Originally Posted by 1worldFlyer

Here's my experience with lounge access on the SEA-NRT round trip. I booked my flights with AS and therefore my boarding passes had my AS Mileage Plan membership number and "Sapphire" printed on them.

On the outbound SEA-NRT flight, MVP Gold (and higher) and Pualani Platinum are automatically granted lounge access, regardless of AS Lounge membership:



On the return NRT-SEA it was more complicated. The HA web site stipulates:



However, when I presented my boarding pass at the JL Lounge in NRT the very nice hostess stated that my ticket didn't qualify (since it said Sapphire and not Pualani Platinum). Normally Sapphire status would grant access to the JL Lounge when flying OW, but since HA is not officially a OW member yet, that didn't count. I pointed out the above HA policy and she proceeded to make multiple calls to her supervisor and to Hawaiian Airlines. Eventually she asked me to open the HA app on my phone and show her the profile page, where it does say Pualani Platinum, at which point she relented and granted me access.

Now I'm not sure whether the above stated HA policy actually applies when booking through a partner airline, in which case the lounge hostess just may have been unfamiliar with the policy and correctly granted access after due verification, or, the above stated HA policy does not actually extend to HA flights booked through partner airlines and the JL Lounge hostess made an exception. The statement on the HA web site doesn't make that clear, but implies the former, since it says "Pualani Platinums ... on a HA flight" not "booked with HA". Either way, this should be resolved once HA officially becomes a OW member, in the meantime it may be a bit tricky to gain JL Lounge access under the above circumstances.