Gold Lounge Access Update
 

I received my Skywards e-newsletter yesterday and thought this was interesting...
I just don't see how they think they are going to re-instate the benefit in DXB anytime soon. The main J lounge is already on its knees during the peak time - and I for one, am too old and way too cranky to queue up to go to the bathroom.

My view is that EK should at least make a compromise and re-instate the benefit outside of DXB - even on a lounge by lounge basis. As long as it was clearly explained and published, members would feel that EK are making progress.

Sadly, I know the seat capacity for most of the EK lounges here in Asia :). And I also know, from talking with the lounge staff here in the region that the extra load that guests of Golds put on the facilities was minimal.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts?

The first thing that popped into my mind when I first read that in the newsletter is why bring it up again now, what spurred this up. Has there been excessive customer complaints or was there a failed attempt to reinstate it?

I think re-instating the benefit in non DXB lounges is a step in the right direction but might cause confusion amongst travellers as to where they are and are not allowed.

I would rather a little confusion but the benefit re-instated as opposed to no benefit at all.

I think you could communicate the revised access policy by a promo panel displaying every time you logged into Skywards, or via the monthly newsletter (or even at the nominated lounges themselves).

Perhaps the reason for not doing it is more of an EK "command and control" thing rather than good business or customer service logic.

For me, guest access to lounges is a key benefit of an FFP. However, as much as it increases the value of *G to me, I have only guested someone on just over 4% of my own lounge visits this year.

I've never had Skywards status, although that will probably change soon. On the limited occasions when I've been in EK J, the outstation lounges could have coped with 4% more pax. DXB lounges have always been overflowing however.

EK are wise to try and reinstate the benefit... I think it's limited use is mainly by FFs when on holiday with their other halves, and that generates a lot of goodwill. If companions being guested were using this excessively, then they'd have their own status!

I was happy with the change; I found that it reduced the number of people in lounges which in some locations made a great improvement

With respect to EK lounges apart from DXB, is there a standard size with respect to seating capacity? 100? (assuming one 777 at the gate with 8F 42J and, say, 50 possible golds in Y)?

It's a good question. Most of the dedicated EK lounges I am familiar with run anywhere from 180-220 capacity...and in Asia Pac, it would be very rare to find a flight with 50 x Golds in Y (excluding India of course etc)

EK uses a contract lounge in YYZ which has at most 60 seats, but since it is a 380 destination, there could be over 100 F+J+Y Gold.

I think I shall ask what the capacity of the new SFO is when I pass through in March.

I agree with Ted. The only time I really look to use this benefit is the summer and winter when my wife and I travel home. Last summer we traveled J to LAX, so no worries. This Christmas we booked super last minute and as ung1 saw, Y prices where J prices and J prices are THROUGH THE ROOF :td:. So now I am stuck using my PriorityPass from Amex and will sit in the Marhaba Lounge in DXB and no Lounge Access at Terminal 4 in JFK.

When I saw this at the bottom of the newsletter yesterday I laughed and didn't even bother to click the "Read More" link. I think that EK had to say something to keep the natives from going bananas!

When I was in JFK last summer, the lounge was very light in my opinion, even with an A380 Fully Loaded in F/J/Y and a lot of Golds hanging around.

I don't think reinstating the benefit outside of DXB would cause confusion. This situation may solve it self when T3-Extension is opened, but maybe not considering how many A380's they will pack in that house...

Time will tell.

-Phil

I suspect it won't be reinstated until the new concourse opens. And then removed again 6 months later when that fills up :D

I wish that some day I'll be able to guest in someone flying on another EK flight. I know that they sometimes let you do that but it's not allowed as per rules. The T3 lounge will have to be double the size for this to happen though!

Xxxxx

I agree that reinstating lounge access for a guest outside of DXB will be a great benefit. I mostly travel with a junior colleague and it helps if both of us can spend some time together planning out our meetings. We now have to find a cafe to do that.

I do mainly JFK, BOM and occasionally SIN, SYD, and AKL and I have mostly found the lounges there to have adequate seating - in fact you can usually find a quiet corner for yourself to work.

It is at Dubai between 6:00 am to 8:00 am where you have to think twice whether you want to enter the lounge or not. I don't think restricting guests or even the Flex/ Saver changes have made any perceptible difference during this peak period.

However, when I am on my return leg on EK202 which reaches around 7:30 pm at Dubai, I usually find not more than 25 people in the entire lounge. I think it would help a lot if even at Dubai guest entry was restricted during peak times rather than completely disallowing it. Maybe it will be confusing to some but at least you can plan for it when you know you have a guest with you

I think this would be perfect. Passes would ensure that EK could effectively manage the load on the lounge network outside of DXB. They could even issue e-passes and you could redeem them just as you do with anything else.

Just once, I'd like EK to come up with all the reasons why they could do this, rather than all the reasons that they couldn't.

If I look back on the year with EK, the worst experience of all was a lounge related issue with a guest. Might seem petty to most people, but I was in Australia, the lounge had plenty of room, and we had both been op-upped to J. Reception staff were insistent that my companion wasn't allowed access (no lounge access on op-ups). I have flown SIN-MEL-SIN 24 separate times this year (around half of the flights in J), so it really got up my frock :confused: