We left, with no wine, and until I receive a logical explanation from AMEX, will likely never return to what had been one of our favorite airport lounges, including several International First Class lounges around the world. She also handed me the card with the Website, to complain, and profusely apologized for the incident. I canceled my “one wine,” went to the hostess (who we knew from many visits), who took down my complaint, to be filed with AMEX. He stated that I had to take the one wine to our table, and then my wife had to come to the bar, to get her one wine. “You only can have one wine!” was the reply. I explained that my wife was sitting in the very back of the next room over, and that I was going to take her wine to her. I asked for clarification, as I assumed that there was a mis-communication somewhere. I was told “You only get one wine, and not two.” Hm-m, something new? I explained that one was for my wife, and one was for me. I know most of the hosts, hostesses, bartenders, and all of the servers. Though we frequent this Lounge, since we fly United Airlines out of SFO T3 (the Centurion Lounge is across from Gate 75 in T3, and just before one enters the adjacent International Terminal, for the G Gates) constantly (almost every other week), the bartender was new to me. This is where things went horribly wrong. Pretty simple, and about what I usually order, though sometimes it’s two Chardonnays. I made my way to the bar, waited in line, and placed my order: a glass of Chardonnay, and a glass of Pinot Noir. There was one small table, in the back of one of the rooms, and our hostess seated us there, removing the “Reserved” sign. On this visit, everything started out well. This was to combat the over crowding, about which many of the Platinum and Centurion holders were complaining about, and which I had been observing recently. Holders of the AMEX Platinum, or Centurion cards have free access, while holders of Green, or Gold, pay a daily-use fee. Our hostess explained that AMEX was beginning to limit the number of “guests,” that could be brought into the Lounge, and that there was also a limit to the number of “paid entries,” during busy times. Fortunately, the hosts/hostesses at the Lounge always had a table, or two, reserved for Platinum, or Centurion card holders, so a seat was always found. It seemed that it was virtually impossible to find seating, and the lines at the bar, and food area were extremely long. Over the years of operation (4 by my rough count), the Lounge had become more and more crowded. While that relationship did not last long, his initial influence did remain. We were invited to their pre-grand opening kickoff, and got to meet Chef Christopher Kostow, and receive an autographed copy of his book, “A New Napa Cuisine.” For a bit, Chef Kostow was the consulting chef for this Centurion Lounge, providing a decidedly “California twist” to the limited food offerings. We have been enjoying the AMEX Centurion Lounge at SFO, since before they officially opened. So, a brief, but nice visit to one of our favorite airport lounges. That was not in our cards this evening.Ĭhecking our watches, we drank the Chards a bit quickly, and bid adieu, heading for Gate 65. At this Centurion Lounge, I love the wine tasting dispenser, and usually follow my first wine, with a visit to it, to sample tastes of several more. Well, so much for a couple of leisurely glasses of wine. We had our Chardonnays in hand, when the United App alerted us to a change: we were no longer going out of Gate 74, but instead, Gate 65 - all of the way at the end of the East Pier, and here we were, sitting to the west of the West Pier - a rather long walk was in our cards. We entered, and decided to sit at the bar, since there were two stools right there. Unfortunately, that partnership did not last very long. By “very beginning,” I mean that we were invited to their grand opening, when Chef Christopher Kostow was signing his cookbook, as he was the Consulting Chef for this lounge. This is a small, but attractive and convenient AMEX Centurion Lounge, and one, which we have visited from the very beginning. We still had plenty of time, before our departing flight, scheduled out of Gate 74, and as the wines with dinner had not been exciting, went to the Centurion Club, as we knew we could do better. We were flying out of SFO T3, in July, heading home to Phoenix, and had just had dinner across the concourse from the AMEX Centurion Lounge, across from Gate 75.
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