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Priority Pass and denied entry at the Alaska Lounge b/c of space - 2018 and Earlier

Old Feb 18, 2017, 12:46 am
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Last edit by: tattikat2
Date, Location, Day of week, Time of Day and method of access for denial.

Please include if you are actually flying Alaska that day, or some other airline, so we can see if the BR is giving preference to AS flyers

3/10/17 SEA D AL 4pm Friday - sign out (was flying Alaska)
3/12/17 SEA N & A AL 6pm Sunday PP denied
2/18/17 PDX AL 6:00am Saturday (flying AS) - PP denied (sign out)
3/21/17 SEA D AL 9am Tuesday - sign out
3/21/17 SEA N AL 9:45am Tuesday - sign out
3/24/17 SEA D AL 1:15pm Friday - sign out (was flying Alaska)
3/25/17 SEA D AL 1:15pm Saturday - sign out
3/25/17 SEA D AL 9:00pm Saturday - sign out
3/26/17 PDX C AL 9:15pm Sunday - Sign out (Was flying AS)
4/2/17 SEA D AL 4:00pm Monday - sign out
4/3/17 SEA D AL 10:30a Monday - sign out - PP requested-denied - was allowed with AL lounge pass - 90% occupied
4/10/17 SEA D 6:45 AM - sign out
4/12/17 SEA D 8:20 PM - sign out
4/14/17 SEA D 10:00 AM - sign out
4/16/17 SEA N 11:00am - sign out, was even upgraded to F on AS and MVP75K, no dice. It was a busy Easter Sunday
4/17/17 PDX 5:35am - no sign, admitted with a smile
4/22/17 PDX 6:35am - no sign, admitted
4/22/17 SEA D 8:15am - no sign, went to Centurion Lounge instead
4/23/17 SEA D and N 4:30pm - sign out. N lounge half empty.
4/26/17 LAX 11:30am - no sign
4/26/17 SEA D no sign, went to The Club
4/27/17 SEA D 10:40 AM - sign out
4/27/17 SEA N 10:50 AM - sign put out just as I entered, admitted with PP as the "last one"
4/27/17 SEA N 4pm - no sign, admitted with PP and a Delta bp
4/30/17 SEA D no sign, admitted
5/1/17 PDX 6:30 am - no sign, admitted, maybe 50% full
5/8/17 SEA D 11:00 am - new sign saying no PP guests, admitted as a PP cardholder.
5/15/17 SEA D 12:30pm sign out no PP
5/18/17 SEA N 7pm Thursday - no sign, admitted (PP, flying AS)
5/18/17 ANC 11:30pm Thursday - no sign, denied, but admitted 45 minutes later (PP, flying AS)
5/19/17 ANC 3pm Friday - no sign, admitted (PP, flying AS)
5/23/17 PDX C 4pm Tue - admitted (PP, flying WN).
5/27/17 PDX 7:50am no sign
6/28/17 LAX 12:30pm/3:30pm- no sign, admitted
9/25/17 PDX 2:00 - sign out, admitted without comment (PP, flying AA)
11/8/17 SEA C 09:00 AM - admitted (PP, flying AS). Only a few seats available, but at least a few seats remained available the whole time I was there
11/16/17 LAX 09:00 AM- sign out, no PP
02/0319 LAX 5pm Sunday-sign out no PP (flying AS)
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Priority Pass and denied entry at the Alaska Lounge b/c of space - 2018 and Earlier

Old Aug 9, 2018, 9:31 pm
  #1696  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold
Posts: 917
Originally Posted by apbailey
Sign out at 7:25 pm at lounge in D gates in SEA. To be fair, looked pretty busy, but sincerely doubt thy ever take the sign in.
Got into the same lounge yesterday twice using Priority Pass. Once at 5:45am and again that evening around 8:30pm.

So yes, the sign comes in.
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 4:12 pm
  #1697  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
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8/13 2:35pm, No Entry

sign was out at C concourse, two flights heading transcon were on ATC delays which probably had some play to it too.
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 1:03 am
  #1698  
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Denied entry at ANC at 10 pm tonight (a Monday night). They have a sign downstairs. Lounge is at least half empty -- what I would consider uncrowded for a small lounge. The lounge staff doesn't care about reason or logic -- they're just saving space for non-existent pax who will be showing up in the middle of the night. I think Alaska should just pull out of the program, or priority pass should kick them out. If this is how lounge access worked, nobody would want a card. It's frustrating to think you have lounge access (I have a 2 hour layover) and they get denied entry for no good reason. I'm even flying Alaska.
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 2:08 am
  #1699  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: LAX/FAO
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Originally Posted by iahphx
Denied entry at ANC at 10 pm tonight (a Monday night). They have a sign downstairs. Lounge is at least half empty -- what I would consider uncrowded for a small lounge. The lounge staff doesn't care about reason or logic -- they're just saving space for non-existent pax who will be showing up in the middle of the night. I think Alaska should just pull out of the program, or priority pass should kick them out. If this is how lounge access worked, nobody would want a card. It's frustrating to think you have lounge access (I have a 2 hour layover) and they get denied entry for no good reason. I'm even flying Alaska.
This one doesnt surprise me, actually. AS has a lot of departures between 11pm and 2am. It wouldnt surprise me if this is the busiest time of day for ANC. In >20 years of visiting my parents there, almost all of my flights have arrived and departed around midnight +/- 2 hours.

