When Barb Simmons learned that her membership in Continental Airlines’ Presidents Club had been merged with United’s Red Carpet Club because of Continental’s gate shift at DIA, no one bothered to let her know that also meant she’d be paying for adult beverages.
Simmons, membership director of the Colorado Restaurant Association, enjoyed a free cocktail or two in Continental’s club before flying on vacations with her boyfriend, Arthur Antczak, a retired Frontier pilot.
Antczak, a lifetime Continental Club member, had recently renewed Simmons’ annual membership to the tune of $400. When the clubs merged at DIA, Red Carpet rules ruled, and alcoholic drinks were no longer free.
“I’m not getting what I originally paid for — a quiet place to sit down and have cocktails for free,” Antczak said. “They gave us no notice. I renewed Barb’s membership, and two weeks later they closed the Presidents Club.”
Continental spokeswoman Christen David said the airline does not have any set rules for recourse for Presidents Club members to recoup their dues but suggested that members who have an issue with the Red Carpet Club’s policies call Continental customer service at 800-322-2640.
United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said free alcoholic drinks have not been a priority for Red Carpet Club members in the past.
“When we poll customers about what did they join the club for, they say it’s being able to conduct business, free Wi-Fi, conference rooms and having a quieter area in the airport,” Johnson said. “In the list of customer priorities, alcohol is not the highest.”
Proud papa.
Talk-radio co-host Craig Silverman (KHOW-630 AM) witnessed his first hole-in-one Sunday, but it wasn’t his own.
The ace recorder was his son, Benjamin, on the par-3 fifth hole at Southglenn Country Club in Centennial.
“Ben made it with his Nana Diane Bartlett‘s hand-me-down ladies’ Lynx Tigress 7-iron from 111 yards,” Craig wrote in an e-mail. “Hit true, bounced true and rolled true to the dangerous back pin.”
Father and son were playing in a threesome with Ben’s Cal Ripken League Southeast Denver baseball coach, Talwyn Filholm.
“Tal coached Benny, 11, to stay down and hold his finish,” Craig wrote. “The ball finished in the hole.”
Oh, and he noted that his talk-show sparring partner Dan Caplis’ son, Joey, had a hole-in-one a couple of years ago.
Radio daze.
It seems that brand-new studios for radio station KWOF-92.5 FM on Colorado Boulevard near Whole Foods were wrapped in a cone of silence during the debut Monday morning.
“We were doing a great show, but we couldn’t figure out why people weren’t calling,” said Steve “Mudflap” McGrew, who hosts with Jonathan Wilde.
For the first hour-and-a-half of the show, the audience heard music but nothing out of the mikes.
EAVESDROPPING
Two women talking about bidets:
“I think you face the wall so that you can rest your head on the wall and just stay there for hours.”
“Facing away from the wall, you crazy Americans!”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
