I was travelling on holiday with my wife arriving at LAX from NRT on SQ0012 on Sep 2nd, 2006. We were both holding business class raffles tickets. We were transferring the same day to AC flight 744 to YYZ. Again, we were both holding Executive First Class tickets.

I had heard good things about the Air New Zealand Lounge, so we chose this lounge over the other Star Alliance lounges. We encountered a very unpleasant lounge attendant. She was almost too busy on her phone to give us any attention. When she did put the phone down, she refused us access to the lounge. She stated that only “Business Class Air New Zealand tickets or Aeroplan Gold status could get us in”. I told her the Star Alliance policy, I even showed her the Star Alliance website and quoted: “International Business Class Customers who present an international Business Class boarding pass, regardless of the Star Alliance carrier they fly, have access to all members' designated business departure lounges..”

Unfortunately, she continued to deny access, stating, these were the rules she was given by her superiors. We had been traveling throughout asia the prior 3 weeks using many different star alliance lounges without a problem. Does Air New Zealand not follow the same rules as the other Star Alliance carriers? Do i have a legitimate complaint to make to Air New Zealand?