Since its pretty predictable they should disclose that theres no access after 9pm (or whatever works for them) June-August so PP members can manage expectations. Ive learned to not plan on having access at my home airport. Once in a while they surprise me but I agree they should leave PP if they can only offer sporadic hours.
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 7:06 am
  #1700  
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Originally Posted by princeville


This one doesn’t surprise me, actually. AS has a lot of departures between 11pm and 2am. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is the busiest time of day for ANC. In >20 years of visiting my parents there, almost all of my flights have arrived and departed around midnight +/- 2 hours.

Since it’s pretty predictable they should disclose that there’s no access after 9pm (or whatever works for them) June-August so PP members can manage expectations. I’ve learned to not plan on having access at my home airport. Once in a while they surprise me but I agree they should leave PP if they can only offer sporadic hours.

I looked at the board: Alaska has about 5 flights that leave out of ANC in a 3 hour period after 10 pm. Can a lounge not handle 5 (narrowbody) flights? I actually went back twice to see what was going on. At no time did the lounge reach 50% occupancy. I pointed out the vast sea of empty seats to the agent, and she said they don't include "scattered" empty seats in their calculations -- apparently the whole lounge needs to be open for them to admit PP guests.

Obviously, if they want to run their lounge at 50% occupancy, that's their prerogative. But they shouldn't be in Priority Pass. It did suck to arrive at 9:30 pm for a 2 hour layoff and be surprised that I had no lounge access. Last week, there was no problem getting in at 9 am.

Coincidentally, I was also denied entry into an Alaska Lounge at SEA this month that looked way less than half full. It was morgue-like in there. But I wasn't completely surprised, given that I had heard of PP "problems" at their SEA lounges. And there are other lounge options at SEA. At ANC, you're sitting around a gate if you can't get into the Alaska Lounge.
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 10:51 am
  #1701  
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Originally Posted by iahphx
I looked at the board: Alaska has about 5 flights that leave out of ANC in a 3 hour period after 10 pm. Can a lounge not handle 5 (narrowbody) flights? I actually went back twice to see what was going on. At no time did the lounge reach 50% occupancy. I pointed out the vast sea of empty seats to the agent, and she said they don't include "scattered" empty seats in their calculations -- apparently the whole lounge needs to be open for them to admit PP guests.

Obviously, if they want to run their lounge at 50% occupancy, that's their prerogative. But they shouldn't be in Priority Pass. It did suck to arrive at 9:30 pm for a 2 hour layoff and be surprised that I had no lounge access. Last week, there was no problem getting in at 9 am.

Coincidentally, I was also denied entry into an Alaska Lounge at SEA this month that looked way less than half full. It was morgue-like in there. But I wasn't completely surprised, given that I had heard of PP "problems" at their SEA lounges. And there are other lounge options at SEA. At ANC, you're sitting around a gate if you can't get into the Alaska Lounge.
The singular reason given by AS for denying PP entry is due to lounge occupancy issues, but there are way too many reports of half empty lounges with the sign out for this to be the only reason for the issue they're having with PP....for whatever reason, it's obvious they don't want to be apart of the PP program and that's their decision, but I think they need to just pull the band-aid off and be done with it. Perhaps their thinking is that if lounges are empty, it will create a better sense of solitude for their members and they'll make up for lost PP revenue with more memberships (although personally, I think this is going to end up being a money losing deal, but for their sake, hopefully not).
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 2:08 pm
  #1702  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Originally Posted by PDXPremier
The singular reason given by AS for denying PP entry is due to lounge occupancy issues, but there are way too many reports of half empty lounges with the sign out for this to be the only reason for the issue they're having with PP....for whatever reason, it's obvious they don't want to be apart of the PP program and that's their decision, but I think they need to just pull the band-aid off and be done with it. Perhaps their thinking is that if lounges are empty, it will create a better sense of solitude for their members and they'll make up for lost PP revenue with more memberships (although personally, I think this is going to end up being a money losing deal, but for their sake, hopefully not).
Alternatively, I'd be more than fine with them simply not allowing people using PP to bring in any guests. I'd rather consistently be able to get in alone than it being a total crapshoot as to whether I'll get in at all.

And I'm not paying for an Alaska Lounge membership I don't fly enough to make it worth it (I hit my MVP primarily through LAX-EWR/JFK flights, as opposed to more frequent shorter flights).

