Surely the waitlist is AI-managed /s

It is the banked flights. It is freaking bedlam throughout the entire C concourse leading up to the 7AM/10AM/2PM/5PM banks. This terminal head rebuild completion can't come soon enough to allow more space for folks to spread out.

Totally...it's wall to wall people...at least there will be a bit of a breather in January with so many flights scaled back during the "slower" season.

As an Admirals Club member, I was asked to join the waitlist. I didn�t see the pecking order completely, but I noticed that Summit pass holders were ahead of me.

This is the first time I�ve been turned away, previous times it was only a �no passes� sign and I had no problem getting in before. My strategy of using the AA credit card for lounge access has bakckfired� If Alaska really does hold lounge capacity for club members, I may consider a Lounge+ membership!

As far as my current wait time, it�s been almost an hour and I went from #7 to #2. Other people have �cut� in front of me.

ETA: cleared after 1hr 4mins. Got to swing in for 20 minutes

Thanks for the first-person feedback.

Your experience is very disappointing. Passes should not have priority over an AC member. I hope you share your comments with Customer Care.

I think it would be good to get clarified what the policy is. There is only one policy, whereas the experience from any given lounge desk individual is less uniform.

When adding to the waitlist, there was a question �How will you be entering the lounge?�, with a dropdown of choices presented in this order:

• Alaska Lounge Member
• First Class � 2000 miles
• oneworld Elites
• Summit Card Day Pass
• Admiral's Club
• Day Pass
• Other

So that *might* be the order� I chose Admirals Club, but I�m also a oneworld Elite - but that doesn�t qualify me with my domestic ticket 🙂

This is interesting...I didn't realize the list was prioritized based on anything other than time of joining the wait-list.

I went the Admiral's Club credit card route one year because it is a little cheaper but eventually switched to the Alaska Lounge+ membership and I am glad I did since all my trips begin and end at PDX. On the flip side, I don't recall my Alaska Lounge+ membership putting me at any disadvantage for being admitted into an AC.

Yeah, after I joined the waitlist, there were names that appeared above me and moved up/disappeared. There were a few Alaska Club members that figured out they could get right in, so that might have been some explanation for the list movement.

Yep, as a mostly AS flyer out of PDX. Lounge+ might be the way to go, unless they start to get turned away from crowded Admirals Clubs! Judging by the way Alaska delays lounge openings, I predict this will be an issue at PDX through 2026.

crowded pdx wouldn't make me join Lounge+, it would make me use the Escape Lounge. But if AC are that low on the pecking order I probably won't renew my AA MC Elite.

Yep, definitely re-thinking my strategy with the AA MC. The Escape Lounge is nice but it also has waitlist times, and it's also a hike to/from the Alaska gates.

if they do open in 2026 i can wait that long since I've never had to wait for SEA N and when HA joins OW I'll regain access to the HNL JAL lounge when flying HA. In the meantime Escape is ok. We fly NYC and DFW often so AA is quite useful there and of course there are Chase lounges at JFK and LGA.

I had it straight from the people at headquarters who run the lounges that Admirals Club members were to be treated identically with Alaska Club members. No priority for the latter. This came as a result of LAX trying to put us on a waitlist a while back to hold space open for Alaska Lounge members. Headquarters told me they weren't permitted to do that.

Subsequently I was told by staff at PDX that Atmos pass holders were to be treated the same as members. So no priority for annual members. First come, first served.

Not nice to promise equal access then after people have signed up and paid their cardholder annual fees to pull a switcheroo. If Atmos passes were going to overwhelm capacity they should have either 1) not offered passes as a benefit or 2) not promised equal access.

Thanks for sharing...good to know. Unfortunately the actual implementation vs official policy can differ greatly...