According to the *A lounge access policy at http://www.staralliance.com/en/trave...ss-policy.html, same day travel is defined as "[e]ligible travel occurring within 24 hours of the first eligible scheduled departure time."

That's a strange definition. Consider the case of a *G member with a roundtrip flight. Is the return trip ineligible because it occurs 2 weeks after the outbound, since the outbound is the first eligible flight? Clearly not.

Let's substitute the definition into the rule for int'l C lounge access. "Customer must present a boarding card for [travel occurring within 24 hours of the first eligible scheduled departure time] in international Business Class on a Star Alliance member carrier flight." This seems to want to say that non-*Gs can access the C lounge within 24 hours of a C flight even if their later flights are in Y, but that idea is shot down by the next rule that limits C lounge access to airports from which you're departing in C.

OK, now consider the connecting itinerary LAX-SIN-PEK, where LAX-SIN departs at 8am Singapore time on the 1st and SIN-PEK departs at 9am Singapore time on the 2nd. According to the rules, SIN-PEK is ineligible for lounge access, even if flown in first, because it occurs 24 hours after the first eligible departure. (This is another version of the scenario I presented above.) So, this definition is BIZARRE.

But my real question is about the "24 hours" part of the definition. If I arrive in, say, ICN at 4pm and have a flight the next day at 12noon, can I access the lounge on both days? Assume I can get through transfer security just fine. In practice, I would be (and have been) denied at ICN. (I have been allowed at LHR, SIN, BKK, PEK, and all RCCs.)

The rules really don't answer this question. By one crazy reading, if I just present a boarding pass, even if it's for 48 or 72 hours out (assuming you can get it printed), I should be allowed in. That's because the requirement is to present a boarding pass for same day travel, and "same day travel" is defined as "travel occurring within 24 hours of the first eligible scheduled departure time." Say I only had one flight. Then the first eligible scheduled departure time would be that flight, and so that flight's boarding pass would satisfy the rules, since it occurs within 24 hours of itself (by definition!). The only constraint here is to present ANY boarding pass, since its eligibility depends on whether it is within 24 hours of itself! If you could get a boarding pass printed 10 days in advance and get through security somehow, then it'd be valid for lounge access! (Under this interpretation.)

OK, let's look at the *G access policy. The important part states, "Customer must also present a boarding card for a same day Star Alliance member carrier flight departing from the local airport." This doesn't use the term "same day travel," so can we assume that the definition of "same day travel" also applies to the usage of just the phrase "same day" here? If not, then problem solved: access simply depends on the calendar date. If they did intend "same day" to be defined by the definition for "same day travel," why didn't they just use "same day travel"? Clearly, they changed the phrasing between the F/C lounge access rules and the same for *G.

One likely reason for the change was that they wanted F/C to give lounge access for connecting flights in Y by non-*Gs, but as shown earlier, they later changed their minds on that, but left in the old language. Since I can't find any meaningful differences in structure between the F/C rules and the *G rules, I'm going to assume that the usage of "same day" and not the full "same day travel" was unintentional.

So, I'm still completely confused. The rules make no sense, and I would LOVE to be corrected on this and told what I'm missing.

My hunch is that the inclusion of "24 hours" means they intended to allow lounge access up to 24 hours before an eligible flight. And I believe that showing a lounge supervisor the "24 hours" clause would be a strong (if not legally sound) case that I should be allowed access on the calendar day before my flight if within 24 hours of it. I'll report back on how it goes.

Anyone, particularly lawyers, have any better interpretations of this lounge access policy? Anyone have experiences with getting access the day before?