lokijuh

TG in their SIN lounge. If they did people wouldn't care as much that SQ don't have any in their KF gold lounge Of course TG do in their home lounges at BKK though.

Thaikwai

The problem here is that, unlike any other *A airline that I have used in Asia, SQ provides separate lounges for its Business and First Class passengers.

I agree that SQ provide far better facilities for their own Premium passengers but they position themselves as the Premium airline of Premium airlines and they don't want their own Premium passengers having to fight for space with Economy class passengers, no matter how many miles they fly and no matter their Gold status.

As a *A Gold member you are entitled to use other *A carriers lounges at Changi, even if you are flying with SQ. Although, as Changi is not the home hub for any of these airlines I am not sure if the lounges have showers. I normally fly Thai and their lounge at Changi does not have showers and you have to exit the lounge to use the loo. I think they do offer shower facilities though.

In Bangkok now, *A Gold passengers not flying in Thai's Premium seats are not permitted to use the larger main Royal Silk Lounge. They have to use the smaller lounges on pier C and D. These lounges are significantly smaller but offer the same facilities as the larger lounge.

I think we just have to accept that being a *A Gold member just does not confer as much "status" as it used to. There are 2,500,000 members of Thai's Royal Orchid Plus FF program so who knows how many members there are of all the cumulative *A programs.

So, airlines have to provide the facilities under their agreement with *A but I believe we will see more and more airlines making the clear distinction between *A G and their own premium flyers, and providing the bare minimum while still complying with the Alliance rules.

Thai has already gone down this road with the introduction of the Platinum level in their ROP program, which is still *AG but which offers many more benefits over the Gold membership in the same program.

weero

True. It was aeons ago but they did provide me with a shower voucher once when I asked for a shower. But it was for use at some facility in the terminal only.

dsquared37

In BKK TG only has showers in their *G lounges NOT in their business lounge.

SQ have better facilities for ALL premium passengers. There seems to be a common fallacy that SQ only allows their C/F pax into the lounge... You use 'own' several times and it's completely superfluous. If you're making a distinction between C/F and Y pax that's fine. However there's no need to bring a comparison between SQ pax vs OAL pax because it's not relevant.

You just blew my mind with this!!!

Actually it can be argued they (the lounges in C & E) have better facilities than the D lounge, which you incorrectly assign above, because the C & E lounges have showers. And showers are something that the D (business) lounge does not possess.

Thaikwai

OK, dsquared37, I love a bit of banter, and I am in Ireland right now, having imbibed a few pints of Guinness with a very nice American in the Shelbourne Hotel this evening, and I have to take umbrage with your comment below which, to be honest I don't fully understand...........


"SQ have better facilities for ALL premium passengers. There seems to be a common fallacy that SQ only allows their C/F pax into the lounge... You use 'own' several times and it's completely superfluous. If you're making a distinction between C/F and Y pax that's fine. However there's no need to bring a comparison between SQ pax vs OAL pax because it's not relevant."

....are you suggesting that SQ will allow me access to their Business Class lounge in Changi if I am travelling on a Thai or Asiana Business Class ticket? I don't think so!!

Apologies for "incorrectly assigning the D lounge..." but it has been quite some time since I had to use these Royal Silk lounges. I'm Platinum with Thai ROP so am allowed to use the F lounge when departing Suvarnabhumi.....where they have showers, massages, foot spas etc etc.

vinx

Btw, I made a silly comment cos your comment was silly and ridiculous in the first place.

dsquared37

Take umbrage all you want, but you're entirely incorrect. The SKL is a C/F lounge in the exact way that BKK TG D is a C lounge. Both are available to C/F pax who have a BP for a same day *A flight.

I will state it again, it is a common fallacy that the SKL is only for SQ pax. The only exclusion is for *G in Y who are shunted off to the Kris Gold lounge.

Austman

Yes, they are supposed to! According to the Star Alliance website. The Lounge Finder and Lounge Access Policy says so.

http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/lounges/

And the Lounge Finder lists both SilverKris lounges (and the Thai lounge) when flying SIN-BKK or SIN-ICN in Business Class (and leaving the other fields like Frequent Flyer Programme blank).

Austman

And the SKL lounges are now for SilkAir Business Class passengers too. They used to be sent to the SATS/*Gold lounge before, unless they were PPS.

Wan1dap

The SKL in SIN are not Star Alliance lounges and are therefore not accessible for other *A pax. This is made clear on SQ's website:


"(1) The SilverKris lounges in Singapore are not designated Star Alliance Gold lounges. Please use the KrisFlyer Gold Lounges."

dsquared37

Right they are not *G lounges. Those pax using *G to gain lounge access must use the Kris Gold lounge. There is no wording excluding pax in possession of a same day *A BP for C/F.

This isn't rocket science.

Austman

It's the word Gold that's important. The other part that's important is here: http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/lounges/

Wan1dap

comes in handy when you've nothing more intelligent to say, doesn't it?

dsquared37

Actually that followed the initial, pertinent information, which is, since you failed to read the post, that your quoted passage involves *G pax in Y NOT, I repeat NOT, *A pax holding a C/F BP.

Roll your eyes all you want but you're holding guava and trying to convince me it's durian. The lack of intelligence is squarely coming from your side of this.

roberino

Now now, children. Enough with the rough and tumble, it'll end in tears.

I posted something similar in July when I flew MAN-SYD via SIN. I too was surprised that an airline with a quality reputation like SQ didn't have showers in the *A lounge when lesser airlines do. It puts them on a par with UA in that respect... Showers are pretty cost/labour intensive.

Heating the water, cleaning down and restocking towels after each use, running a wait list for the people wishing to use them. A block of (quality) shower rooms also takes up a surprising amount of space.

A short (ish) walk down the upper concourse from the KF Gold lounge is a pay-per-use lounge with pretty good showers, a gym and decent booze. Doesn't cost a huge amount.

Hopefully, SQ will correct this in the years to come.