I just spoke to an AMEX rep. He said there was no rule change and that all you had to do was present your card and the "boarding pass" with or without a seat assignment. Maybe the issue is aircrew going straight to the gate when nonreving with airline ID only and no "boarding pass". Of course, what we normally get is a boarding pass form with no seat assignment which can get you through security if you are not aircrew. According to my conversation something like that should be fine. Maybe if you walk into the club with only your AMEX card and no other credentials to indicate you are traveling that day they will deny admission. I am going to follow this closely.Wink,
I noticed that they recently put on the club entry rules for the Centurion Lounge, "Note: Passengers holding standby tickets and non-revenue standby passengers, including airline or industry employees traveling on discounted tickets, are not eligible to utilize the lounge unless they have received a boarding pass for the flight for which they are on standby."
This actually recently changed and they added the part about getting the boarding pass. A couple of weeks ago it just said no airline employees on standby travel.
I have tested the waters with a SWA security document about 7-8 times in the Las Vegas lounge and they let me in with no questions, but that's probably what is happening in Miami.
I agree that if they drop this benefit then I am not going to pony up the annual fee when it comes due. The card is handy when I travel, but there are other cards with little or no annual fee that can reap much bigger rewards.