Rumour: CX to restrict certain lounge access to Marco Polo members
 

I was chatting with one of the senior Plaza staff yesterday who oversees the two lounges (Departures) . We go way back to the Canton Disco days so its not some random person I just met at the lounge.
They mentioned that Cathay might ditch Plaza this year and also that OW Elites might no longer have access to all CX lounges in the near future. The management was looking into offering them access only one of the lounges (after renovations were complete) while the others would be reserved for CX/KA elites. These might just be BS rumors so we will know in a few months from now.

If the latter portion of what you said is true, which lounge do you think will specifically for OW elites?

I think it may be The Cabin and perhaps this is why they're renoing and adding shower facilities. Otherwise, it's not that old of a lounge and doesn't seem to require any renovations anyways

Here is one eager CX DM member! I hope this rumor is true.

Last year, at a CX event a manager told me something similar. And nothing ever happened. I'm still hopeful but....still assume it's unlikely until I see it.

But that would be a real wake-up call to folks considering the MPC program. CX's lounges are excellent and if they start differentiating between DMs and OWEs or GOs and OWS......

She mentioned that there was crowding a certain hours and many of the pax were from AA or other OW elites not flying on CX/KA. I suspect they are trying to regulate entry into the lounges which would benefit those flying on CX/KA and folks like us who are loyal MPC members.

prob has to be the reverse.
One lounge for CX F and elites, the rest as designated OW lounges.

Hard to see how CX can sustain 2 x F / DM only lounges?

Can't they do that already? Don't the lounges theoretically have a capacity policy (i.e. non CX members can be refused entry if its overcrowded and the CX lounge is not the contracted lounge?) - it may not be enforced in HKG, but certainly done so at outports (e.g. SFO).

In fact the operating carrier may welcome it - eg for AA whose contracted lounge is QF, it may save them some money in not having to pay CX.

Taking a step back, it may be beneficial to all to implement a policy where one can only access the operating carrier's designated lounge. So the OW agreement is really a marketing channel. An AA elite flying AA metal may not have access to the CX lounge when flying AA, but should have that when flying CX (keep the revenue within the system).

On the other hand though, I am sure lounge access fees earn a higher profit margin than some Y fares - so the lounge operator may not want to give that up.

Don't you think this might be a little overstated? Let's take the obvious one...Qatar. OWEs cannot access top QR lounge in Doha unless flying F. Only F and some QR's own members. CCR is similar, F only and certain BA members.

Anyway, back on QR. People fly Qatar because it's cheap. I know they get praised with the best biz class this and that, and I fly Qatar sometimes too...but I think the honest reason is they are like this miraculous cheapo biz class airline which also has a superb biz class product. Anyway, the point is OWEs fly Qatar despite not getting the top lounge in Doha. And, even though guys like me (and I think you) are stuck in relatively expensive CX O&D destinations like Hong Kong, others aren't. For example, if you live in Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam or mainland China, CX has some dirt cheap biz class fares. Not dissimilar to QR's strategy. We can argue who is better or not, but my main point is airline passengers have proven time and time and time again price matters, and in that case CX's strategy for outports looks very similar to ME carriers like Qatar. Everyone argues their own corner on FT (me included!), but I'm just saying, I think there would be yelling and screaming on FT, but people who are paying $2-$3k USD for connecting biz class flights to the USA on CX (ex-MNL, PEK, PVG, SGN, TPE, etc.) will probably swallow their yelps and still pay. Being "forced" to visit Pier J instead of Pier F isn't the end of the world if you just spend <$2k USD on a biz ticket to JFK.

The difference, of course is Hong Kong has this massive traveling population and CX gouges us to death, while selling cheapo biz fares to other places nearby. But the point of my convoluted post is to say all you have to do is look at Qatar, and say "okay, OWEs ARE willing to fly other airlines, even if they don't get the top lounge, assuming the price is right / value proposition is there".

Interesting perspective. Agree that I only fly QR because it is cheap and it has a good onboard product- or else I wouldn't bother going to DOH. The difference is that CX does not offer QR pricing (at least not ex-HKG). So is this a segment of the population that they want to alienate - or they simply don't care.

Re lounge access - I understand for QR - not even their own elites can enter the Al Safwa - it is truly a F product lounge. Whilst BA is its own kettle of fish - they seem to be the rebels within OW - always coming up with customer unfriendly policies (remember the interline debacle, and their HBO baggage carve out for OW elites).

