Originally Posted by Threy
Lounge access irrespective of the airline flown used to be a great perk of KLM Royal Wing membership which was carried over as KLM Flying Dutchman Platinum Elite benefit as well.
It was discontinued in late 2004 / early 2005 by KLM and not KLM / AF / FB
You can blame the Air France for a lot of things, but not for this cutback.
I actually had the chance to read the original letter from KLM to all independant / contracted lounge providers in February 2005 and they made clear that lounge access for KLM Platinum Elites is only when flying KLM and some limited partners...
By February 2005 KLM was already owned by AF - it was just the FF programmes took some time to merge - so IMHO we can blame AF for this cutback.
But yes, I see the point of this cutback when lots of your lounge visitiors hand in a boarding pass from the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair...and still demand freeloading before boarding!