Originally Posted by
eightblack
But why? Surely it is the airlines (in this case, EK's) prerogative to take anything away. It is certainly within the terms and conditions of the program rules (ie Skywards).
As far as I can gather, EK are not saying that they are removing lounge access permanently, they're saying they need to renovate the lounge. As soon as its done, lounge access will be restored.
All the program regulars know of the strain on the current lounge infrastructure in Dubai (and there are equally as many pissed of Golds, quite rightly so, who have had guest access removed) but it is what it is.
Allowing Silvers into the existing J lounge wont work - because of capacity. I'm assuming EK dont want to pay for 3rd party access for Silvers (ie to a 3rd party lounge in DXB) but in the long run, perhaps they should have done so to appease everyone and to maintain some sort of goodwill.
Any company can do pretty much whatever they like to their customers, I'm not trying to present an argument based on the technicality of it.
As a customer, I would be somewhat more sympathetic to the airline if, let's say, out of 6 million members 4 million suddenly became Silver. Not so much if over a period of time the number grew, while it remained the same as a percentage of the total Skywards base. Then I'd ask the question - while expanding their network, why didn't they think about their frequent flyers?
My viewpoint is that of consumer mindset, not airline bottom line. Perhaps DXB wanted another $50 bn for another lounge, I don't know, but as a clueless, average customer, I would feel hard done by.