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Airport perks
By STEVE HUETTEL
© St. Petersburg Times, "Riding a plane today is like riding the bus," one frequent flier says. "Airline clubs get you out of the waiting routine." But some complain that those membership clubs are becoming overcrowded and uncomfortable. Airlines continue to look for ways to pamper, and attract more of, their most lucrative passengers. TAMPA -- A line of 20 passengers snakes toward the Delta Air Lines podium at Tampa International Airport's Gate 39, all of them waiting on a single gate agent who taps on a computer that spits out boarding passes. Parents pushing baby carriages dodge travelers carrying hot dogs and soft drinks through the concourse. People are draped over the four pay phones. It's a snapshot from the traveler's hell that is the modern American airport on a busy travel day. Not far away, though, behind a mahogony-color door, Dave Korpieski of Marietta, Ga., is sheltered from the aggravation. One of the three agents at the reservations desk inside Delta's Crown Room tries but fails to get Korpieski on an earlier flight to Atlanta. No matter. He'll gladly spend the next 21/2 hours sipping a free drink, reading and watching CNN financial news on the flat-screen television. "Riding a plane today is like riding the bus," said Korpieski, national account manager for yard tool manufacturer Echo Inc. "Airline clubs get you out of the waiting routine. Sitting in that gate area is not a pretty thing." More and more travelers, most of them seasoned business fliers, have discovered the airlines' members-only clubs are the best place to escape the tumult of the concourses. Airlines confirm that membership is increasing. They won't say how many travelers hold club cards or how fast their numbers are growing, but the signs are clear. Frequent fliers complain some clubs are increasingly overcrowded. Airlines are jacking up membership fees. And they're building bigger, better clubs. US Airways built or replaced 13 clubs nationally in the past four years. Two more are under way, including one at Tampa International's Airside F. The 6,600-square-foot US Airways Club, more than double the size of the existing one, will open this fall. Delta, which has a 4,100-square-foot club, plans an expanded Crown Room in a new airside that's scheduled for completion in October 2002. Travelers at Tampa International have only the Delta and US Airways clubs to choose from, but airports in business centers such as Los Angeles, Boston and New York have as many as seven airline clubs. The airlines also are changing their clubs to keep up with the habits of business travelers more interested in downloading e-mail and returning calls than kicking back with a beer. Many clubs, including those in Tampa, still have the decor of a reading room in a suburban country club, with recessed lighting, full-service wet bars and plush upholstered chairs. But free copy machines, shredders and pay phones with data ports or fax machines are now standard fare. Members of American Airlines' Admirals Clubs can arrange for secretarial dictation and notary service. Some clubs provide cubicles with personal computers. Continental's Presidents Clubs even have Bloomberg financial news terminals. Lawrence Shipp Jr. of Tampa, a senior consulting officer for pension fund giant TIAA-CREF, travels at least every other week along the East Coast and in Florida. He makes frequent use of his membership in the US Airways Club. "It becomes your office away from your office," he said. The cost of having such a getaway in dozens of airports around the world is getting steeper. Delta will increase annual Crown Room membership fees to $475 from $400 on Aug. 1. United Airlines recently increased Red Carpet Club fees to $450 from $400. US Airways boosted annual membership in its club to $375 from $300 on May 1. Airlines say the higher fees simply reflect the costs of providing better clubs with more amenities. But some frequent fliers and airline experts suspect carriers are trying to limit membership to their elite customers, who get in free or at reduced rates. Clubs at some busy hub airports have become almost as hectic as the terminals. Members say the smaller of Delta's six clubs in its hub at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport often are too crowded for comfort. "Atlanta can be just horrible," St. Petersburg neurologist Dr. Carol Pappas said. "Sometimes you're stepping over people sitting on the floor. It's not very nice." Joe Brancatelli, a columnist for the Web site BizTravel.com, said the booming popularity of airline clubs is just part of the problem. More frequent flight delays and cancellations, especially at hubs where travelers switch flights, can send scores of members into the clubs and keep them there longer, he said. Partnerships with other domestic and international carriers have opened clubs to crowds of new members. "The airlines are looking for optimal utilization, but optimal utilization plus one is a crisis," he said. "That's why club fees have exploded." The fees are steepest for customers who don't fly enough to achieve elite status, typically at least 25,000 miles a year. Airlines don't mind losing those members, said Tom Parsons, founder of the travel Web site