Originally Posted by
the42ndstate
Twice in Seattle during last few days at both N and C as I entered, overheard Lounge Dragons telling entrants they are giving a grace period for F flyers entering the Lounge on short flights. I can understand the new policy will be a shock, but the N Lounge was absolutely packed.
I too heard the "entrance monitors" note a 30 day "soft-implementation" period for the new lounge access rules. She used it to grant me access to the SEA N lounge. Here's the full story though:
Pre-November 2022, I used AS miles to make the following reward itin in Business/First Class: SEA-SFO-(Asia)-SEA-(Canada). On the outbound SEA-SFO, I had no problem at all getting into the N and C lounge. On the return SEA-Canada, the entrance monitor noted that my flight was "upgraded" and therefore not eligible for lounge entrance. I said that no, I use points to "purchase" the entire itin. Now, the itin was changed several times to accommodate AS's numerous schedule change but IMO, it was never an upgraded ticket.
She allowed me in during the "soft implementation" period but had I been turned away, I was going to retry entering a bit later when that particular agent was no longer at the desk.