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)
Mar 21, 2012, 8:51 pm
#121
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
You will have access in MIA, and in MAD you will have to process immigration and proceed from Terminal 4-S (satellite) to Terminal 4 (take the lifts, not the escalators,) by train. Once in Terminal 4, you should be able to access the Dalí lounge, as you are traveling onward on a oneworld carrier. Be sure to check out the Rincón del Vino (wine tasting).
Mar 21, 2012, 8:55 pm
#122
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Er, you will arrive and go landside after processing immigration and customs; the CDG arrivals lounge closed years ago. By "CP" we assume you mean CX, Cathay Pacific - as Canadian Pacific / CP Air has been sadly gone form the scene for longer than the CDG arrivals lounge.
Mar 21, 2012, 9:22 pm
#123
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: AA EXP, AA Lifetime Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 71
Yes, thank you. I meant CX lounge not CP lounge.
Any comments on the CX and AA lounges at CDG? Are either worth this lounge lizard getting to the airport early?
Any comments on the CX and AA lounges at CDG? Are either worth this lounge lizard getting to the airport early?
Mar 21, 2012, 9:50 pm
#124
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: STL
Programs: AA 2MM, AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,966
I understand the "same day" rule but didn't "same day" used to mean within a 24 hour period? I could have sworn I was told this years ago when coming in late from Asia in J; sleeping overnight at a NYC hotel; and then flying on a domestic leg the next afternoon qualified me under class of service rules. Apparently it is not this way now so perhaps I am imagining things. 
Not implying that was you, but I have seen that not work.
Mar 21, 2012, 9:53 pm
#125
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: STL
Programs: AA 2MM, AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,966
Worth it to me or worth it to you? For me, no, I would not get to the airport earlier than AA's recommended 180 minutes prior to departure just to use the lounge some more. But it might be worth it to you.
Mar 21, 2012, 9:56 pm
#126
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: LAN, AA, SPG
Posts: 1,965
"For EXP/PLT, they will often let you in the next day, particularly if it was a forced layover, but they don't have to. I think they are a bit stricter on class-of-service access, as it has really been quite a while since your flight, but still it doesn't hurt to ask politely with a smile, and that often works. It's good to know what you are entitled to, as marching up to the desk and slapping down yesterday's international J boarding pass while saying "International Business Class Passenger" is probably not the magic password. Not implying that was you, but I have seen that not work."
Thanks gemac! ^
Thanks gemac! ^
Mar 21, 2012, 10:04 pm
#127
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: STL
Programs: AA 2MM, AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,966
"For EXP/PLT, they will often let you in the next day, particularly if it was a forced layover, but they don't have to. I think they are a bit stricter on class-of-service access, as it has really been quite a while since your flight, but still it doesn't hurt to ask politely with a smile, and that often works. It's good to know what you are entitled to, as marching up to the desk and slapping down yesterday's international J boarding pass while saying "International Business Class Passenger" is probably not the magic password. Not implying that was you, but I have seen that not work."
Thanks gemac! ^
Thanks gemac! ^
Mar 22, 2012, 3:06 am
#128
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 7,691
None of the two lounges is worth extra time at the airport. CDG 2A is not the best of terminals. CX lounge has better drinks selection (including champagne) but the AA lounge is more spacious (and it is closer to the AA gates) and has a very nice business centre.
Apr 15, 2012, 2:15 pm
#129
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 163
I've read this entire thread as well as the Lounge Access page at aa.com and I think I'm more dazed and confused now than I was before I started. 
This summer, my wife and I are flying in First on AAward tickets (fare code Z) as follows:
MCO > DFW > HNL, returning OGG > LAX > MCO
We don't have status on AA.
Clearly, these flights are not international, so we don't get lounge access that way.
MCO > DFW clearly isn't transcon. How is DFW > HNL treated, since that flight is longer than any literal transcon? Same with OGG > LAX. LAX > MCO sure seems to me like it should be transcon, but it's not on the list of transcon routes on the lounge access page.
