Our home airport is IAH, and I have a United club card from Chase. They are doing major changes to the club benefits, and thinking about changing to get a platinum card instead. What are the thoughts on the amex lounge at IAH?

We are big fans of the AmEx lounges everywhere. We don't use the IAH one as much, since that is our home airport and we typically don't arrive with enough time before departure to really enjoy it. But the experiences I've had there have been positive.

The only downside is, it is often busy (not just at IAH), and you have to put in a request for admission within 30 min of your arrival time. If they are full, you can't get in.

But we have had some really nice long layovers in other AmEx lounges - Philly, Charlotte, LAX, and most recently, Auckland (which required a Priority Pass - which is some sort of partnership between AmEx and other lounges - so make sure you get that, too).

I've come to appreciate them just to get out of the noise and chaos that seems to be every airport these days. They are really nice when you have an unexpected hours long flight delay, like we did in Charlotte last summer.

It's a good lounge. Dated compared to some others now. It's below the terminal, so no windows. It get super crowded. I'd typically fly out early Mondays and would ~20th in line for it to open at 6A.

But Amex Plat / Centurion is a hard sell for us now with the guest fee. I still keep it for work travel, but I've only been to SEA and Heathrow in the last year. Both I had to check in and wait.

I also have Alaska lounge through work. Exponentially better. I LOVE the Alaska lounge at SEA and SFO.

Im always surprised at how busy the United lounges are and The last couple times I have traveled I have had to put my name down and wait to be texted to get into Amex lounge.
No wonder they raised their fees and changed some of their policies.

Not super happy about a 30% increase in the united club card fee, but they had to do something about reducing entrance. Theres still going to be a ton of kids in them but maybe limiting guests and adult children will help.

The IAH Centurion lounge is great, but you will have to deal with the occasional overcrowding and long wait times to get in, especially around the busy travel season. Although, it seems as if the restrictions around letting additional guests in have helped with the overcrowding in the past year or so.

Another great thing about the AMEX Platinum is that you also get access to Priority Pass Lounges. IAH has two priority pass lounges in Terminal D that are close to the Centurion lounge, The Air France and KLM Lounges. So if the Centurion lounge has a long line to get in, you can just walk to the other two lounges instead. Theyre obviously not as nice as the Centurion Lounge, but hey its still free drinks and food.

The Priority Pass lounges tend to be much nicer overseas compared to the US.

I thought someone recently mentioned that the IAH centurion lounge was getting overhauled soon. Agree it's on the smaller side compared to other locations. Centurion lounge food blows United lounge food out of the water. Just found out last year that black card holders apparently get access to a special menu as well.

Petrino1 said:

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The IAH Centurion lounge is great, but you will have to deal with the occasional overcrowding and long wait times to get in, especially around the busy travel season. Although, it seems as if the restrictions around letting additional guests in have helped with the overcrowding in the past year or so.

Another great thing about the AMEX Platinum is that you also get access to Priority Pass Lounges. IAH has two priority pass lounges in Terminal D that are close to the Centurion lounge, The Air France and KLM Lounges. So if the Centurion lounge has a long line to get in, you can just walk to the other two lounges instead. Theyre obviously not as nice as the Centurion Lounge, but hey it's still free drinks and food.

The Priority Pass lounges tend to be much nicer overseas compared to the US.

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This so good to know! We had our first experience with Priority Pass lounges in Auckland last week. The food was excellent and the wine and cocktails were serve yourself! It was a very nice lounge.

As I said above just be sure to get your Priority Pass. It's literally just giving AmEx permission to share your info. But we could not get into the Priority Pass lounge with just the AmEx info - we had to call AmEx and get a Priority Pass member number. This membership also has its own app (which I presume you would use like the AmEx app to request entry to a lounge).

Jock 07 said:

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I thought someone recently mentioned that the IAH centurion lounge was getting overhauled soon. Agree it's on the smaller side compared to other locations. Centurion lounge food blows United lounge food out of the water. Just found out last year that black card holders apparently get access to a special menu as well.

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Yea one of the long time IAH centurion lounge bartenders told me last December that they were going to expand the lounge, double in size, and add a second bar sometime this year.

ha...a bartender told me the same 3 years ago. He said it would be when they finished the new Terminal D.

Seems to be a persistent rumor.

I think IAH being a United hub causes Amex to be a second-class citizen.

Another factor this year that might reduce the load on the centurion lounge is the pull back on govt travel affecting active duty TDYs. Maybe not as much at IAH but I'd say certainly DIA. Seems like there's always a pretty decent sized AD contingent in there when I pass through.

