FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Etihad Guest Silver - Benefits (Al Reem Lounge)
Old Sep 19, 2011 | 4:58 pm
  #4  
yabadoo
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: East Coast US
Programs: Hyatt: Diamond. Marriott: Platinum. AA: EXP 1MM. Delta: Silver. Etihad: Silver. Emirates Silver
Posts: 412
Some loyalty program for sure. This is just another way to discriminate against members who hold Gold/Silver tier status but flying cattle. Basically saying that if you don't have the cash (i.e. not flying F or J) then you get relagated to the mediocre, pedestrian Al Reem lounge, regardless of the fact that you have previously spent significant sums to fly on Etihad to attain Gold/Silver status and for which the elite status is a reward for loyalty. I don't think there is any other airline that does this, whereby they have 2 kinds of lounges for their elite Golde/Silver members, one for if you're flying F or J and another if you're in Y. In my view, this an extension and symptomatic of the kind of latent wholesale discrimination that one sees in the UAE and other Gulf Arab countries against those sections of society that are not deemed to be 'preferred' by them, either due to the lack of perceived wealth or their ethno-cultural background.
In these parts of the world, anything goes and local's living there (expatriates and otherwise) become desensitized towards these kind of things. Explicit discrimination (economic or otherwise) is the norm here, and the kind that would be deplorable in other countries.
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