Originally Posted by wldtrvlr
Gold status (Skyteam elite) does not give you access to any Skyteam lounge. Platinum (Skyteam Elite Plus) gives you access to Skyteam lounges on the day of departure, IF you are flying on a Skyteam operated INTL flight.
If you are an Asian Resident than it will give you access to NW operated lounges worldwide no matter which airline you fly on. So if there is a NW (maybe also KLM) operated lounge in Shanghai than you could access that lounge, however, you should be denied at all skyteam lounges not operated by NW.
Actually, in my experience Gold status MAY get you into an international lounge, even if you have a USA mailing address. Ask at checkin. I flew from PEK to NRT yesterday with several US based colleagues. All were either gold or platinum and all of us were flying in coach. We each were invited to go to the lounge after going through imigration. At the lounge they wrote down each of our names and WorldPerks numbers and admitted us. I have also seen this happen in JNB, CPT, and EZE but NEVER in AMS or in any club in the US.