Yeah. Got same letter today from Chase ! That's an increase, ouch


Guess I will call Chase tomorrow to see what else they have

AggieStan said:

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Yeah. Got same letter today from Chase ! That's an increase, ouch


Guess I will call Chase tomorrow to see what else they have

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It's an increase, but seems there are way more kick back opportunities now to reduce the cost;

$150 in rideshare
$200 in hotel
$100 in budget/avis rental
$200 in JSX
$240 in instacart.

You can literally get back more than the annual fee with all that... maybe not realistic to do all, but rideshare, budget rental, and instacart is for probably most people.. and that's almost $500.

Current kickbacks only include the $100 to IHG I'm pretty sure.

Then the TSA pre/global entry every 5 years.

62strat said:

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AggieStan said:

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Yeah. Got same letter today from Chase ! That's an increase, ouch


Guess I will call Chase tomorrow to see what else they have

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It's an increase, but seems there are way more kick back opportunities now to reduce the cost;

$150 in rideshare
$200 in hotel
$100 in budget/avis rental
$200 in JSX
$240 in instacart.

You can literally get back more than the annual fee with all that... maybe not realistic to do all, but rideshare, budget rental, and instacart is for probably most people.. and that's almost $500.

Current kickbacks only include the $100 to IHG I'm pretty sure.

Then the TSA pre/global entry every 5 years.

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called Chase today. Rep says- "hold tight, letter was sent out by mistake blah blah. Expect another letter next 2 weeks"


Personally , I think l Chase received ton of backlash

I'm looking at this again..

Are they taking away the ability to bring in spouse and kids?
I'm reading conflicting things.

nerdwallet says;
Membership to United Club airport lounges is still included. If you reach Premier Gold status or spend $50,000 in a year, you'll get United Club All Access membership, which includes the ability to bring two adult guests to a lounge (instead of just one), plus four United Club passes per year when you have an authorized user on your account (the primary cardholder or an authorized user must be present when the passes are used). You can also visit Star Alliance lounges.

that makes it sound like I'd have to add spouse as an authorized user (no big deal), but we'd only get 4 passes to use for her and kids per year.


United says
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/airport/united-club-membership.html

"Cardmember access includes unlimited access for primary cardmembers, one guest and dependents under 18."

The way I am reading the new United Club Access is like this:

If you buy an Individual membership outright for $750 you can:
-Enter a United club by yourself

I am not quite sure why anyone would do this.

If you buy an All Access Membership for $1400 (No status through gold) $1300 for Platinum, or $1200 for 1K you can:
-Enter the club with up to 2 guests or spouse and kids under 18
-Enter any star alliance member lounge.

Also not sure why anyone would buy this.

If you enroll in the Explorer card at the new $150 fee you get the two passes. They have changed one time passes starting 5/1 to:
-Can only enter 3 hours before original flight departure (no limit connecting)
-Cant go to a Club Fly Lounge
-Bring one guest or guest and children
-Passes must be redeemed by the cardholder or an authorized user on the card (No more selling screenshots of unused passes to people)

If you enroll in the United Club Card at the new $695 fee you get:
-Enter any United Club by yourself
-Enter any United Club with one adult guest or your spouse and children under 18
-If you hit Gold or higher status, or spend $50K, you are upgraded to the All Access Membership that ups the guest allowance to 2 and allows entry to star alliance lounges

It seems all these moves airlines are making with Lounges and Baggage Fees are geared toward pushing people to cobranded cards. JMO

62strat said:

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AggieStan said:

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Yeah. Got same letter today from Chase ! That's an increase, ouch


Guess I will call Chase tomorrow to see what else they have

---

It's an increase, but seems there are way more kick back opportunities now to reduce the cost;

$150 in rideshare
$200 in hotel
$100 in budget/avis rental
$200 in JSX
$240 in instacart.

You can literally get back more than the annual fee with all that... maybe not realistic to do all, but rideshare, budget rental, and instacart is for probably most people.. and that's almost $500.

Current kickbacks only include the $100 to IHG I'm pretty sure.

Then the TSA pre/global entry every 5 years.

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There's some fine print on the statement credit perks. For example, the ride share benefit on the club card is $12 a month. You can't take it all at once. Same with instacart and the rental car benefit. The hotel benefits also only kick in if you book and prepay through the United hotel booking module.

IHG Platinum Elite is still included along with Presidents Club at Avis. Those two are some of the biggest perks for me since I stay in a lot of Holiday Inn Express hotels. Presidents Club at Avis has always allowed me to book a standard car rate and upgrade on the app to an SUV.

