rthib

Most of the lounges that I used PP at, the desk at the front and you can see in the lounge.
I often check out the lounge crowding before I will bother going in.
At some airports the gate area is less crowded than the clubs,

Steve M

Some of the comments in this thread seem to imply that there's some sort of conspiracy going on whereby lounges deny PP cardholder access, claiming "lounge crowding" but where there's actually some other reason. Could someone spell out just what they think these other motivations might be?

robiles

Maybe they go more money from walk up fees or other programmes so they hold out for them. In BHX i was turned away even though you could see from the door that it was very quiet.

DFWFairy

I am a Amex Plat card holder based at DFW with both Centurion Lounge and Club DFW access. A couple years ago they started pushing PP card holders to a window-less room that seat about 12. For the past two weeks I had gone there twice. Twice they had a waitlist going. I gave up the first time and asked if I could use one of the three showers (the main reason for me going there since most of the time these showers are available vs. the ones at the Centurion) Today I was told that I could not. When asked if the showers were available, I was told by the old dragon woman "yes, but it's for those already in the club" That really p***sed me off. I called PP and lodged a complaint this PM and was told someone will be in touch on Monday.

mia

The Club at lounges are the only lounges operated Priority Pass itself. (Technically not true, but operated by another company owned by Collinson Group.) Seems odd that they would discourage Priority Pass members.

Note that you now also have access to Minute Suites near Gate D23 which includes two shower suites.

Steve M

It's not an either/or issue: they can admit both PP members AND walk-ups AND those from other programs that pay them more money. The only case where it is an either/or is if the lounge is at capacity or is anticipated to do so prior to your expected lounge departure. You bolster my point, not refute it.

gsxsilver

Personal record of 50% deny rate is a bit more then on occasion. Denying me once is going to count a lot more toward my perception of the lounge than acceptance.

ijgordon

The PP lounge at JFK T4 (Forget the name) recently had a sign saying they were not accepting PP members for entry at that time, on our way out. It was definitely very crowded when we arrived, but by the time we left it was much less crowded yet they still had the sign up.
It was a Thursday at about 6pm, so prime pre-TATL time.

steveman518

The wingtips lounge in T4 is not intended to be a DL lounge, and instead acts as a lounge for other international airlines out of T4 in addition to lounge networks. The lounge is closed to lounge network access daily and Priority Pass notes that

notquiteaff

The Alaska Lounges will restrict PP access as of May 1; no more guests. But perhaps members themselves will be able to access them more consistently again.

andyh64000

I hope so. I was denied recently and had to use a day pass (for being MVP 75K) and when I entered the lounge was about 1/3 full.

DFWFairy

Basically it's a scam. I am not an attorney but wonder what's the legality on this?

gsxsilver

I doubt any of us actually paid for it.

notquiteaff

What is a scam? What terms and conditions did you agree to that you feel are being violated?

beep88

Some lounges (such as KE at ICN main terminal) have permanent signs outside telling Priority Pass users to go to other lounges (with names provided)

The response from Priority Pass:

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Thank you for contacting us. We’re very sorry to hear you were denied access into a few of our participating lounges. The Lounges addressed are participating lounges in the Priority Pass program and we do show members are able to access these lounges when not at capacity.

As sometimes these lounges will not allow access to walk-ins for short periods of time when they have capacity issues.

Some of the lounges are contractually with airlines and are obliged to hold any pre-booked spaces for the duration of the booking, as passengers may arrive at any time within the booking period. This means lounge staff may need to decline access to on-demand guests, as this would exceed their lounge capacity and safety limits.

So, although it may look like there is space within a lounge, the lounge staff may be expecting a number of pre-booked guests from airlines or tour operators.

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