Originally Posted by
Tafflyer
It’s a contract lounge, yes. But LH, BA, SK all contract to it for premium and status passengers. TP no longer does, which is crappy for a Portuguese airline at a Portuguese airport.
Unfortunately, and contrary to what you imply, this actually seems to be the rule in alliances: most airlines do not offer free access to contract lounges to elite pax of other alliance airlines. Even if it may be characterised as a race to the bottom, TP is following the rule of full service airlines.