NColoradoAG said:

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62strat said:

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AggieStan said:

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Yeah. Got same letter today from Chase ! That's an increase, ouch


Guess I will call Chase tomorrow to see what else they have

---

It's an increase, but seems there are way more kick back opportunities now to reduce the cost;

$150 in rideshare
$200 in hotel
$100 in budget/avis rental
$200 in JSX
$240 in instacart.

You can literally get back more than the annual fee with all that... maybe not realistic to do all, but rideshare, budget rental, and instacart is for probably most people.. and that's almost $500.

Current kickbacks only include the $100 to IHG I'm pretty sure.

Then the TSA pre/global entry every 5 years.

---

There's some fine print on the statement credit perks. For example, the ride share benefit on the club card is $12 a month. You can't take it all at once. Same with instacart and the rental car benefit. The hotel benefits also only kick in if you book and prepay through the United hotel booking module.

IHG Platinum Elite is still included along with Presidents Club at Avis. Those two are some of the biggest perks for me since I stay in a lot of Holiday Inn Express hotels. Presidents Club at Avis has always allowed me to book a standard car rate and upgrade on the app to an SUV.

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agreed. the coupon book crap is getting very old. They know that most people won't use all those credits.

Diggity said:

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NColoradoAG said:

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62strat said:

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AggieStan said:

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Yeah. Got same letter today from Chase ! That's an increase, ouch


Guess I will call Chase tomorrow to see what else they have

---

It's an increase, but seems there are way more kick back opportunities now to reduce the cost;

$150 in rideshare
$200 in hotel
$100 in budget/avis rental
$200 in JSX
$240 in instacart.

You can literally get back more than the annual fee with all that... maybe not realistic to do all, but rideshare, budget rental, and instacart is for probably most people.. and that's almost $500.

Current kickbacks only include the $100 to IHG I'm pretty sure.

Then the TSA pre/global entry every 5 years.

---

There's some fine print on the statement credit perks. For example, the ride share benefit on the club card is $12 a month. You can't take it all at once. Same with instacart and the rental car benefit. The hotel benefits also only kick in if you book and prepay through the United hotel booking module.

IHG Platinum Elite is still included along with Presidents Club at Avis. Those two are some of the biggest perks for me since I stay in a lot of Holiday Inn Express hotels. Presidents Club at Avis has always allowed me to book a standard car rate and upgrade on the app to an SUV.

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agreed. the coupon book crap is getting very old. They know that most people won't use all those credits.

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Yeah, I honestly forget about them and am just happy when they magically post to my statement. Still find the Club Card to be a good value for a person who flies almost always on United and almost always in and out of airports that have United Clubs. Looks like I entered a Club 25 times last year and brought a guest 9 of those times. Those are rookie numbers. But even with the average food and drinks I feel like I come out ahead just on food and beverage. Figure $20 for a sandwich, fries and a cocktail 25 times is $500. Plus, many of those visits are to the Club Fly Lounge in Denver where I get pretty greedy sometimes and grab enough snacks for my hotel room for a 3 night trip.

I read somewhere that airlines have transitioned from an airline with a credit card to a credit card company that happens to fly.

I read that , in 2019, delta made 40% of their revenue and 70% of their income from their link to American Express

Jock 07 said:

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I read somewhere that airlines have transitioned from an airline with a credit card to a credit card company that happens to fly.

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But are they getting any of the interest? Or is chase getting all of that?

From what I understand, they sell the miles to the credit card issuer, and have a linked marketing agreement

I did read on the club card you'll get 1 PQP for every $15 spent. That's a nice perk, will def help me with status. $695 is kinda steep though.

rebelag62 said:

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I did read on the club card you'll get 1 PQP for every $15 spent. That's a nice perk, will def help me with status. $695 is kinda steep though.

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They also gift you 1500 PQP in March-April of each year you have the card.

Is that new or they already do that? I thought I remembered getting some bonus PQP last year. Not for spending but as some bonus.

rebelag62 said:

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Is that new or they already do that? I thought I remembered getting some bonus PQP last year. Not for spending but as some bonus.

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Feel like they've been doing it since they changed up all the tiers and such 2 or 3 years ago.

Since we moved to discussions about United. I'm curious about flight segment minimums.Let's say im connecting CRP-IAH-DEN is that considered 2 flight segments and then return flight DEN-IAH-CRP would be 2 more flight segments making it 4 total? Or is that only considered 2 total?

Yes, that would be 4 total flight segments.

And when is the cutoff date to complete the requirements ?