Islanderflyer

I am a platinum and was travelling on Emerald from NCL to DUB then onwards in business to Boston. I was turned away from the Aspire Lounge in NCL on the basis that ‘ management’ have instructed Lounges to no longer admit Aeroclub members. I argued it was clearly stated on the Aspire Website but was informed a memo had been issued stating otherwise. Anyone else experience this apparent change in access at NCL, EDI BHX or other Emerald routes? Severely restricts point of having status.

ROKNA

NCL is not listed as a lounge location

Britain.

Birmingham Aspire Lounge
London Gatwick No. 1 Traveller Lounge
London Heathrow Aer Lingus Lounge
Manchester Terminal 1 Aspire Lounge (short-haul flights)
Terminal 2 Escape Lounge for AerClub members and 1903 Lounge for Business Class customers.

DELLAS

Yes the lounge access is a bit pathetic for UK Regional and certain EU routes too . Don't see
it changing anytime soon sadly.

Teplane

Yes, Bristol started rejected all EI the same back in June, including advantage fares that include lounge access. They’d admitted aer club for years despite not being listed on the site since before the pandemic.

Theyve created a problem with the Emerald proposition with this decision. Ryanair flies to most of these airports so with lounge track removed, the main difference between them at outstations is that emerald will take you in a stinking ancient plane that’s running hours late for about €50 more than Ryanair.

For me, I can do enough flying to be able to use Ryanair at outstations and EI for everything else and retain Concierge, so that’s what I’ll probably do.

Concierge is now basically useless at emerald outstations anyway as the agents don’t seem to be allowed to accept standby passengers for earlier flights, there’s no fast track and no priority boarding.

ChateauneufDuPape

I'd hardly call the Emerald planes "stinking" - most are less than 10 years old and have tidy cabins. However, the attitude of the cabin crew on Emerald is truly stinking most of the time!

Teplane

that’s fair, and thanks for calling me out on it. To be more nuanced - (1) toilets often smell bad (partly as they are chemical but still way smellier from most ATRs) and are untidy. Sometimes no water in taps, sometimes no hand towels. Soap dispenser from supermarket (2) a layer of grime around the cabin - greasy contact points (eg armrests) and loads of dirt visible at joints (3) bins rarely clean.

It’s clear, as you say, that they tidy the cabins but they rarely seem to properly *clean* them. Stobart owned the oldest of the planes that emerald now has but they always felt fresher (despite all of stobarts other failings!)

Apologies though - didn’t mean to drag the thread down a rabbit hole, and there are definitely more substantive reasons to complain about Emerald than their cabins - most notably the removal of lounge access that the OP posted about!

ROKNA

Lounge in Bristol was a poor anyway I left for the main food area last time I was there, the Aspire product is disappointing

On the up side the quality of the remaining lounges has massively improved in the last 2 years
New lounge in MUC is fantastic as is the new lounge in VIE. Berlin BER is a huge improvement over the TXL situation. FRA isn't bad either
Remains to be seen what happens in AMS, I do miss the KLM lounge...
The move to T4 in MAD gets us a home base Iberia lounge which is a major step up
Someone needs to sort out CDG

Islanderflyer

DELLAS

FRA was in a few weeks ago was good . Miss the KLM lounge too . MAD is probably the best one that EI use along with the MAN J class one .