Canadian Airlines Plus - *A Lounge access in practice for CP

Just off on another trip around Europe and since it is my first since CP left oneworld I was wondering what experiences people have had so far with accessing *A lounges? I'm CP Gold, and I know what the rules are - I am looking for actual experiences and problems, and how far the news that CP-members should be granted access has propagated around the alliance.

I don't want to fight to get in at every airport I visit.

As I have had no status on CP, I can not answer that part of your question. My Aeroplan Elite card is all I need. However, on my last trip there in late June, I visited a BD lounge in LHR and LH lounges in HAJ and MUC. All had signs saying words to the effect of "We are pleased to welcome Canadian Plus as a new parter of BD/LH".

The LH lounge in BRU did not have such a sign, and I did not enquire.

Good Luck, and Bon Voyage.

You should carry your Gold card. At YYC, there is a CP desk within the MLL lounge - no card needed here. In YVR and YYZ, I had to present my card, even though the Gold Status was imprinted as a watermark on my ticket and also on the passenger receipt.

AC always insists on the card.

The reason (as I just found out this weekend) is that some travel agents have hit upon a scheme where they can make a PNR look like the passenger is an Élite. (It involves using a genuine Élite number and then overwriting fields before closing the PNR).

This would serve to print an AC*E on the boarding pass, without the passenger being entitled.

When accessing * lounges outside Canada, be prepared that it may take a while for them to check through their manuals. When I tried to get access to the UA lounge in HK last month with a TG boarding pass, though I was travelling in business and holding a CP Gold card, they still needed to take 5 mins to verify it.