BigFlyer

I was at EDI last week. There are two lounges listed, and both were full up.

The first one I went to - the No1 Lounge - was not letting anyone in unless they had a reservation. Apparently you can go to their website in advance and pay $5 each for a reservation. I hadn't done that, so no No1 lounge for me.

The second lounge - Aspire - had a printed sign on the door saying that due to crowding they could not accept Priority Pass and a bunch of other cards.

Notably, the Priority Pass listing for the Aspire Lounge says that access may be restricted due to space constraints, but there was no such warning for the No1 Lounge.

corporate-wage-slave

I suspect that was the impact of the school holidays unfortunately. No. 1 is a much nicer lounge than Aspire at EDI but both are fairly big so between them should have been able to manage. That, plus the BA lounge, is the sum total of lounges in EDI so all the airline arrangements for lounges go via those 3 options, and the BA lounge is only for oneworld travellers (and a few obscure exceptions).

I think it is worth a complaint to PP about this,and it would interesting to hear what their reply would be. The other place to complain would be your card issuer if PP is a fringe benefit from a financial product.

mia

I daresay that every lounge in the world has a maximum capacity determined by fire code or other regulations. What do you expect a lounge to do when it is full?

MSPeconomist

DYKWIA

No. Aspire lounges accept quite a few cards, but they don't allow any when the lounges are full (or expected to be full based on prior bookings).

I guess it will get worse at EDI once Emirates start their Dubai service.

It's the same at MAN. During the winter, it's mostly fine getting into the Aspire/Escape lounges. Once summer arrives, it's not even worth bothering, as they are always full.

BigFlyer

I expect that when I have a Priority Pass which provides me two lounges, that they lounges together have sufficient capacity to meet demand.

Also, at least the Aspire lounge was letting people in - just not Priority Pass and similar cardholders.

mia

Priority Pass exists to allow independently owned and managed lounges to monetize surplus lounge capacity. When there is no surplus, there is no entrance.

However, let's suppose that Priority Pass changed their contracts to require that Priority Pass members be admitted when any guests were admitted. Lounges could not close the lounge to Priority Pass cardholders when admitting paying guests or airline contract guests. What would happen? Several hundred lounges which could not agree to those terms would leave Priority Pass. The network would be smaller, but more reliable. Would you consider that an improvement?

BigFlyer

I understand the reality. But, that is not how Priority Pass markets itself. They don't say "we are using excess capacity and your chances of getting in at some of our airports are slim to non-existent."

In fact, with respect to EDI - the Priority Pass listing for the Aspire Lounge says "Access may be restricted due to space constraints." There is no similar language for the No1 Lounge at the same airport. That suggests to the customer that one lounge has capacity problems and the other doesn't. In fact, apparently both have capacity problems.

BigFlyer

Also, I think there is more to it, at least with certain lounges, than utilizing excess capacity.

The last few times I used the AF/KL lounge at SFO, they were not allowing PP members in due to capacity issues (I managed to get in pointing out I was a DL million miler so how about an exception.) The PP website conveniently provided the peak times at which it was likely that PP would not be allowed entry.

I was there again a few weeks ago. There was not problem getting in with a PP card without pleading for an exception - even though I was there right before the AF A380 flight. I also noted that some employees were now wearing items that said Priority Pass on them, and the website no longer mentions access restrictions. I assume that PP must have thrown some more money towards to get better access in the lounge.

Lloydcov

DYKWIA

That's exactly what happens. There is a sign saying "Pre-bookings only" - so people they are expecting can still enter. That's why it may often appear not be full, but the lounge knows they have 50 pre-bookings about to arrive for the XXX flight to YYY.

ohms12

mia

Does this replace the lounge discussed in 2018?

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/airp...er-lounge.html

ohms12

Yup! And there's a new Aspire lounge that replaces the old one, opening in October.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes I have used it, and it certainly has the best views of any EDI lounge now, it's upstairs above the BrewDog bar, not far from the Domestic exit route.

The same food and drink as before, so no self serve drink and some limitations on what is available, but still it's a good offering now.