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The rise of premium mediocre[0]. Everyone wants to feel VIP, and there's lots of money to be made in making people think they're going to get the VIP experienc

by gyomu 1y ago

The rise of premium mediocre[0]. Everyone wants to feel VIP, and there's lots of money to be made in making people think they're going to get the VIP experience, so we get a flood of shitty VIP experiences like airport lounges. If you don't like this state of affairs, you basically have two choices: 1) hustle and try to make enough money so that you're an actual VIP with access to actual VIP experiences (OP in the article says "Charge me a premium, I don’t care.". Buddy, if you could afford the premium, you wouldn't be writing this article) 2) drop out, and don't patronize those experiences in the first place. Question why you are in a fake VIP airport lounge waiting to head to your fake VIP Disney/Vegas/Venice/whatever vacation in the first place. [0] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/17/the-premium-mediocre-life-of-maya-millennial/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/17/the-premium-mediocre-l...

throwaway2037 1y ago
Hat tip for that blog post! I read it many years ago and laughed very hard reading it. Here is the HN discussion on it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15199709 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15199709 > Buddy, if you could afford the premium, you wouldn't be writing this article I agree. I think if we are so curious about airport lounges we should ask: Why are there so many of them now? More than twenty years ago, you were really a player if you frequented airport lounges. None of this miles upgrade nonsense. You were a regular business class flyer. Airlines really wanted to improve your experience to keep you spending. The number of business class (and above) seats has not meaningfully changed since then, yet there are far more people using airport lounges. I am willing to bet that the author is a member of the premium mediocre American class that is not a regular flyer in business class, nor was a regular user of airport lounges twenty-plus years ago.

by gyomu 1y ago

throwaway2037 1y ago

Hat tip for that blog post! I read it many years ago and laughed very hard reading it. Here is the HN discussion on it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15199709 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15199709 > Buddy, if you could afford the premium, you wouldn't be writing this article I agree. I think if we are so curious about airport lounges we should ask: Why are there so many of them now? More than twenty years ago, you were really a player if you frequented airport lounges. None of this miles upgrade nonsense. You were a regular business class flyer. Airlines really wanted to improve your experience to keep you spending. The number of business class (and above) seats has not meaningfully changed since then, yet there are far more people using airport lounges. I am willing to bet that the author is a member of the premium mediocre American class that is not a regular flyer in business class, nor was a regular user of airport lounges twenty-plus years ago.