Air New Zealand Air Points - J class lounge access to *A airlines

I got asked the other day..

Can a paid J class pax with NO status access any *A lounge when flying on a *A carrier?

My initial answer was no however I was shown a page from *A web site in relation to lounge access and there it was. Stating the above.

http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/lounges/lounge-access-policy/

Thoughts?

Not any *A lounge. For example, flying J on LH without status means the LH business class lounges, not SEN, and certainly not the IFC/HON lounges, some of which can be used by *A passengers in IFC. However, you can use the business class lounges of *A partners that are *A lounges; in some airports, this can restrict your choice to the arranged lounge (for example, Oasis but not LX exJFK on SQ J) but not in other airports (again, when in SQ J at NRT, either the ANA or UA business class sections seem to be OK). The best approach seems to be to ask your carrier what are your lounge choices at each airport; there will almost always be a lounge if status passengers in J have lounge access, but there might be some partner lounges to which you do not have access. Sorry, I fear I'm not explaining this very well. You also need to be aware that this is departure lounge access, not arrival lounges, and not necessarily before connections on non*A carriers or when not in confirmed J.

The *A sheet is good.

However, note that in some cases you may not be able to bring in a guest when travelling in as J with no status. This has caused some confusion in the past, especially if a pax has previously held status!

Note also that if you are a status holder travelling in Y, then lounge access if provided will be to a designated *A lounge, which may not be the business class lounge. This the case in Singapore where in T1 the SATS 'Premier Lounge' is for *A in Y, and the Silver Kris business lounge is off limits! The *A Lounge by SQ in T3 is a bit nicer....

Also beware of contract lounges (operated by airport or other airlines). These will only allow entry to eligible passengers of airlines that have contracted to use them.

If you have a specific example in mind please share and we can advise.

Also beware of contract lounges (operated by airport or other airlines). These will only allow entry to eligible passengers of airlines that have contracted to use them.

If you have a specific example in mind please share and we can advise.

The question to me came up as someone tried to access SQ lounge in BNE when flying Air NZ J. Attenedent sent her packing back to Air NZ lounge as it is for SQ or *G not J from other airlines. To be honest I had never even heard of this rule anyway and as a *G it has never affected me but hey, I learn something new everyday.

Personally speaking I have never even tried to access *J lounges over the ditch. Am I missing out? Have flight to MEL next week, is there a decent SQ lounge to try? II believe there is a RCC but I imagine its pretty average as per usual for UA..! Does NZ124 fit around any other lounge opening times? I have just stuck to Koru on local hops..!

Business pax on NZ do have access to SQ lounges in SYD, MEL, BNE but you can validly be turned away due to imminent closure of SQ lounge or for capacity reasons.

The SQ lounges in SYD, BNE & MEL close in between SQ flights.

To be honest, the SQ lounges in Australia are poor and NZ ones better (although debatable in BNE).