bennyg2

I am travelling with my family from YYZ to CUN in N. I have both a personal and business Amex Aeroplan Reserve.

My question is: Can I bring my wife into the Maple Leaf Lounge on the personal card and then my daughter on the business version during the same visit?

Thanks!

RZR

I'm not certain, but i dont think you can bring any guests

canadiancow

A card gives you "status". You're using your "status" to get in (potentially with guests).

It's the same way that if I gift myself 50K, I don't get an extra lounge guest. Because I'm not SE MM and 50K, I'm just SE MM.

You're just a premium credit card holder, not a premium credit card holder and a premium credit card holder.

bennyg2

The card gives me and a guest free access to the lounge, per the Amex Website.

bennyg2

I'm not sure about that. The card doesn't give me my 35k status, it helps me earn it though.
One of the benefits of each of the cards is that a guest and I get into the lounge, for free, with an Air Canada ticket.

This will be interesting. Worst case, I burn a lounge pass.

Thanks for the reply!

ride red

Do you have lounge passes that work for Int? The ones you get for status are Dom and TB only.

In any case, I wish you luck and hope you post back here with your results.

bennyg2

Thanks. The only AC lounge open at YYZ before our flight is the Domestic Maple Leaf, so our passes will work.
I don't see why using two cards, one for each guest wouldn't work, I am after all paying two fees BUT I have a feeling it will depend a lot on the person at the desk and how good a mood they're in.

I will report back.

canadiancow

That's not how it works. Your status is FR. Mine is SMR. Getting a second (or tenth) card does not change that status level.

mahasamatman

Unless you clone yourself, you can only enter once, so you can only bring in one guest. It's like having two "buy one get one free" coupons. If you buy one, you don't get two free.

Adam Smith

I think it's clear that what AC meant was what the cow has been articulating. But I think this may be a corner case that they didn't really anticipate, and it's not clear to me they've put in place effective language to block this, unlike what they did with the SQM/eUp rollovers.

For instance...

One could enter the lounge with one guest on one card, leave (with the guest remaining in the lounge - nothing says they have to depart at the same time as the cardholder), then come back with the second guest and use the second card.

​​​​​​​Whether the system will allow it because it sees a different CC, or whether it will deny it because the CC holder has already guested someone in that day (or within the past X minutes? Not sure how they try to control it), who knows.

ricardo galimatias

My understanding is that holders of the American Express Aeroplan Reserve card must pay for guests and that you are not limited to one guest.

I base this understanding on the text at americanexpress.com/ca/ which states the following under the "all benefits" description for said card:and then the footnote point 3 [emphasis mine]:The word "Guests" is clearly plural. Now it is possible that I have completely misunderstood the OP's point and am way out in left field. If so, please ignore my drivel.

ride red

Right now, they are letting black cardholders bring a guest for free.

CIBC is the only one that I can find advertising it:

"Access select Maple Leaf Lounges™ and Air Canada Cafés™1, 2 and bring 1 guest with you before December 31, 2022"
https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-ban...lege-card.html

But I did confirm this with an AC employee a few days ago for the Amex card.

AC themselves hint at it, fairly ambiguously:
"Plus, for a limited time, eligible cardholders can bring in a guest who is also travelling on a same-day, confirmed flight."
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...lounges.html#/

AC isn't explicitly saying that "a" singular guest is currently free. But if one interprets this as bringing in a paid guest, then it becomes hard to explain why this is temporary, and why the fee schedule is plural, referring to "each" guest.

canadiancow

No, because you don't enter with "a card".

Your card instills a status on you. I don't know what the base level would be... AR? R? But the card gives you a status level.

I'm not saying the terms are written well (shocking), but it's no different than expecting an SE to be able to guest someone, leave, come back, and guest someone else. It doesn't work that way.

​​​​​​​And yes, I've had guests permitted into lounges with no one scanning my or their boarding passes, so exceptions happen, but it's not how the system works, and it's not what AC wanted.

bennyg2

I'm back. Boarding passes scanned, they looked at both cards and waived me in no problem.

I was surprised given that the Domestic lounge hosts sent me to the International Lounge (I thought it was closed still) and even there we had no issue. So it appears that they do consider one guest per black card you hold. At least this crew did.

RangerNS

It doesn't mean that at all. It could mean that. It could also mean the MLL lounge dragons are inconsistent, are bad at interpreting rules, kind, lazy, or many other possibilities.