And to confuse me even more, I've seen the term "long haul" thrown around this thread a bit. Seems we have at least 3 legs that common sense would consider long haul.
Bottom line: will we have lounge access anywhere along our route?
Thanks to all for the great information provided.
This summer, my wife and I are flying in First on AAward tickets (fare code Z) as follows:
MCO > DFW > HNL, returning OGG > LAX > MCO
We don't have status on AA.
Clearly, these flights are not international, so we don't get lounge access that way.
MCO > DFW clearly isn't transcon. How is DFW > HNL treated, since that flight is longer than any literal transcon? Same with OGG > LAX. LAX > MCO sure seems to me like it should be transcon, but it's not on the list of transcon routes on the lounge access page.
And to confuse me even more, I've seen the term "long haul" thrown around this thread a bit. Seems we have at least 3 legs that common sense would consider long haul.
Bottom line: will we have lounge access anywhere along our route?
Thanks to all for the great information provided.
Apr 15, 2012, 5:13 pm
#130
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 10,949
I've read this entire thread as well as the Lounge Access page at aa.com and I think I'm more dazed and confused now than I was before I started.
This summer, my wife and I are flying in First on AAward tickets (fare code Z) as follows:
MCO > DFW > HNL, returning OGG > LAX > MCO
We don't have status on AA.
Clearly, these flights are not international, so we don't get lounge access that way.
MCO > DFW clearly isn't transcon. How is DFW > HNL treated, since that flight is longer than any literal transcon? Same with OGG > LAX. LAX > MCO sure seems to me like it should be transcon, but it's not on the list of transcon routes on the lounge access page.
And to confuse me even more, I've seen the term "long haul" thrown around this thread a bit. Seems we have at least 3 legs that common sense would consider long haul.
Bottom line: will we have lounge access anywhere along our route?
Thanks to all for the great information provided.
This summer, my wife and I are flying in First on AAward tickets (fare code Z) as follows:
MCO > DFW > HNL, returning OGG > LAX > MCO
We don't have status on AA.
Clearly, these flights are not international, so we don't get lounge access that way.
MCO > DFW clearly isn't transcon. How is DFW > HNL treated, since that flight is longer than any literal transcon? Same with OGG > LAX. LAX > MCO sure seems to me like it should be transcon, but it's not on the list of transcon routes on the lounge access page.
And to confuse me even more, I've seen the term "long haul" thrown around this thread a bit. Seems we have at least 3 legs that common sense would consider long haul.
Bottom line: will we have lounge access anywhere along our route?
Thanks to all for the great information provided.
No lounge access at all.
If you carry the AMEX Plat card you can access the AC, or you can pay $50 per person for a day pass.
Apr 22, 2012, 12:37 pm
#132
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,659
Interestingly my wife and I were coming back to the US yesterday via LHR and both of us were on an AA flight, although she was flying F and I was in business. I presented my EXP card so we could get into the BA Galleries First lounge and the attendant cleared my BP 1st. She asked if my wife was my guest, told her yes, and then she took her BP to scan and said "you could get it on your own too since you're flying First". Didn't say anything, but was a little surprised since the BA Lounge folks are usually very strict with the rules, so I don't know what to read into it..
Apr 22, 2012, 1:46 pm
#133
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: AA SPG Amex
Posts: 4,644
What you will not have is access to the BA CCR; one must fly BA F for that.
Apr 22, 2012, 9:09 pm
#134
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,659
Yes, I've done this before. In fact, my flights weren't even on the same PNR for the connection. Per OW rules, when making a long-haul to short-haul connection (with both flights on OW airlines) then the long-haul flight class of service will govern the lounge access during the connection regardless of the short-haul class of service.
What you will not have is access to the BA CCR; one must fly BA F for that.
What you will not have is access to the BA CCR; one must fly BA F for that.
Apr 22, 2012, 9:21 pm
#135
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVPG 75K
Posts: 2,574
There was a short period where the oneworld website reflected that rule. It has since been reversed.