Does anyone have much experience with trying to use a club as a *A gold in the USA when arriving on an international flight in coach?

The policy is that you can use the lounge when travelling "in conjunction with" an international flight. I got a bit of resistance this weekend when flying into ORD from YOW and trying to use the lounge as a US DM gold member before my connecting flight. I didn't fight it, because I had a priority pass card that got me in anyway.

I have an upcoming flight from MAD-PHL-PHX and I'm wondering whether my star gold card will be enough to use the PHL envoy lounge.