Justinus

Well, this one is not a business class lounge.

intuition

Thanks for a IRL report!
And that was my fear all along - AY turning something premium into something not very premium. Building a brand new premium lounge and then immediately overcrowd it by setting the bar too low.



Me neither.
I suspect AY made a deal with JL and BA to include OW saphires. These two airlines obviously have had an impact on the lounge coming into existence, so for the sake of JVs AY needed to accept the JV airlines "high" tier members. And then it was too complicated to name just a few, so they added all OW sapphires.


So what they actually did with this new lounge was making things better for silvers. As silvers now will have the old lounge to them selves, that lounge now is less crowded. Way to go, AY.

Flythe96flag

When I was there last week, when entering the lounge I was asked whether I preferred using the premium lounge or the old lounge. I was on a CE ticket from LHR connecting domestically.

Not sure what their policy is on access to the old lounge for OWS/OWE's.

FFlash

So well said.

The same applies to current Schengen lounge closure, why did they not compensate access for AY Golds?

I find AY Gold more and more a crappy card between Silver and Plat. The Plat benefits are significant, and Silver is decent as per AY lounge and fast track, but Gold is not much anything than OWS benefit

intuition

I always say "plat is a crappy card, since there is no substantial differentiator to gold", so I guess we are all equally disappointed

There are only 2 major benefits with plat card over the gold; 2 LH vouchers and family upgrades. (or did you have something else in mind?)
Both of these perks have been greatly reduced in value lately, as availability for upgrades have gone down.
All other perks are pretty much the same for gold and plats.

WilcoRoger

I actually asked this during our pre-opening presentation - the AY lady was confident, that there won't be that much non-Schengen AYGold/OWS pax to crowd the lounge. Might have been a miscalculation.

I suspect, that the number of AY Plats are so small that AY felt they can extend the "Premium" to Golds as well - and from there it's a straight route to OWS access.

My only visit so far (right after the opening) at 6-7:30 am was very positive, but I'll have some more flights coming up to give more data points.

SPBanker

Same here, on both accounts. My visit was on Sunday mid-day, though. I wouldn't condemn the concept quite yet...

intuition

That may very well be the case. AY surely have made calculations and although there are several thousands of plats, they are not on their way to asia every day. The lounge is too large for such a small crowd and AY probably from the start meant for it to be for plat and gold. That was probably the right business decision, but it was yet again a failure to make a distiction between the two top tiers.

IMHO extending it to OWS is rather drastic and I think AY has a lot less knowledge of the number of OWE in the world and their travel patterns. The numbers may overwhelm them. Besides, accepting OWS makes this new lounge as exclusive as any business lounge. Make the comparison to how other OW airlines handles OWE and OWS at their home bases, it makes even less sense.


What AY has accomplished though is separating AY silvers from the rest of tier holders and that might relieve some pressure. And silvers may very well be "winners" in that deal, they get a very exclusive lounge with very little flying.

HJP

We are on BA795 and I think BA uses the Almost@home lounge at HEL. But can we instead access the "Premium Lounge", when AA PLT (OWS) is travelling with AA GLD (OWR)? Or do we need AY tickets to get to the "Premium lounge"?

intuition

Yes you can use this lounge. OWS can bring one guest and no need to travel AY.


Yet another fine example of how strange this lounge policy is.

FFlash

Yeah.
Then, can't they follow flights pax data to estimate the peak hours and then restrict OWS entering as per "if space allows"

SPBanker

Isn't this completely normal for OW? (Discounting Concorde Room, I guess.)

intuition

Yes it is - for a business class lounge.
By labelling it a "Premium lounge" some might think it is something extra, something "premium". But clearly it isn't.

intuition

And comparing to LHR is quite telling - As a OWS you won't gain access to Galleries First. Yet this isn't a first class lounge per se, since the Concorde room has the First class passengers. In my mind, BA Galleries first is the BA equivalent of a "premium" lounge - something extra offered the top tier travellers.

NoWindowSeat

The only time slot that really matters/makes any difference is between 3pm-6pm in the afternoons. The new concept is clearly not working during the peak hours of Asian wave. Mornings are always quiet on the non-schengen side.

Sapphire access needs to be axed asap, otherwise there's absolutely nothing premium left. That's my opinion.