It seems there are still people getting caught off guard by the recent American Express changes with access to Delta Sky Club access. A few months ago Delta and American Express changes the access privileges to Delta Sky Club for Platinum Card members, card members can no longer bring in guests and certainly can’t gain access if not flying on the airline. But apparently not everyone believes they have to play by the same rules.

John Mauldin shares his “surprise” that he couldn’t gain access to Delta’s Sky Club for two with his Platinum Amex card while not flying on the airline.

I write this introduction from the air in “flyover country,†heading back home from rural Minnesota. I flew to Minneapolis to look at a private company that is actually well down the road to creating hearts and livers and kidneys and skin and other parts of the body that can be grown and then put into place…

And now a brief but enlightening tale from … The Road. It’s about the Code of the Road Warrior. The Road can be a lonely place, soul-searing in its weariness, with only brief moments of pleasure. But you have to do it because that is what the job requires. And there are lots of us out there. You see the look, you recognize yourself in the other person. If you can help, you do. It’s the unwritten Code that we all come to realize you must live by. It has nothing to do with race, religion, sexual alignment, or political persuasion. You help fellow Road Warriors on the journey.

As do we all, you seek out your favorite airline club in airports (for me it’s the American Airlines Admirals Club) and know you are “home.†A comfortable chair for your back, a plug for your tools, a drink to quench your thirst, and peace for your soul. But then there are the times when you are in an airport where there is no home for you.

Over the years, I have invited dozens of fellow Road Warriors to be my “guest†in a club. No true cost to me, just a courtesy you give a fellow Roadie. Today, I arrived at the Minneapolis airport, and there Delta and United rule. My companion, Pat Cox, was traveling on Delta back to Florida, so I thought I would see if my platinum card would get us into the Delta lounge. Turns out it would, but only if I was on Delta. I was getting ready to limp away to seek some other place of solace for a few hours when a fellow Road Warrior behind me said, “He is my guest.â€

The lady behind the counter said, “That’s fine, but you can only have one guest.†Then the next gentleman looked at Pat in his Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops and said, “He is my guest.†The lady at the counter smiled, knowing she was faced with the Code of the Road Warrior, and let us in.

You have to understand that Pat is nowhere close to being a Road Warrior. He agrees with cyberpunk sci-fi author William Gibson that “Travel is a meat thing.†He indulged me for this trip. I will admit to being meat. I like to meet meat face to face when I can.

So Pat was somewhat puzzled, and he turned to our two benefactors and asked, “Do you know him?†(referring to me). Pat assumed they had recognized me, which sometimes does happen in odd places. But no, they had no idea. I told him I would explain the Code of the Road Warrior to him when we sat down, and everyone grinned at Pat’s astonishment over a random act of kindness. So we said thank you to our Warrior friends, whom we will likely never meet again, and entered into the inner sanctum. With electrical outlets.

The Road can be lonely, but many of us share that space. If you are one of us, then make sure you obey the Code. Someday, it will bring help to you, too.

Bottom Line

Travelers are generally friendly people in my opinion. I’ve offered Sky Club guest access to armed forces service professionals before, but never a multi millionaire economics pundit.

Have you offered to guest in a stranger to a Delta Sky club in the past? What were the circumstances?