testycal

I cannot find the lounge thread in t he forum..sorry. Who has access to the TA lounge flying Delta? I dropped by on my way to the gate and was told on business class do with an invitation. Was I informed correctly? I have GM status. With BA and Silver status, I have access to the Dan lounge in TA. Is Delta treated differently?

xliioper

You were informed correctly. Delta ended third-party contract lounge access for DL statusholders (Gold Medallion+) a number of years ago. Only Delta Sky Clubs and Skyteam member operated lounges may be accessed by statusholders on international Skyteam flights (Caribbean flights excluded). The benefit is for departure only (unless connecting onto another same day Skyteam operated flight).

MSPeconomist

I'm confused. Were you flying in business class or trying to enter the lounge as a GM+ elite flying in coach? I interpreted your post as saying that the lounge dragon told you that you should have been given a lounge invitation when you checked in.

DiverDave

According to delta.com, this lounge is only available to a passenger in Delta One, or a SkyTeam premium cabin.

testycal

Sorry for confusion.....travelling Economy Comfort + with GM status. I thought Delta would operate the same way that BA does...ie no dedicated lounge but I have access to Dan as BA Silver. It appears that each airline deals with entry differently in regards to status ie some allow based on status and some only based on class of ticket purchased. Thank for clarifying.

Zorak

Sometimes more than just those two factors, it may also depend who owns/operates the lounge and which airline is operating the flight you're on, and as you've discovered the hard way, it would be hasty to assume that airline A and airline B necessarily do things the same way :-/

For future reference, here's DL's access page:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/delta-sky-club/access

which primarily talks about Sky Club access, but in the section for "SkyTeam Elite Plus (including Delta Diamond, Platinum, or Gold Medallion Members)" you can see that although normally such status gets you lounge access on international itineraries, "SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits do not include access to third-party business lounges. For more details on third-party lounge access, click here."

with a link to https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...yteam-benefits

which has a further chart.

kthomas

The SkyTeam Lounge Finder seems to say that STE+ still have access at Ben Gurion. (Haven't tried lately).

https://www.skyteam.com/en/lounges/l...W5cIa6Dim8eh4L)

VFR

Delta and United changed their lounge access policy a few years ago:

If the lounge is operated by a SkyTeam airline (e.g. the Air France lounge in FRA) then business class and elites have access.
If the lounge is operated by a third party (e.g. the Dan lounge in TLV), then only business class has access.

Luckily, no other airlines have followed their lead yet (it kind of makes sense since lounge access is one of the main benefits of status for the European and Asian airlines). AA, to their credit, still allows elites into third party lounges.

It does lead to some odd situations: if you are flying TLV-(DL)-JFK as a STE+ you will not have lounge access in TLV, but if you are flying TLV-(KL)-AMS-(DL)-JFK you will have lounge access in both TLV and AMS.

Zorak

Note that the SkyTeam page says: "Regardless of their travel class, SkyTeam Elite Plus members1 traveling on, or connecting to/from, a same-day international flight2 operated by a SkyTeam member airline have access to a lounge."

Footnote 1 reads: "Delta SkyTeam Elite Plus members flying on a Delta operated flight may only access SkyTeam member airline owned lounges and SkyTeam branded lounges. Third party lounges are excluded."

master FT thread for this: delta cutting access to many of the international lounges

MSPeconomist

It's not surprising that DL and BA would have different lounge access privileges for elites. For USA carriers, a big portion of the elite benefits are upgrades, while for foreign FF programs, a major part of elite benefits take the form of lounge access. It's basically a different philosophy, including the fact that USA carriers sell lounge memberships to the general public, while most foreign carriers don't do this.

TheHorta

I believe Priority Pass has access to Dan/TLV. If you have the CSR card (or another card that includes PP as a benefit), you have PP access.

kthomas

Any operational knowledge? Do I really need to check a lounge's Articles of Incorporation to try to determine who the owner is?

The Lounge comes up when entering STE+ and no other options AFAICT. Many "third party" lounges don't. In fact, AFAICR Krakow doesn't come up but we were allowed into a third-party lounge in Krakow last month ... so it goes.

There appears to be neither consistency nor clarity from the tool. Insomuch as my synagogue may have a partner admission agreement with the DAN Lounge as well, I'll have no idea who they'll let in today.

Well, tomorrow.

flyerCO

It only matters when flying DL. Since DL doesn't fly to Krakow, you were correctly admitted.

It's not hard, is the lounge operated by a ST airline or is it a joint "Skyteam" lounge? If no then it's third party and when flying DL, only D1 gets you in those.

Zorak

In addition, there's also a list of 3rd party lounges at https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...yteam-benefits

(scroll down to "International Lounge Access")