Transiting Athens as Star Alliance Gold
Mar 31, 2019, 8:36 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 67
Transiting Athens as Star Alliance Gold
Hello all:
Not quite sure where to post this, so thought I'd start with locals. I'm connecting in Athens from Air Canada to an Aegean flight to Cyprus. I'll then be connecting through Athens from Cyprus to Crete. The question is on whether or not I'll have lounge access. I'm Star Alliance Gold. I'm seeing something online that says Aegean lounges are not open to Star Alliance Gold passengers on Olympic Air. My flights were booked on the Aegean Web site and at least the first flight is an A321 but the code is OA.
Not quite sure where to post this, so thought I'd start with locals. I'm connecting in Athens from Air Canada to an Aegean flight to Cyprus. I'll then be connecting through Athens from Cyprus to Crete. The question is on whether or not I'll have lounge access. I'm Star Alliance Gold. I'm seeing something online that says Aegean lounges are not open to Star Alliance Gold passengers on Olympic Air. My flights were booked on the Aegean Web site and at least the first flight is an A321 but the code is OA.
Mar 31, 2019, 1:18 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: SFO
Programs: AS MVPG 75k, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Plat, Kenya Airways Gold
Posts: 224
Shouldn't they be able to get into the Lufthansa lounge at Athens? (Cause the reason for no Aegean lounge is not status, but rather that you are flying Olympic Air). Otherwise, no. You can try talking your way into the Aegean lounge since you arrived on an Air Canada flight and are connecting and have status, but good luck.
Mar 31, 2019, 1:38 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,471
The reason why an Olympic biz passenger or Aegean Gold card holder gets access to the Aegean lounge is because Olympic is owned by Aegean, so that has nothing to do with Star Alliance.
Mar 31, 2019, 9:32 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
Well explained above. To add first hand experience, I am Aegean Gold and could only get into the Aegean lounge when flying out on Olympic air. Was rejected by the Lufthansa lounge for this exact reason. The same would apply for Aegean lounge had I been a *G with any other program apart from Aegean M&B.
=>still applies even if the Olympic air flight is a codeshare with Aegean flight number. It’s the operating carrier that counts.
=>still applies even if the Olympic air flight is a codeshare with Aegean flight number. It’s the operating carrier that counts.
Apr 2, 2019, 3:48 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
In June 2018, I was traveling to CHQ ( exact route: IST-ATH-CHQ ) with a party of 3. At that time I didn't hold *G status so I was waiting at the public areas. However, one of the other members in the party had a TK*G status at that time and was admitted to the A3 lounge in ATH before our flight OA336. Also he was able to guest somebody as he guested the 2nd member of our party where I was the only one sitting in the public area. However, the ticket and each segment of it contained A3 operated and marketed flights as well so it's not the same situation with the OP where both of his legs are OA operated flights.
Apr 2, 2019, 2:15 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 67
Hmmmm. All this makes for an at-best confusing, and at worst quite inferior Star Alliance experience when flying what is supposed to be a Star Alliance company (i.e. I make a booking on Aegean Airlines, it's an Airbus A320 and apparently an OA code by "Operated Aegean Airlines"). When flying Air Canada or United, there is no distinction over whether you're flying a regional affiliate or a aircraft.
Apr 2, 2019, 2:42 pm
#10
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
See this thread: Is A3 using OA flight numbers to deny *A benefits?
Why are you flying ATH-Crete via Cyprus??
Why are you flying ATH-Crete via Cyprus??
Apr 8, 2019, 3:36 am
#12
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
A couple of years ago I noticed that Wikipedia listed Olympic as being a Star Alliance member, I subsequently removed that from the page. Recently I checked again and somebody has wrote that it's a Star Alliance affiliate. I believe that is also incorrect.
I can understand why this catches so many people out.
I can understand why this catches so many people out.
Apr 8, 2019, 8:36 am
#14
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
A couple of years ago I noticed that Wikipedia listed Olympic as being a Star Alliance member, I subsequently removed that from the page. Recently I checked again and somebody has wrote that it's a Star Alliance affiliate. I believe that is also incorrect.
I can understand why this catches so many people out.
I can understand why this catches so many people out.
Apr 8, 2019, 8:41 am
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
A couple of years ago I noticed that Wikipedia listed Olympic as being a Star Alliance member, I subsequently removed that from the page. Recently I checked again and somebody has wrote that it's a Star Alliance affiliate. I believe that is also incorrect.
I can understand why this catches so many people out.
I can understand why this catches so many people out.