Best miles program for lounge access?
 

Hi,

I've got premier status on a couple airlines and am trying to decide which program to purchase lounge access through as my Northwest WorldClub membership expires. I'm thinking of United's Red Carpet Club, since it gives you access to some Star Alliance lounges.

I travel frequently from North America to Asia, but work for a nonprofit so have to fly coach. I'm looking to join a club with the least-restrictive access to decent lounges to while away the layovers in. (For instance, I want to avoid clubs that restrict your access to their lounge if you don't have a same-day boarding pass on one of their flights.) Thanks for any insights!

Lounge programs are still seen by airlines as a way to drive loyalty; all the airline lounge programs I'm aware of require a same-day flight with the same alliance. There are some non-airline options out there though: discover card (limited selection of lounges) and priority pass (a tad expensive) come to mind.

No flight required
 

The nice thing about the SkyTeam clubs is that generally you do not need to be flying the alliance carrier - and in many cases not even have to be flying at all (if the lounges are outside of security - such as both DL and CO at SFO).

I would just pick the lounge of the airline that you fly the most.

what, if any, US airlines actually have good lounges? (free wireless, actual food, etc) is there a stickied thread on that somewhere?

not sure where your based or how many BIS you usually do. But consider FB (AF/KL) as you need 70k for plat if based in the US and then your entitled to all skyteam partner clubs regardless of destination. Of course AA EXP also is very good in their lounge accessability. For us AAirpass holders this works like magic. I currently am going top retain AA EXP and DL PM and most likely drop to NW Se (soft landing). One thing that sucks about DL PM is that there is no complimentary lounge access. (discount membership for Elites). Trying to get to MMiler on DL and move on to something else. FB gives you LT plat after 10yrs of Plat so ill probably move there.

this pretty vague question but I guess it really depends on which airports you fly. Seems like there is no fast rule of thumb on the US carriers. i.e in AA BOS its free when u ask @ the ACs desk for a Tmobile hotspot but other lounges IVe had to pay (not sure though if it was my misunderstanding). They always have wired puters avail though as in prorbably most other airlines lounges. CRC is actually pretty nice as Im relatively new to them, so far ime I like them over AC big time in overall quality.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

If you're looking mainly for lounges in Asia, getting a Diners Club (NOT Discover) card may be your best option. However, Diners Club offers very few lounges in the U.S. Go to the Diners Club website to check out the available lounges around the world.

FB membership may allow US domestic lounge access but they no longer offer free US NWA upgrades (at great perk at one time).

i guess my question is which domestic airline has the most lounges with free internet and perhaps food.

AC: please tell us how the discover card works for lounges.

Oops, I'm getting it confused with Diner's club. Here's the lowdown:

http://www.dinersclub.com/en/DCIHome/airport.jhtml