Bestfares.com. "They see it as a way to redline," he said. "A $400 (fee) will keep certain people out . . . and accommodate the boys who do 100,000 miles a year." Delta and other carriers say they have "capacity issues" at some clubs, especially when bad weather or other conditions disrupt air traffic. But airlines insist they aren't trying to weed out low-mileage travelers. Still, Joe Leach, Delta's system manager for hospitality services, acknowledged that Crown Room membership has become more skewed toward elite fliers. That's fine with Delta because business travelers pay the highest fares and fly far more frequently. The airline figures that a Platinum Medallion level customer, who flies at least 100,000 miles a year, generates about $1-million in business for Delta over a career, said Ty Womack, supervisor of the Crown Room at Tampa International. A Gold Medallion customer (50,000 miles) is worth $500,000, he said, and a Silver Medallion flier (25,000 miles) runs up about $250,000 in tickets. That makes enrolling elite fliers and holding on to them a critical business. Airlines routinely try to lure busy business travelers from competitors with offers of instant elite-level status. Among the perks: Double frequent flier miles. Free upgrades to first class. Special tags that ensure your bag is one of the first to pop out onto to luggage carousel. And, of course, discounts on club memberships. Only Delta gives free club memberships to its best customers, the 100,000-mile Platinum Medallion fliers. Others knock $100 to $200 off the annual fee for top-tier fliers. Lower-level elite customers get discounts ranging from $50 to $200 off the full price. "The club environment in the airline business is very competitive," Leach said. Dave Dunlap is the kind of customer airlines salivate over. As East Coast sales director for a company that builds huge electric transformers for utilities, he's on the road four out of five work days, calling on customers or attending meetings. Dunlap has homes in St. Petersburg and Newport, R.I., and racks up about 130,000 miles a year in the air. That qualifies him for US Airways' top elite status, Chairman's Preferred or, as he likes to call it, the "walking-on-water level." Just back from company headquarters in Milwaukee, Dunlap plugs his laptop into a phone and relaxes in the living room setting of the US Airways Club in Tampa. The computer downloads e-mail as he waits for his wife to call and say she's pulling up to the airport to get him. Dunlap likes that he can get a drink without having to elbow his way to the bar. He can snack on free apples or cheese and crackers. The club has portable phones for local calls and plenty of charge card phones with data ports on tables with comfortable chairs. "It's a quiet place," he said. "But the biggest thing is the multitude of (computer) connections. In a lot of airports, there are no phones with data ports." On this Wednesday afternoon, all four desks in a corner of the club are occupied by travelers intently tapping away on laptops. Tampa International's new US Airways club will provide more privacy: Individual cubicles equipped with phones and computer hookups. Delta plans to go one better with small, private offices in its new Crown Room. Both new clubs also will add conference rooms, renting for $35 an hour for members and $50 an hour for non-members, so travelers making a quick stopover can hold a meeting on the spot. Especially in large cities, businesses are finding airport clubs a convenient place for legal depositions, lunch meetings, jobs interviews and even the occasional firing. Most conference rooms have audio-visual equipment and catered meals available. "People can get all their work done without the transportation hassles," said Scott Ackerman, manager of US Airways clubs and international lounges. Engineering giant URS Corp. has so many offices throughout sprawling metropolitan Los Angeles that it's easier for out-of-town executives to meet at Los Angeles International Airport, said Wallace Hawkes, a senior vice president based in Tampa. "It takes so long to get anywhere, I'd spend more time driving from the airport and back than I would in the meeting," said Hawkes, who's flown more than 10-million miles on Delta. Clubs vary in their policies and perks. Some airlines accept frequent flier miles as well as cash for memberships. Some have reciprocal deals that let their members use other airline clubs. The US Airways and United clubs serve coffee, juice and soft drinks free but charge for alcohol. Delta, Continental and Northwest clubs serve complimentary cocktails, beer and wine. American has free alcoholic beverages only in its overseas Admirals Clubs. Delta has a no-nonsense rule for Crown Room members: Only those flying the airline that day can get in. Too many members were using the clubs for meetings or dropping in while traveling on competing carriers. Some were even coming to the airport just to hang out, watch football games on TV and soak up free booze. "Some people were using the club like you'd use a country club," Delta hospitality manager Leach said. "The question was how do we serve the right people when they really need it?" - Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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