Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Purchased stby airport upgrade Y2C - DENIED LOUNGE ACCESS!

Need I say more? Not just denied - but emphatically denied by ticketing counter manager!

Offending airport: SEL!

Upgrade fee...H to C: W 150,000.

Comments?

If youhold a C tix (award, full fare, discounted ... whatever) then you are entitled to louneg access for any *A lounge showing teh *A symbol.

If the lounge is full, then the owning airline's pax shoul dhave preference.

I'd have ignored the ticketing guy and entered the lounge....

Cheers, TK

I saw a sign posted for that last time I was at ICN and it's not a regular standby upgrade like you'd buy elsewhere. It's some special promotion standby upgrade and they even say you won't earn business class mileage for it. I think it only upgrades you in the cabin to a C seat and C meal. Nothing more. No upgrades before you get to the plane and so you're still treated as if you're in economy on the ground. So the manager was correct in not allowing you access to the lounge. If they gave you access to the lounge they'd have to pay compensation to SQ for you using the lounge which would mean the standby upgrade would have to be priced higher. I didn't see anything about no lounge access mentioned specifically on the posted sign but I assumed that was the case from the way it was worded. If they didn't inform you of that restriction then they should have allowed you to refund the upgrade though.

I saw a sign posted for that last time I was at ICN and it's not a regular standby upgrade like you'd buy elsewhere. It's some special promotion standby upgrade... and they even say you won't earn business class mileage for it. I think it only upgrades you in the cabin to a C seat and C meal. Nothing more. No upgrades before you get to the plane and so you're still treated as if you're in economy on the ground.

Yes, its not the normal upgrade... but it has replaced the previous upgrade scheme (apparently for the time being). I have a copy of flyer you saw posted at the airport...I picked it up at the CTO in SEL. TG Seoul is pushing this promo quite hard at the moment. The flyer has wonderful pics all down the the left side... showing a NEW STYLE BC cabin which is only available on the first flight of the day - a772. Pics show elegant dessert choices... not what is typically offered on these flights. (I think they are FC cabin food pics).

The bottom pic on the flyer very clearly shows a shot of the Lounge. It does not indicate anywhere that 'no Lounge access' is allowed. But these words are on the flyer... note I'm quoting verbatum:

"Including meal ON the cabin, business class services could be provided same as normal.'

Of course, I switched the poorly worded statement around to be more unstandable by a native speaker... and more favorable to FTers... and came up with:

'Business class service(s) will be provided the as normal, including a BC meal in the cabin.' :)

(My language switcheroo was still a 'no go' w the supervisor :( ).

FWIW, I'm not particularly fond of being made a second class citizen while in a Premium Cabin...especially on an already hefty economy fare :td: ).

I think they are doing this because KE offers a better cabin. Most of the TG BC cabins are outdated and raggedy on this route.

Never-the-less, while this is one of the best upgrades TG offers, one would think that for $165 US OW, that TG could afford to shell out $20-25 to SQ for Lounge access.

Another requirement for the upgrade is that the ticket must be issued in Korea... which means its going to be REALY PRICEY even before the upgrade. Furthermore, the flirst flight of the day, the 772, is always priced at a further Y premium to the other trips.

BTW, the upgrade is done at the counter and not at the gate.

That's pretty pathetic to not offer lounge access with the upgrade. C is C no matter what and there is no way SQ lounge "matrons" can find out unless the BP was printed on economy bp and the OP was not *G.

I just completed a round trip to Korea on TG from BKK. Both ways, I was op-uped to C cabin. BKK-PUS was on a lousy A300 and ICN-BKK was on old A330. I also inquired about the special offer on Y2C for 150K KRW. I was also told that it was only for those tickets purchased in Korea. H class fare or above.

Nonetheless, it was quite unusual to be op-uped both ways... food was terrible but it surely beats economy.

P.S. I had no problem accessing *G lounges (even got a nice massage @ BKK Spa Lounge), but I am *G to start with. Sorry Op, you had a bad experience with the lounge access.

OP: Did you use your UA FF# on the ticket? You list youself as a UA 1P, which qualifies for *G lounge access.

Nevertheless, I have always thought that C cabin BP entitles one to regular C class amenities, inclduing lounge access.

OP: Did you use your UA FF# on the ticket? You list youself as a UA 1P, which qualifies for *G lounge access.

Nevertheless, I have always thought that C cabin BP entitles one to regular C class amenities, inclduing lounge access.

A C cabin BP does not entitle one to lounge access. Specifically all airline employees flying F or C on employee discounted tickets on any airline I beleive are prohibited from using the lounges. I don't know what sort of stock the BP is printed on in this case, but it is not technically a C BP because they still only give Y miles so nothing changes in the booking class. Only they allow you to ride in the C cabin and eat C food.

After seeing the OP's reply and being they have a picture of the lounge on the flyer then they probably should clearly state on the flyer that no lounge access will be given.

A C cabin BP does not entitle one to lounge access. Specifically all airline employees flying F or C on employee discounted tickets on any airline I beleive are prohibited from using the lounges. I don't know what sort of stock the BP is printed on in this case, but it is not technically a C BP because they still only give Y miles so nothing changes in the booking class. Only they allow you to ride in the C cabin and eat C food.

After seeing the OP's reply and being they have a picture of the lounge on the flyer then they probably should clearly state on the flyer that no lounge access will be given.


Employees purchasing heavily discounted tickets in premium class is irrelevant in this case, in my opinion. I was able to access both the TG lounge and SPA (for massage) when I was op-upped to C (yes, I am *G, but I didn't have to show my UA 1K card - which is normally required when flying on Y bp). The point is that why was the OP, who was willing to pay for C (as advertised) did not get an access to the lounge while I, who was op-upped for free, was able to access both the lounge and get free Thai massage?