.00 |
| MVP Gold 75K | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | $300.00 |
The discount for renewing an annual Alaska Lounge membership has been eliminated — meaning that the cost to renew an annual Alaska Lounge membership is the same as applying for a new one; and that translates into a more expensive rate increase for current members. For example, Mileage Plan members who have not earned elite level status will feel the most pain financially, paying $100.00 extra per year for membership renewals — yet the cost of a new membership remains unchanged.
Moreover, annual Alaska Lounge membership was included for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members who earned MVP Gold 75K elite level status; but starting next month, the cost of membership will be $300.00 per year.
You can renew your current Alaska Lounge membership at the current lower rates if it expires on or before Monday, September 30, 2019 — but the renewal must still be processed by Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 11:59 in the evening Pacific Daylight Time.
At this time, access to Alaska Lounge airport locations appear to remain unchanged instead of becoming more restrictive; and the policies for purchasing and using a day pass also appear to remain unchanged.
Summary
A reader of The Gate was so outraged about the news pertaining to the changes to the more restrictive access policies of the network of Sky Club airport lounges that he sent to me an e-mail message to please call to your attention to them; so I can only imagine how much angrier he must be after reading about the increase in prices for membership to Delta Sky Clubs — especially as rates had already increased effective as of Sunday, January 1, 2017…
…but he will get no sympathy from competitors, as membership rate increases for Delta Sky Club, Admirals Club and United Club have already been announced for 2019. Even though this latest news from Alaska Airines comes as absolutely no surprise, I have to admit that I must have been asleep while earning my Master of Business Administration degree during the class which apparently teaches that a company must exactly — or, in this case, similarly, but not quite exactly — follow the lead of its competitors in order for it to be successful. After all, why bother taking the time to come up with anything original on your own?!?
I offered my reasons in this article which I wrote on Monday, October 19, 2015 as to why I personally would not pay $59.00 for a one-time visit to a Delta Sky Club — but that is just my opinion, and the same is true for access to an Alaska Lounge, United Club or Admirals Club airport lounge.
Although these policies will adversely affect many people, some will welcome the aforementioned changes, as they see them euphemistically as ways of the reduction of crowds in Alaska Lounges. This comment which was written by Donald Osborne — who is a reader of The Gate — pertaining to the more restrictive change to access to Delta Sky Clubs is one example of that mindset: “I’m good with that. A dramatic reduction in the crowds in the Sky Club is much more important to me than the one or two times a year I might visit a Delta lounge when flying another airline. Delta is smart in this policy. They know that the most loyal flyers will like it and those who fly frequently fly non-Sky Team airlines but use the lounges anyway won’t. There’s no real incentive to make them happy so I get it.”
Perhaps some members of Alaska Lounge will similarly welcome the changes which have just been announced — but I have a feeling that a majority of members will feel otherwise…
Source: Alaska Lounge.
