Hi, Ive read all the previous threads about the T1 and T3 lounges in Dubai and I know the rule but I was wondering how well this is enforced as far as other airports go?

Last week I flew HKG-DXB-MAN with the latter flight in Business and the former in Economy. I asked at check-in if I could use the lounge in Hong Kong (worth a try), she said no because in economy its "only open to gold and silver members", though I knew the silver part to be wrong it got me thinking. Since Ive taken that flight Ive just moved into silver and I wonder if next time they will make the same mistake? Or maybe it was just the check-in girl making the mistake and the lounge attendant would have known better?

Anyone have experience of this?

The Hong Kong lounge is not even available to Gold members any more (despite what the regulations say).

plus the lounge invites are now printed on the boarding pass, they dont give you an invite card anymore

This is only at some airports (ZRH, DXB for example) - at those airports having just contract lounges, it's still very much with the voucher DESPITE they're printing something like "We're inviting you to use the XXX lounge" on the BP, you actually do need the lounge invitation card for all but the dedicated EK lounges.

And I do agree, some of the remote airports personal simply have no clue about lounge access rule, got denied access to the lounge (as Gold) first, had to demand a superior at checkin to get my lounge invitation. It's especially bad as you still need to drop by the checkin even if you did online checkin without checkin luggage..

And at some airports with large numbers of Golds regularly flying (eg. Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Accra) you sometimes don't get access to the lounge as a Gold at all because "there are too many Golds flying today", no matter how much you escalate the issue.

I have had lounge invites printed on a e-boarding pass recently which should overcome this.

As YuropFlyer said few post above, even if they print the invitation pass on your ticket;, at some report airports unless you have the lounge voucher, you won't be allowed in, mainly at the airports that have lounge contracts

I haven't found this to be generally the case, and if you're just transiting one of these airports, eg CMB, how do you get an invitation?

It's for reasons like this that I also carry a Priority Pass and a Diners card.

Wouldn't happen with the Star Alliance (not for me at least).

It's a good question, as you indeed can transit in CMB. I just know that someone tried to enter the lounge without a voucher (overheard it while inside) and they didn't let them in, despite the person telling several times "I'm Emirates Gold, see the ticket bla bla"

Not sure if that person was in transit (I doubt so, as it was the CMB-DXB leg) but at CMB they indeed apparently don't know that Golds flying Y should be getting lounge access too (had to escalate to a supervisor to get a voucher)

Oh, and about "this couldn't happen with Star Alliance.. ", I would suggest to check out the thread in the TK forum.. TK closed their lounge in IST, now anyone not on a C ticket, whatever status they have (and may it be HON from M&M) are refused entrance to their temporary lounge. So much about guaranteed *G Lounge Access. Or try flying on a Silkair/SQ codeshare.. no lounge access for you, despite the boarding pass clearly having printed "Star Alliance" and "Gold" on it..