Originally Posted by
HKGglobaltrotter
That's exactly what I thought. There are clearly different signs in the terminal pointing at different directions, one for Senator Lounge and another for Business lounge so I am certain they weren't the same.
You are correct, they are not the same at all. Senator Lounge is much nicer than the Business Lounge in every aspect. Prior to the introduction of the LH First Class Terminal/Lounges, the Senator Lounge was Lufthansa's top lounge brand. My guess is CX is betting on most of its HK customers traveling to/from Germany being ignorant of how the LH Lounge system works. But CX really should have paid for you to use the Senator Lounge given that you were a paying First Class customer and because that's what other top airlines do in similar situation where its own lounge or alliance partner lounge is unavailable or even if the lounge class is too low. Air France, for example, paid to have its First Class pax using the Oneworld First Class lounge ex-LAX even though there is a Skyteam lounge (Business class only) in LAX. JL paid for its customers to use the F section of AF lounge ex-JFK. QR paid for its First Class customers to use Thai First Class lounge ex-BKK while sending its business class pax to Thai Royal Orchid Lounges (Business class).
It's little details like this that shows to what point the CX management is busy cutting corners here and there. How much are they going to save by paying for LH Business lounge access vs. Senator Lounge? We are literally talking about dollars and cents here. Why mess with the perception of premium customers if you are going to try to maintain and market an Int'l First Class product over what, 10 bucks?
This is not a well thought out business decision.