While I agree in the relative lack of value of the lounge passes, on the rare occasion that I have used them, it has been smooth.

Always for redemption nominees, and never had a glitch- including an incident last week where I fully expected something to go wrong.

Had redeemed one for our helper, who was flying exHKG at a similar time as us- she got involuntarily rebooked due to the 350 issues- could not OLCI, and I asked at CX F check in while checking for our own flight- the agent simply wrote ‘+2A+2C’ on my lounge invite (btw never had an issue guesting in 1A+2C, but I expect that to not last long given that the kids are getting older).

Lo & behold, her boarding pass printed out along with a F lounge invite.