Originally Posted by
Roger
What should they do - allow access to a non-qualifying passenger? I magine the lounge agents are qualified to know who has access which AFAIK for *A Gold means flying with a *A airline.Non-sequitur. You wanted to use the complimentary internet voucher in the lounge as a non-qualifying passenger, couldn't get in but still expected complimentary internet?
It's all very confusing but I don't think this the case.
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Express says:... so a stragic alliance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Express
It's not part of Star Alliance and its flights are excluded from the *A African Airpass - an old link at
http://www.airfares.com.sg/airfares/...canAirpass.htm - see Flight Restrictions.
It's good to highlight the differences between mainline SA and its local SA partners who generally don't offer *A gold benefits such as extra baggage allowance.
As for lounge access, before I had *A Gold I used my Priority Pass card when flying domestically with SA and/or its partners.
Curious. I would read the status of SAExpress as being the same as UAExpress or ACExpress or any of the dozens of regional carriers that fly for the mainline STAR carriers. While none of these regional carriers are STAR members, when contracted to fly routes on behalf of STAR members they are recognized in the same fashion as their contracting carrier. In fact, Aeroplan clearly recognizes SAX flights for mileage accumulation, so I would be sure other STAR programs do so too:
AE "All Scheduled flights operated by South African Airways, South African Airlink and South African Express are eligible"
As long as the flight is booked as a SAA flight, all STARGold benefits should be extended.