Apr 11, 2013, 8:02 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
Lounge Access for oneworld First or Business Class Passengers
NOTE: This thread has received little use since the establishment of the thread HELP DESK: Will I Have Lounge Access? Access, Rules (2017). Please use that thread to inquire about Lounge access. A few more recent posts have been moved to that thread.
Relax in more premium lounges around the world
If your oneworld® frequent flyer tier status is Emerald or Sapphire, or you are traveling in a First or Business Class cabin on a oneworld member airline, you can access more than 600 airport lounges throughout the world.
This means you can relax or catch up with work in comfort and style before departure, regardless of which oneworld member airline you choose to fly with.
To be eligible, you must be departing on a flight that is both marketed and operated by a oneworld member airline.
oneworld lounge access for First Class or Business Class customers (link)
Indulge yourself before departure in a wider range of airport lounges when you fly First Class or Business Class with any oneworld member airline.
The following exceptions apply:
If your oneworld® frequent flyer tier status is Emerald or Sapphire, or you are traveling in a First or Business Class cabin on a oneworld member airline, you can access more than 600 airport lounges throughout the world.
This means you can relax or catch up with work in comfort and style before departure, regardless of which oneworld member airline you choose to fly with.
To be eligible, you must be departing on a flight that is both marketed and operated by a oneworld member airline.
- Some lounges may get busy at peak times, and access to them may be restricted as a result.
- Lounges operated by third parties are identified in the lounge finder tool (above). Access to these lounges is restricted to eligible customers when travelling on specific oneworld airlines as shown in the lounge finder tool.
- Arrivals lounges are excluded.
- Spa and Pre-Flight Dining facilities are excluded.
- British Airways Concorde lounges are excluded.
- Other exceptions may apply (see below).
oneworld lounge access for First Class or Business Class customers (link)
Indulge yourself before departure in a wider range of airport lounges when you fly First Class or Business Class with any oneworld member airline.
- Customers flying First or Business Class have access to the equivalent class of lounge regardless of their frequent flyer status. First Class passengers may use a Business Class or frequent flyer lounge if a First Class lounge is not available.
- First Class passengers may invite one guest to join them in the lounge. The guest must also be travelling on a flight operated and marketed by a oneworld airline.
- Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights:
- First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).
- Lounge access will be determined on the international long haul ticketed flight (either First of Business Class) regardless of the ticketed class of travel on the international short haul or domestic flight.
- You must be prepared to show your boarding pass or itinerary showing travel in First or Business class on the international long haul flight, in order to access the lounge before your international short haul or domestic flight.
- First and Business Class customers who do not hold Emerald or Sapphire tier status are not eligible to access American Airlines lounges when travelling on solely domestic flights within the U.S. or between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico [except Mexico City], the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean; customers travelling in First or Business class on U.S. transcontinental flights between JFK-LAX, JFK-SFO and MIA-LAX (and vice-versa) are eligible for lounge access.
- Guests are not permitted at Qatar Airways Al Safwa and Al Mourjan lounges at Hamad International Airport in Doha or Qatar Airways Premium Lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 4.
Please see the following resources for further details on Class of Service Based Lounge Access Rules:
. . . ● oneworld Lounge Access Wizard , created by FlyerTalk member imagineertobe
. . . ● AA.com: AA Lounge Access Rules
. . . ● oneworld.com: Lounge Access Rules and Search Tool
. . . ● FlyerGuide Wiki: Lounges
. . . ● FT thread: AAdvantage status-based access to AA & oneworld lounges (consolidated)
ARCHIVE: Lounge Access Based on Class of Service (master thread)
Sep 13, 2011, 6:17 pm
#76
Senior Moderator and Moderator: American AAdvantage & TravelBuzz
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: BOS
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9650; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.524 Mobile Safari/534.8+)
Yup - J or U on a 3-class transcon does indeed include Admirals Club access. 
Originally Posted by Ron50
I think I know based on this page http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInforma...ungeAccess.jsp
but I just wanted to verify.
Flying with my family on award tickets JFK-LAX in business in U.
We should have AC access?
but I just wanted to verify.
Flying with my family on award tickets JFK-LAX in business in U.
We should have AC access?
Sep 13, 2011, 6:35 pm
#77
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Gold, Hyatt Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 69
Sep 14, 2011, 2:45 am
#78
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
oneworld rules would not permit lounge access for someone flying on a solely North American itinerary, such as JFK-YVR, BOS-JFK-YVR or the like. It's very possible that the people staffing the lounges at T7 are unaware of these restrictions, or are intentionally disregarding them, but the alliance's lounge access rules carve out a specific exception for such flights, and any exceptions should be considered gravy.
Another example is the qf108, JFK-lax. While you need to be on an international itinerary to fly this flight, those international segments could be months apart from your domestic journey. If you're in j, or have an emerald or sapphire card, you'll get lounge access on both sides of your purely domestic flight.
