The Death of the Middle Experience

Hey 

I fly a lot, and I’ve been watching something fascinating unfold in airport lounges. What used to feel like a quiet perk now feels like a battlefield:

• credit cards fighting for access

• airlines slicing entry into finer and finer categories

• new lounges opening inside other lounges.

On the surface it looks like travel theater. Underneath, it is a metaphor for the entire economy.

Airlines are the clearest example. Economy split into basic economy, economy plus, and then premium economy. While business and first class developed their own sub hierarchies and gated spaces.

Streaming platforms, software, banking, fitness, even coffee shops now operate on membership logic. Access is stratified. The base product quietly degrades, the premium tier becomes more seductive, and the middle starts to disappear. This is the hollowing out of the middle experience. 

What used to be standard is now premium. What used to be premium is now ultra luxury. And the decent, fair, middle of the road option becomes harder to find, and more expensive. The reason is simple. The top 10% of consumers now drive an outsized share of spending, so companies optimize upward. The rest receive a thinner version.

The lounge wars are not only about travel. They are about how access has become part of the product. And in a fragmented economy, belonging to the right tier is starting to matter more than the thing itself.

Three Takeaways

1. Tierification is reshaping entire industries, not just airlines.

2. The middle experience is eroding as companies optimize for top spenders.

3. Access and membership are becoming more valuable than the base product itself.

Until next week...keep future rising