ItsAnAdam

Little bit of background: I’m a 100K flying AA from JFK to SFO. Ticket is coach, purchased thru AA. The AA website is a bit unclear (at least imo) on whether I should get access since it calls out specific transcon flights incl that one in the access rules. I called AA before going to the airport and was told yes I should get access. Then at the airport I was told no. I really don’t care that much about a single visit to an admirals club given the distinct lack of a pancake machine, but I’m curious if anyone knows the rules that should’ve been followed since no employee seems to know

jerry a. laska

No. you are not entitled to access on the basis of your status on a purely domestic itinerary in coach.

Kacee

The AA website is really ambiguous. It says you get AC access on qualifying transcon "Flights with seats ticketed as Flagship." This could be read to allow access on any flight that offers Flagship or, alternatively, as requiring the passenger be ticketed in Flagship. I believe the first interpretation is correct, because if you're ticketed in Flagship, you get Flagship Lounge access, and there would be no need for a special rules governing AC access on "Qualifying transcontinental flights."

I also wouldn't be at all surprised if lounge staff are not familiar with this particular rule, poor training is endemic with AA. It's certainly true that AA elites do not get access on an economy ticket, and it would be very easy for them to default to applying the same rule (incorrectly) to AS elites.

ItsAnAdam

Yeah that’s kind of what I figured would happen regardless of what the correct interpretation of the rules actually is lol

985X

No, you only get access if you have a ticket in flagship business or flagship first (including complimentary UG from main cabin to flagship business) on the following routes:

LAX-MIA on wide-bodies only
A321T routes:
LAX-JFK
SNA-JFK
SFO-JFK
LAX-BOS
Then you can use either admirals club or flagship lounge. If you travel in Y and you have Alaska+ lounge membership, then you can use admirals club only, unless you are in J/F cabin of these routes mentioned above.

mjbulzomi

My main complaint about my AC visit today at RDU was the distinct lack of pancakes. I feel your pain there.

(Sorry, can’t comment on anything else.)

flyer89

I went to AA.com --> Travel info --> Lounges --> Relax at the airport - Access --> I have oneworld status --> brought me to this link https://www.oneworld.com/airport-lounges --> scroll down to "the following exceptions apply: Alaska Mileage Plan members" and got this verbage:

​​​​​​"Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP GOLD 100K, 75K, and MVP GOLD members may access oneworld lounges when travelling to somewhere outside of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico.

Additionally, Alaska Airlines customers on Alaska Airlines operated domestic flights, connecting to or from an international long-haul flight in a premium cabin on the same day, are eligible for oneworld lounge access before the domestic flight.

For more information, visit Alaska Airlines' website.
When clicked on the Alaska Airlines' website's link, this is the same verbage:"Alaska MVP® Gold, Gold 75K, and Gold 100K members get access when they travel on a oneworld® member airline to a destination outside of the US, Canada, or Mexico."

They seem to matched up with each other, no confusion there.

JetAirways77W

I had the same question earlier this year, and started a bit of a long thread on the AA forum about it: Denied AC access in BOS despite being an OWS on a flagship transcon

Eurynom0s

IMO it's not ambiguous because there's no such thing as Flagship Economy. "Seats ticketed as Flagship" is meant to be inclusive of Flagship First and Flagship Business. If you look at the Flagship Lounge page, under access, the first header is "Qualifying First and Business".

[edit] I do see farther down on the Flagship Lounge page that they have "seats ticketed as Flagship" on the international routes header. It would certainly be better if they would just say "Flagship First and Flagship Business" consistently.

dayone

Don't forget Flagship Business Plus, which includes premium ground services and access to the Flagship First Dining, and is only available on Boeing 777-200, 787-8 and 787-9 international and Hawaii flights.