Sep 16, 2011, 11:42 pm
#79
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 93
I've read AA's site and this thread, and it seems pretty clear-cut, but just to save myself the embarassment in case I'm missing something, I thought I'd ask anyhow. We have an upcoming trip that will be our first time in First on award tickets (777 w/ 3 classes). Going ORD-MIA-EZE and back. So we should have access to the Flagship lounge at ORD before (and after?) the first and last legs, and then have Admiral's Club access in MIA. Right?
Slightly unrelated, but because we're flying in Z, we will still have all the perks a paying F customer would have, right? Like priority check-in, boarding, and 3 checked bags per person...
Slightly unrelated, but because we're flying in Z, we will still have all the perks a paying F customer would have, right? Like priority check-in, boarding, and 3 checked bags per person...
Sep 17, 2011, 5:39 pm
#80
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVPG 75K
Posts: 2,574
I've read AA's site and this thread, and it seems pretty clear-cut, but just to save myself the embarassment in case I'm missing something, I thought I'd ask anyhow. We have an upcoming trip that will be our first time in First on award tickets (777 w/ 3 classes). Going ORD-MIA-EZE and back. So we should have access to the Flagship lounge at ORD before (and after?) the first and last legs, and then have Admiral's Club access in MIA. Right?
Slightly unrelated, but because we're flying in Z, we will still have all the perks a paying F customer would have, right? Like priority check-in, boarding, and 3 checked bags per person...
Slightly unrelated, but because we're flying in Z, we will still have all the perks a paying F customer would have, right? Like priority check-in, boarding, and 3 checked bags per person...
Oct 24, 2011, 3:55 am
#81
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,105
Oh wow, and I though the BA rules were complex!
Quick question guys. Flying BA in J class into JFK and then connecting to AA domestic F (not transcon, East Coast). Do I get AC access based on my BA J ticket? I am BA Silver (OW Sapphire) - will that get me in?
Thanks
Quick question guys. Flying BA in J class into JFK and then connecting to AA domestic F (not transcon, East Coast). Do I get AC access based on my BA J ticket? I am BA Silver (OW Sapphire) - will that get me in?
Thanks
Oct 24, 2011, 4:45 am
#82
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVPG 75K
Posts: 2,574
You have AC access both from your incoming J ticket and the fact that you are a BA Silver. You always have access to Admirals Clubs when you are flying on a Oneworld airline as a BA Silver. The domestic restrictions for North American lounge access only apply to AA elites.
Oct 24, 2011, 6:58 am
#83
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,105
You have AC access both from your incoming J ticket and the fact that you are a BA Silver. You always have access to Admirals Clubs when you are flying on a Oneworld airline as a BA Silver. The domestic restrictions for North American lounge access only apply to AA elites.
Oct 24, 2011, 7:48 am
#84
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: LAN, AA, SPG
Posts: 1,965
What about mixed status?
My SO who is LAN Sapphire but AA Gold is traveling within the U.S. on AA (AA issued tickets crediting AAdvantage account). Can Sapphire lounge privileges still be invoked simply by showing the valid LAN card -- or will the agents say, "sorry --- since you are traveling under your AA account the exception applies"? 
Oct 24, 2011, 9:11 am
#85
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
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My SO who is LAN Sapphire but AA Gold is traveling within the U.S. on AA (AA issued tickets crediting AAdvantage account). Can Sapphire lounge privileges still be invoked simply by showing the valid LAN card -- or will the agents say, "sorry --- since you are traveling under your AA account the exception applies"?
Oct 24, 2011, 11:18 am
#86
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 294
Arriving MIA on LAN in business class, connecting to Greensboro, NC on American Eagle 3 hours later. Different conf # and obviousely eagle is in Y
Can I access the Admirals Club as an arriving LAN C passenger if I show the AC my arriving bording pass?
Can I access the Admirals Club as an arriving LAN C passenger if I show the AC my arriving bording pass?
Oct 24, 2011, 11:19 am
#87
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: LAN, AA, SPG
Posts: 1,965
Sorry I picked the wrong thread ---- but thanks microwave for the reply just the same!
Oct 24, 2011, 11:26 am
#88
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London, England
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Bring both your LA and AA BPs to the AC and you should be good to go as you are connecting from a qualifying flight (even if they're on different reservations)--note that if you're trip on LA originates in PUJ, you may not get lounges access the Dominican Republic is in the Caribbean and AA don't permit class-of-service based access for Caribbean itineraries. Also, as an aside, not all Eagle flights are Y only anymore--some are flown with CRJs and have a first class cabin.
Last edited by Microwave; Oct 24, 2011 at 11:32 am
Oct 24, 2011, 11:28 am
#89
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 294
Bring both your LA and AA BPs to the AC and you should be good to go as you are connecting from a qualifying flight (even if they're on different reservations). Also, as an aside, not all Eagle flights are Y only anymore--some are flown with CRJs and have a first class cabin.
My ERJ is Y only, arent only the CRJ's with F?
anyway appreciate it and sorry for the error
Oct 24, 2011, 11:35 am
#90
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Posts: 9,765
Not an error, just wanted to point it out: as I mentioned, the CRJ flights are the ones with F. Also, I did edit my post with a caveat regarding travel originating from PUJ, so please do be sure to read that first to be sure you're armed with the most information before showing up at the AC.