Last edited by Eurynom0s; Aug 14, 2018 at 2:23 pm
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 2:16 pm
  #1703  
 
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Originally Posted by Eurynom0s
Alternatively, I'd be more than fine with them simply not allowing people using PP to bring in any guests. I'd rather consistently be able to get in alone than it being a total crapshoot as to whether I'll get in at all.

And I'm paying for an Alaska Lounge membership I don't fly enough to make it worth it (I hit my MVP primarily through LAX-EWR/JFK flights, as opposed to more frequent shorter flights).
Eurynom0s Welcome to Flyer Talk.
Not clear from your post if you are a AS Lounge member. I guess, I would agree that allowing PP members to not bring guests might help the situation. But, I think AS has made up their minds.
I am sure they no longer want to bother with PP . Now, it will be interesting if they will add this benefit outside of membership in the future.
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 2:25 pm
  #1704  
 
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Originally Posted by pcoll

Eurynom0s Welcome to Flyer Talk.
Not clear from your post if you are a AS Lounge member. I guess, I would agree that allowing PP members to not bring guests might help the situation. But, I think AS has made up their minds.
I am sure they no longer want to bother with PP . Now, it will be interesting if they will add this benefit outside of membership in the future.
Thanks for the welcome.

And yeah, I just edited my post, I missed a crucial "not".

But clearly restricted posted hours, guest restrictions...just SOMETHING to make it more predictable would be nice. I saw that PP has added a restaurant option in T2 at LAX so hopefully a T6 restaurant option is in the works.
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Old Aug 14, 2018, 8:21 pm
  #1705  
 
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Here’s hoping you are right. PP is getting pretty useless on the West Coast now.
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Old Aug 15, 2018, 7:59 pm
  #1706  
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Originally Posted by PDXPremier
The singular reason given by AS for denying PP entry is due to lounge occupancy issues, but there are way too many reports of half empty lounges with the sign out for this to be the only reason for the issue they're having with PP....for whatever reason, it's obvious they don't want to be apart of the PP program and that's their decision, but I think they need to just pull the band-aid off and be done with it. Perhaps their thinking is that if lounges are empty, it will create a better sense of solitude for their members and they'll make up for lost PP revenue with more memberships (although personally, I think this is going to end up being a money losing deal, but for their sake, hopefully not).
Does anyone know what PP pays Alaska for each PP visit? I would think it's something near 20 bucks. No? This would seem to be good money for a relatively small airline like Alaska with an obviously small lounge membership base (how many people will drop $450 for an airline lounge that only has 5 locations?). For people like myself who don't live on the West Coast, it's unrealistic to think that we'd ever buy an Alaska lounge membership. Yet. with lounge access, we're more likely to fly Alaska. You would think this would be a win-win relationship. If they're getting something like 20 bucks a head from PP, it's helping keep those lounges open and, presumably, profitable. Without PP, I would think a lot of their lounges would be pretty empty much of the time.
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Old Aug 15, 2018, 9:12 pm
  #1707  
Moderator: Alaska Mileage Plan
 
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Originally Posted by iahphx
Without PP, I would think a lot of their lounges would be pretty empty much of the time.
Prior to the explosion of PP memberships, that was not the case.
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Old Aug 15, 2018, 10:03 pm
  #1708  
 
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Originally Posted by iahphx
Does anyone know what PP pays Alaska for each PP visit? I would think it's something near 20 bucks. No? This would seem to be good money for a relatively small airline like Alaska with an obviously small lounge membership base (how many people will drop $450 for an airline lounge that only has 5 locations?). For people like myself who don't live on the West Coast, it's unrealistic to think that we'd ever buy an Alaska lounge membership. Yet. with lounge access, we're more likely to fly Alaska. You would think this would be a win-win relationship. If they're getting something like 20 bucks a head from PP, it's helping keep those lounges open and, presumably, profitable. Without PP, I would think a lot of their lounges would be pretty empty much of the time.
I'm not sure how many people are being deterred from Alaska Lounge memberships by not realizing this but there's a number of AA Admiral Club locations the membership gets you access to (plus a smattering of other locations like some United Clubs, apparently): https://www.alaskaair.com/content/ai...tion-and-hours

The paid AA Admiral Club membership (not Executive Card holders) get into the Alaska Lounges: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...-locations.jsp

So I'd assume that they're getting enough business that they're not shooting themselves in the foot financially by turning away PP holders.
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Old Aug 15, 2018, 10:23 pm
  #1709  
Moderator: Alaska Mileage Plan
 
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Originally Posted by Eurynom0s
The paid AA Admiral Club membership (not Executive Card holders) get into the Alaska Lounges
The Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard includes an Admirals Club membership, which grants access to Alaska Lounges.
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Old Aug 15, 2018, 10:29 pm
  #1710  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Originally Posted by dayone
The Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard includes an Admirals Club membership, which grants access to Alaska Lounges.
Click the link I posted. It specifically says that the Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard does not get you into partner lounges.

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