Welcome to FT costa85!

I don't know the answer to your first question, but unless you are connecting to a OW flight, only those arriving on the 3 class transcons have access the the FL upon arrival. No access otherwise as standard OW lounge rules apply, thus it is a "departures" lounge.

I am PLT. We will be arriving from EZE-MIA flight at 4:49 AM, connecting to MIA-MCO at 6:50 AM
The FL access info says "Departing flights must be the same day or before 6 a.m. the following day"
Does the qualifying international arrival at 4:49 AM on the same day count, or does this mean I had to start my international flight on the same day? (Flights are both AA, PE for the international, economy for the hop to Orlando)

You'll have no problem with access.

It's always about the arrival date. Otherwise most people flying long haul, for example from US to Europe wouldn't have access when connecting, same flying to Asia from the US and connecting. So yes, you'll have access.

For purposes of Flagship Access, flying MIA-DOH in J on QR. In and outbound to/from MIA-ORD on a separate ticket. Only AA GLD at the moment.

Will I have access to the Flagship lounge upon returning to MIA? The last few posts seem to vary on whether Flagship lounges can be used as an arrival. I'm 95% certain I've done so before (JFK and LAX allowed, though I've never actually tried ORD T5-T3 as it's home), but I don't recall if it was same PNR – also I'm typically PPRO. Put another way, is OW status what would permit for international arrival/connecting lounge access or is it class of service?

I passed on any buy-up back to PLT/Emerald as this plus one additional trip early March should get me back to PPro (busy month) and didn't think I'd miss anything before questioning it now...

Both oneworld status and class of service allow lounge access during a connection to/from a qualifying long-haul flight (assuming your next/onward flight is also oneworld).

So, you will have no problems accessing the MIA FL after arriving from DOH-MIA in business before your connection to ORD. Separate tickets doesn't matter for lounge access, still no problem, though obviously hang on to your DOH-MIA boarding pass to show for entry since it won't show up automatically when you check in.

Hi,

How strictly is the "before 6 am the following day" rule enforced? Next month I am flying
CX HKG-LAX in F, arriving around 10 pm, then
AA LAX-PDX in F, departing around 9 am the next day - this is the first possible connecting flight, i.e. the shortest layover.

If no access to FL how about the Admiral's Club?

Thanks!

If they were going strictly by the rules, you'd have access to neither. However, I would think that the folks at the FL would be more accommodating than the AC, as they deal with mostly Int'l travelers and the nuances that are inherit vs. the AC which is for domestic members primarily. They might be a bit more understanding of your circumstances.

Yea, many lounge agents are either not 100% familiar with or just do not enforce the "before 6am" thing when it comes to lounge access on an itinerary that spans more than one day.

When you go into the Flagship Lounge, just hand them your LAX-PDX boarding pass on top with your HKG-LAX boarding pass right behind it, and say something like "just came in from HKG, on the way to Portland" then just let them go and see what happens, more times than not you will be let in without a problem.

What you DO NOT want to do is say something like "Hi, I came in from HKG last night, my flight to Portland is after 6am, I know this is outside the rule but I was hoping you could make an exception" or anything like that. That's just highlighting that you are technically not within the rules when the agent may have not even known that in first place.

Also, at LAX T4 the FL and AC share the same entrance and 'gatekeepers', so it won't make a difference re: trying access at the FL vs. AC etc.

I am an AA EXP. I am looking at buying an LAX-NYC flight, but I really want access to the Qantas First Lounge on departure and then Flagship Lounge on arrival. Does an economy ticket give me access or do I need a business class seat on that flight? Based on previous posts, it seems that a business seat is necessary. Is that correct?

For AAdvantage members unfortunately the lounge access for premium transcons is based on class of service not status. That means that for Qantas F you need to be flying F. With a J ticket you get access to the FL and to the oneworld J lounge, and with Y you don't get any lounge access even with EXP.

As a Plat Pro, if I was flying through MEX to another city in Mexico (AA marketed 4O flight) would I have access?

QF F lounge will not let a domestic F pax in (even on three-class transcons) unless they are a non-AA OWE (like BA Gold). If they are non-AA OWE, they can get in, no matter what class. QF F lounge is very strict about this. They only look for non-AA OWE status or international OW F ticket.

This must be new - in late October I went to QF F lounge on a transcon F ticket.

If you are flying say DFW-MEX-XYZ, then you get FL access at DFW. The fact that you have a connection in MEX doesn't matter.