Chase Offers Seattle Airport $135 Million In Rent—But Its Board Needs Lounges Explained

Last month the Seattle airport delayed its consideration of a new 16,000 square foot Chase Sapphire lounge. Port of Seattle commissioners had concerns. whether premium cardmembers should receive dedicated airport space how that fits the Port’s “mission of equitable development” whether travelers eating inside the lounge would spend less at other airport businesses. Chase Sapphire Lounge Seattle Rendering And commissioners had no idea what Chase Sapphire was. Then, after voting to delay the vote, they expressed concern that news of the project was “on Reddit” before they’d had an opportunity to consider it. They demanded an investigation into how details from the Port’s public agenda, memo and presentation on their website had gotten out. Chase, they said, might owe them an apology. Now the Chase lounge is back on the commission’s agenda for October 27. And airport staff have put together a deck to address commissioner concerns. Chase Sapphire Lounge Seattle Rendering Reading through it felt like the scene in Margin Call where Jeremy Irons walks into the board room and gets brought up to speed on the crisis. “Please, speak as you might to a young child or a golden retriever.” Here’s what lounges are, airports have them, we have them, we have fewer of them than some airports. Here’s who J.P. Morgan Chase is, they donate money to things you like, they have lots of customers who come to our airport. But don’t worry the total number of lounges on that concourse isn’t increasing! They promise to hire lots of people. Those people will get health insurance and “advocacy services” They’re paying $135 million in rent. Questions? There’s actually some really interesting findings here. Lounge visitors are just as likely to spend in the airport as non-lounge visitors, and spend about the same amount (although without lounges you might expect lounge visitors to have higher average incomes, since they’re business class and premium card customers).. They’re more likely than non-lounge customers to buy gifts and souvenirs, etc. Other tenants continue to grow sales even when they’re located near a lounge. 47% of lounge users choose their flights and connections based on access to preferred lounges. 12% of Seattle airport passengers were Chase customers last year. About 1 in 6 of those are Sapphire lounge-eligible. Chase Sapphire Lounge Seattle Rendering What’s striking to me is that after last month’s meeting, the airport’s management realized that they had to start with first principles. They couldn’t just assume a baseline level of context for how airports work, what lounges are, or how passengers choose flights from the governing board of the airport. These positions are voter-elected part-time jobs that pay ~ $110,000 annually. On Tuesday, the commission will decide whether they now know what Chase Sapphire is, whether a premium credit card lounge satisfies their equity goals the way they believed an American Express lounge did, and whether they’re comfortable that it won’t stop passengers from buying sandwiches in the terminal. Chase Sapphire Lounge Seattle Rendering Chase Sapphire Lounge Seattle Rendering If they move forward with the new Chase Sapphire lounge project, it goes into the current The Club space on the A concourse and the planned expansion space beside it. Meanwhile, United is moving its club from Concourse A to Concourse B, near its new gates, into an expanded version of the original Centurion lounge space. The Club then moves into the old United Club space. Topics on this page