Originally Posted by
sydunipete
I used my AB Gold card for the first time last week for INTERNATIONAL travel.
No problems with priority checkin, boarding etc. They gave me an express card for outgoing immigration.
But they did not provide access to the Air New Zealand lounge. I was told this is because it is a contracted lounge not a Virgin Australia branded lounge. I think this is a bit petty on Virgin's behalf I presume their own status frequent flyers and Business Class passengers would have been provided access.
I was told it would be fine domestically in Virgin operated lounges.
Originally Posted by
keitherson
It's definitely a petty money issue. Try flying through SFO and visiting the SQ lounge at times when it is contracted by a million other airlines.
I think both of you are premature in calling it petty without understanding who is paying for what.
When you access the lounge on the basis of elite status, the airline FFP whom you have elite status with pays for the lounge access.
sydunipete was attempting to enter an NZ lounge using airBerlin status. NZ and AB does not have an agreement on how NZ will get paid for the visit. Essentially sydunipete was asking for a free visit.