Yep, I'm crazy old fashioned like that, thinking that the people who pay for a seat in a lounge trump the people who got a one time pass that clearly indicates it's space available and brought negative value to the company. Silly me with my "messed up thought process". And I'm a business owner to boot so I understand metrics like the value of a customer. You paid for nothing, as your quotes indicate United got no cash from you. As I clearly pointed out and you don't deny, people like us who maximize miles are a net negative for the company that they tolerate only because the overall program is a positive for them. As a business owner I am not just indifferent about having you as a customer, I'm actually financially better off without you and would prefer if you were gone. As a business owner, the guy who pays real cash money for an annual lounge membership contributes to my bottom line and the person who got 50,000 bonus miles and brings in maybe $50 a year in revenue while sucking up my CS time constantly whining takes away from my bottom line. If you ever run a service business you'll instantly understand. Get over yourself faux outrage, and if it's really that bad please go elsewhere, why in the world would you stick around? And "feeling of entitlement" pulease, take a look in the mirror!
Being that I'm paying $95 for two one time passes, and that I have never used it in the past three years I've gotten them, they're made available as one time passes for you to decide if it's worth buying a paid membership to the club that being said I don't see why if someone has a paid membership has any more advantages than a one-time membership which you're getting from your paid United Mileage Explorer credit card?
For example if my company I work for has some shares in the nhl (rangers), causing my company to get free tickets every so often and now I have a front seat ticket, while you paid $500 for the front seat ticket are you going to say you have better advantages over me since i got a free ticket? ( or should they have accidentally oversold one of the tickets would you say you have rights more than someone that got a free ticket?)
I know it sounds better if you went ahead and paid for your membership versus someone that is entitled to a membership from his credit card while paying his annual fee which entails him to 2 free one-time Club passes.
No reason to go berserk because we're asking for our rights with our one-time Club passes.