Asiana restricts lounge access for Priority Pass members finally
Jan 29, 2018, 7:13 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: OZ Diamond / Star Alliance Gold
Posts: 97
Asiana restricts lounge access for Priority Pass members finally
Has this already been discussed? Nevertheless it is good news for all Asiana Club members.
On the one hand, Asiana’s move is reasonable—the compromise allows the airline to mitigate crowding without impacting their own customers—while on the other hand, it undermines the value of Priority Pass, which is supposed to be agnostic to members’ airline choices.
Source: https://loungereview.com/asiana-rest...-pass-members/
Asiana limits Priority Pass lounge access to their own passengers
Asiana is the latest airline to make a move to minimize crowding at their lounges. Since January 1st, Priority Pass members can only use Asiana Lounges when flying Asiana. The airline operates eight lounges in South Korea, including two popular flagship Business Class lounges at Seoul’s Incheon airport. Other lounges are located at Gimpo, Busan, and Jeju Island airports.On the one hand, Asiana’s move is reasonable—the compromise allows the airline to mitigate crowding without impacting their own customers—while on the other hand, it undermines the value of Priority Pass, which is supposed to be agnostic to members’ airline choices.
Source: https://loungereview.com/asiana-rest...-pass-members/
Jan 29, 2018, 9:39 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: ALL Gold, MPC Silver
Posts: 175
This happened because the lounge was found to be in violation of local laws regarding food service licencing, evidently if you're going to be serving food and drink to PP card holders not flying on OZ you have to be registered as a restaurant.
Jan 30, 2018, 2:08 am
#4
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: SFO/SJC/OAK
Programs: OZ Diamond (*G), KQ Asante Gold (ST+), Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,510
Heard about this last month somewhere. Not a huge loss for PP members, as there are a lot of equally mediocre options still available no matter who you're flying.
Jan 30, 2018, 3:08 am
#5
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SYD
Programs: OZ Platinum LifeTime; DL PM; QF Gold; VA Gold; HH Diamond; IHG Diamond
Posts: 1,128
Not holding my breath, but I do hope so!
Jan 30, 2018, 9:49 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: OZ Diamond *A Gold / Delta Gold
Posts: 775
My understanding is that Asiana just restricted the access to non-OZ flyers. There is no specific intend to improve the food offering, whatever that could mean...
Jan 30, 2018, 5:21 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: ALL Gold, MPC Silver
Posts: 175
LOL no we're talking about a airline that doesn't bother to fix a broken lav in their J lounge for several months because they'll be moving soon
Jan 30, 2018, 8:16 pm
#8
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SYD
Programs: OZ Platinum LifeTime; DL PM; QF Gold; VA Gold; HH Diamond; IHG Diamond
Posts: 1,128
I haven't been in the OZ J lounge for many a year, and not likely to go in anytime soon since I have access to the F lounge. Food there (like the J lounge) could definitely be better...
Jul 10, 2019, 12:14 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve
Posts: 619
We were just at Incheon last month and they denied entry to myself, my wife, and our young son to the business class lounge despite the fact that we had outgoing Asiana boarding passes and a PP membership from Amex Platinum. So this is even more restrictive than the earlier restrictions. We attempted to get into one of the other PP lounges and they would let us in but they were so crowded we decided to just go to a regular restaurant before our flight back to the US.
Jul 12, 2019, 12:15 am
#11
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Programs: KE Skypass Morning Calm Member, OZ Club
Posts: 2,351
We were just at Incheon last month and they denied entry to myself, my wife, and our young son to the business class lounge despite the fact that we had outgoing Asiana boarding passes and a PP membership from Amex Platinum. So this is even more restrictive than the earlier restrictions. We attempted to get into one of the other PP lounges and they would let us in but they were so crowded we decided to just go to a regular restaurant before our flight back to the US.
Jul 12, 2019, 9:27 am
#12
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve
Posts: 619
Yes, it was economy, but the PP restriction was supposedly about having any boarding pass, not just business class or above.
Jul 15, 2019, 1:40 am
#14
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Programs: KE Skypass Morning Calm Member, OZ Club
Posts: 2,351
Supposedly the move was to restrict PP members to only those with an outgoing Asiana boarding pass. But in our case we had an outgoing Asiana boarding pass... they restricted us anyway.
Yes, it was economy, but the PP restriction was supposedly about having any boarding pass, not just business class or above.
Jul 15, 2019, 1:51 am
#15
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,369
The whole point of PP is supposedly that one can use lounges regardless of the carrier one is flying (or the cabin class, FF status, etc.).
