Originally Posted by
hhdl
AFAIK, it's not new. Remember that DL for a long time did give Elite+ to Gold members and Flying Blue Gold if you were a North American resident likewise did not confer Elite+ (presumably at DL's behest: though AFKL may not have wanted to foot the bill for Golds who don't fly TATL accessing lounges on flights where Flying Blue was getting paid single-digit dollars for miles); the domestic lounge exclusion for Elite+ and carving out US-Caribbean from the definition of international may have been part of that compromise.
I definitely agree as I also heard this from somewhere that I can't remember.
Also, when ST updated its overall rules some time ago, it reiterated that STE+ do not have lounge access on a domestic flight unless the specific ST carrier doesn't want to follow this rule or have certain rules on their lounges in place. However, most airlines in the alliance like DL, KE, AM, AR, and others enforce this rule. Personally. I fly a handful of US-Canada trips for work, and except during the mayhem of travel last year when SkyClubs were packed to the brim, it's nice to grab a bite and get some work done at a quieter SkyClub before a short hop over to Canada.