There is no access for AAdvantage Emerald PAX (EXP) on solely "domestic/(most) North American" itineraries.

There is access for Emerald of ANY OTHER *O program before a flight marketed (flight number) by a *O carrier and operated (metal) by a *O carrier.

Yes, even as an EXP, you would have had access to the QF First Lounge when connecting from an International OW flight to another OW flight on the same day.. It's not so much an "Arrivals" access, but a "Connections" access ;).

As a data point, I accessed the F lounge on two consecutive days as a BA gold on a domestic AA itinerary. First time the lounge attendant asked for my BA gold card and let me in with no problem. On the second day, I was given the erroneous information that is in the wiki here, i.e. I need to be travelling on a l/h itinerary. I said those are the rules for access by class of service and not for access by status, and pointed out I'd been let in the day before. I was let in after that.

Anyone had luck accessing the business lounge as a Sapphire on a domestic itinerary recently? Tried to enter using my airberlin Gold card today, and was denied due to not being on an international itinerary (was flying AA LAX-SFO).

I had the Oneworld lounge access rules on hand to show I was eligible, but he said that the operating airline pays for lounge access, and American didn't want to pay for domestic flyers.

It does not matter whether AA want to pay for access or not.

Under the current access rules, the guy was wrong - you should have had access.

It is only AAdvantage elites who do not get status based access and that is only when on solely "North American (as defined)" itineraries.

Any non AAdvantage sapphire/emerald should get access before any oneworld marketed and operated flight.

So theoretically if I qualified for BA Gold (non-AA OW Emerald status), I could visit the Qantas First LAX lounge every time I flew from LAX on a domestic AA flight?

yes! (As long as it had a *O flight number).

For a non AAdvantage *O Emerald you simply need to be flying out of LAX on the same day on a *O operated and marketed flight.

Things seem to have improved since many of us were turned away last year but you may still have to argue with them. As mentioned above, the unwillingness of your operating carrier to pay the bill should not be your problem.

Thanks to you both for your responses. Sorry, I am a little unfamiliar with the One World terminology - do all AA-marketed and AA-operated domestic AA flights by definition have "*O" flight numbers because AA is a OW member? Or is there a subset of AA domestic flights that are considered to have "*O" numbers, and if so, where would one look to see if it had such a "*O" number?

All AA operated flights are considered OW flights, as are all other flights on OW operated carriers. There are some AA marketed, but not OW operated flights that do not qualify, but all AA marketed (and operated) US internal flights do..

There are a few codeshares to be wary of.

Typically, out of LAX there is the AS relationship. Neither AS*AA nor AA*AS qualify for lounge access at TBIT.

Ah, I see. Thanks very much to both of you.

I've entered as an AB gold last week flying domestically. I havent had a problem in a while, but maybe thats because I've complained many times and the staff probably recognize me by now.

Just be stern, point out the ow rules and escalate if they're wrongly denying access.

We got in as BA EMDs flying from LAX to HNL. The agent was a bit confused first as he thought that we were seeking access as AA F pax. We explained that we wanted to get in on the basis of our BA Gold cards and upon production of those cards we were invited in.

My wife and I will be traveling JFK-LAX-SYD and SYD-LAX-JFK, all on AA metal.

We are both EXP. We applied SWU but they are waitlisted, and we are currently in Y.

I wanted to confirm we should be eligible for Qantas First Lounge access both on the outgoing and inbound as long as we keep all of our boarding passes (assuming we are in economy for all legs)? Thank you in advance... normally I wouldn't ask but just given all the rejection that has happened at this lounge I feel I need to confirm.