Admirals Club Lite

I’m sitting in AA’s Admirals Club at Chicago O’Hare airport. I received a one day pass to try it out; normally this would have cost me $50. So far, it’s pretty lame. Over the past few years, I’ve been in business class lounges at LAX and a few places in Asia. Most of them give you free food, drinks, and Internet access. All I can find at O’Hare is water and some snack mix. Even for the snack mix, you have to stand in front of a large dispenser and rotate a knob like a beggar. If you want real food or drinks, you have to order it at a bar/counter. Even worse, my one-day free pass does NOT include Internet access. For that, I need to pay another $6 or something.

I guess the free pass is for me to “experience” AA’s lounge and entice me to buy a membership. The chairs are more comfy than what’s down in the terminal but that’s about it. Unless I travel every week and need to connect all the time, there’s no way I would spend the $500 for an annual membership. There is a lot of people in here though. Maybe they’re writing it off as a business expense.

I see people walking around with vegetables and stuff. Maybe there is other “free” stuff hidden away somewhere. I’m going to walk around and check it out.