Corpt

Does anyone know what has happened to the Cycad Premium Lounge and (in LHR) the SA First Class Lounge since the demise of F (on the 747s)?

Are they now open to J passengers, *G's, etc?

Any feedback appreciated in advance of a J trip next week.^

thijsseh

I have been wondering the same thing.
My guess would be that they are now used for Plats only.
But with CPT/FRA and LHR/CPT in C next week, I can only hope . I'll see what can be done in CPT (at 5am!) or at LHR (the lounge there looked very worn in July, so an 'upgrade' to the FC lounge would be nice . )
Unfortunately I am not *G

Corpt

I'm flying LHR/JNB in C with the family next week. May see you in the lounge...

cmcbugg

I'd be interested to know to, so do let us know what you both discover.

Corpt

I actually have F booking confirmations for both the outbound and return flights, as they were originally booked in F before being down-graded following the SAA equipment change. It will be interesting to see if this makes access to the F lounges any easier.

FS_FRA

I passed by the Cycad (First) lounge recently in JNB and it was restricted to SAA First Passengers (???), SAA Voyager Platinum and Lufthansa HON Circle members. No access to *G.

Cheers....

capetonian

You can still purchase "SA F" on the EK, QF and TG codeshare flights (not sure about their codeshares on LH and LX.

BTW: The Cycad lounge is also used for * Alliance F.

TravelinWilly

Really? When did this start?

capetonian

LH F always (meaning after SA joined *) had access as had TG F, the only exception is LX which uses the Virgin CH. SQ doesn't fly F to SA.

SAWorldVoyager

I have had some words with SAA on this in the past, the first class lounge is fantastic but access is now restricted to Plats and persons booked F on a codeshare with another airline.

My argument is this, I qualify three times for the business class lounge each time I travel, yet only one of me can use the lounge at a time: I always fly business, I am a gold member and I have a SAA premium credit card.

Secondly since I joined voyager in 1996, SAA is welcome to check my Voyager statement to see that every flight I ever made on a 747 was in fact in First class, about 28 sectors in 11yrs. I never once flew business or economy. In that time I spent a fortune, had I spent the same amount on Economy tickets I would definately be a lifetime plat. However one ticket last year to IAD about a week before they pulled the 747 from the route cost over 110k return. Therefore the only reason I am now flying business is because SAA has forced me to, and I feel I should qualify for First class lounge access. I would even be willing to use 10 000 miles for a lounge upgrade (should be resticted to passengers travelling J)?

any thoughts??

Corpt

I can understand them using the JNB and CPT F lounges for F code shares and/or top level SAA frequent flyers (at whatever cut-off level they choose). What though about the overseas lounges (eg LHR) where there aren't any SAA code share F flights?

It will be interesting to see how they react at LHR to our F booking confirmation printouts on a flight which subsequently has no F.