Originally Posted by
aymodeler
I am looking at this from the reverse of how you are looking at it. My primary interest is access to a nice place to fly to near my home. Since all the nice places to fly near my home are AMA clubs, I end up also having to pay for an AMA membership, and I am OK with that. I am not looking for a nice place to fly anywhere I might happen to go in the US (I don't travel around with my models), so an analogy to something like access to a premium travel lounge is not even remotely applicable. I only care about the places to fly that are near where I live and what is required for me to have access to those locations. I suspect that if you scratch at this a bit, you will find that's how most AMA members really look at it too (but that is just my guess).
I think you're missing it. I used the airline club as a metaphor.
I buy a membership with the airline for the privilege of being able to join the specific club at the airport near my home. I also have to pay additional money to join that specific club at my airport. The club at the airport near my house offers PB&J sandwiches, juice boxes, bean bag chairs, and porta potties. My sister, who lives somewhere else, pays that same amount to the same airline for the privilege of joining the local club at the airport near her home. That local club offers air conditioned spaces, massage chairs, hot sandwiches, variety of beverages, and private bathrooms with showers. We both pay the same to the airline for the privilege of joining the local club, but there's a vast difference in the amenities at those local clubs.
As I said, the strongest reason for joining the AMA is for the privilege of then being able to pay to join the local club. The problem is those clubs have vastly different amenities. And just because there's fewer amenities, doesn't mean lower price. I wonder if there's even statistical correlation. I doubt it, but could be wrong. Point is, there should be some base level amenities regardless of club ... as that's the strongest selling point for the AMA "gatekeeper" membership fee.