It will be interesting though to see what the OW agreement says regarding elite lounge access. It is obviously possible for OW members to un-designate / carve out certain lounges from the OW agreement - BUT I wonder whether there is a caveat that they cannot discriminate in favour also of their own OWE equivalent elites.

If I had to speculate - there is probably a rule to say that if you want to designate a non-OW lounge where other OWE cannot enter, a carrier's own base level OWE equivalent cannot enter too (with an exception that it is possible to designate / carve out a super tier within the existing OWE tier like a CCR card, but it obviously cannot be more than x% of the OWE tier to prevent abuse). If there was no rule - I am pretty sure more airlines would have gone rogue by now.

For me (AMS-HKG-BKK), it's $2K to, though CX is by far not the cheapest, on the contrary, more of the expensive ones. BA, QR, TK, EK, KL, AF are some USD 200-400 cheaper at 3+ months out. Then another bunch still a little cheaper, then you get CX, then you get BR and much higher the non-discounting options. So, there is definitely a plus to do CX, I am not that stupid .......

For J, most OW passengers will only be allowed to Pier J anyway, unless DM or OWE.

The thing with QR is that they are consistent between their own members and oneworld members. QR members AND Oneworld elite scannot enter their Al Mourjan and Al Safwa lounges if they are flying in economy .

However, what the CX Diamonds on this forum want is to be able to enter the F lounge when not flying F. Or maybe more specifically, to NOT allow non-CX members into the F lounge. This would be treating oneworld members differently to CX members which is different to what QR does. And also, as @ermen speculates, we don't know what the oneworld rules are around this.

I agree the devil is in the details of the OW rules, which I am not too familiar with.

But, I was simply pointing out I don't think customers will actually flock the other way if OWEs are blocked out of certain lounges, as was being implied (there WILL be lots of hollering on FT). That's all. My point was, QR is such an obvious parallel. CX is truly becoming similar to the Middle Eastern Airline of East Asia....very, very cheapo fares and using HKG as a killer transit point. And price price price price price is what matters most to many of these biz class travelers. The catch is CX has more "bifurcated" revenue sources: guys in Hong Kong, New York or London paying huge rack rate fares, plus the heaps of travelers ex-MNL, TPE, PEK, etc who are on "Middle East Airlines" style cheapo biz fares. That's where CX is different. But just as guy complain yet ultimately suck it up as OWE getting not the best lounge in Doha, I think customers would do the same on CX if they keep providing these 2k USD biz fares PEK-JFK I read about on here.

(I was under the impression that some QR members actually can use their F lounge, isn't this correct? Regardless, I'm certain some BA members can use the Concorde Room regardless if they're flying in lower classes.)

@QRC3288 regarding the BA access to the Concorde room: this is reserved for a level above emerald (Gold Guest List). So BA stock standard emeralds only get access to the “First Class” lounge. Which is the same access as AA emeralds, CX emeralds, QF emeralds etc

This would be consistent with a Oneworld rule that says you must treat Oneworld emeralds the same as your own equivalent emerald status. Whether this rule exists ....we don’t know.

Similarly, for QF domestic, they have a Domestic Businsss lounge that is open to QF emeralds and other Oneworld emeralds, and those with a business ticket. Those flying economy and not emerald go to the “Qantas Club” lounge. But QF treats Oneworld emeralds the same as their emeralds.

If you wanted a similar access policy at CX, you would be saying there would be a special lounge for Diamond Plus members. Normal diamond members would be treated the same as other Oneworld emeralds.

How some Plaza staff can be privy to a major strategic CX decision escapes me.
IMO, theer is no way CX can differentiate between OW elites of different airlines. That would not be consistent with OW observed policy worldwide. They could differentiate between class of travel and status, like BA (CCR lounge worldwide) or QR (premium lounge worldwide), but not between OWE and DM, or OWG and Gold. Of course, DM can dream all they wish, but they'd better reach DM+ if CX ever introduces a class lounge reserved for F pax. And remember that this lounge will also grant access to all F pax on other OW airlines.

To add my pinch of salt, I find that service has vastly improved at Wing F from Peninsula to Plaza Premium.
And the global brand of the lounge operator is irrelevant. Whether it is Peninsula, Plaza or Sodexo does not matter. What matters is how good the specific lounge management is and what is their budget.