United Airlines is considering significant price increases for club access – while simultaneously limiting benefits
United Airlines is currently reviewing changes to its United Club, from higher costs for memberships and for its premium co-brand credit card to limiting benefits. It is also considering giving some customers priority for lounge access, booking assistance and seat searches. Many of these changes are inspired by Delta Air Lines and its Sky Clubs.
Changes to the cost of United Club access
United is considering a basic club membership and a premium membership. Access will still be available through the premium credit card, which currently costs $525.
The planned annual base membership price increases are $750 and $800 respectively. For comparison, here are the current costs for club membership:
| MileagePlus status | Annual membership fees |
| General Member | $650 or 85,000 miles |
| Silver | $650 or 85,000 miles |
| Gold | $650 or 85,000 miles |
| platinum | $600 or 80,000 miles |
| 1K | $550 or 75,000 miles |
| United Club Infinite Card | Including |
The premium version of the membership would cost either $1,250 or $1,400. I’ll discuss these benefits – some of which are already included in a basic membership today – in more detail in the following section.
At the same time, these surveys show higher annual fees for the United Club card – currently $525, with a projected increase to $675 – while reserving certain benefits to those who spend $50,000 annually with the card or who have MileagePlus Gold status or higher.
Are some options United is considering
United offered three price and service variants for review. In all three, the – now more expensive – basic club membership would no longer include lounge access for guests.
Club membership currently includes access to Star Alliance lounges, but this access will be withdrawn for basic members.
And in some clubs, basic members also have a lower priority when it comes to getting into lounges, finding seats, and getting reservation assistance from staff.
The new, expensive premium membership would require two adult guests (or one adult guest and dependent children under 21) and would also include the sale of premium drinks to basic members.
A higher annual fee would make the credit card less attractive, but with United status or $50,000 in annual spending, premium drinks and priority queues for club access and personalized customer service and preferred seating at some locations would come. With spending or status, guest access would match what premium members get. In one version, guest access for the card will be more limited, with access for dependent children dependent on status or card spending.
It seems that their aim is to restrict access to guest and partner lounges to basic club members and to give other customers priority in entering these lounges.
At the same time, some customers can get premium alcohol and skip the lounge entry line for a much higher fee. In some lounges, certain seats are also reserved.
United airline passengers who receive lounge access via their credit card, and who have Gold status or higher should do quite well with this model despite the higher fee, considering preferential access to lounges and their services and, for some preferences, premium alcohol. This survey did not ask about a limit on the number of visits per year for credit card customers, as Delta did.
In the United Club, some customers are more equal than others
United could perhaps take a leaf out of Delta’s book and offer preferred club access. They are exploring this as an option that would be bundled with the club’s premium membership and offered to credit card customers with Gold status or higher, or with annual card spending of $50,000 or more.
They are also considering introducing priority queues where one can get personal assistance from a member of staff, which would be particularly useful during irregular operations (such as weather-related delays). They are also following the example of American Express, which reserves seats in Centurion lounges for Black Card customers and may reserve some seats in some clubs for those who pay for premium membership or spend $50,000 or more annually with the card.
It’s unclear to what extent these preferential services will be offered. Many clubs will likely not have preferred lines to get in, not all will have preferred seats, and it’s unclear if enough seats will be reserved given the cost.
Feedback I gave on the survey
I told United that it does not encourage me to keep a card or pay for a membership to increase the price while removing benefits or increasing the price a lot to get mostly the same thing.
Also note that they talk about memberships costing $1,400…but nowhere mention improvements to food in their lounges. They want to charge Delta prices without bringing their clubs up to Delta standards.
