David Lee

I'll be flying on UA from LAX-SFO-HND. Lands in SFO terminal 3 for 2.5 hrs before flying UA out of international terminal G. Is it possible for me to use the Air France lounge in terminal A thru my priority pass? Has anyone tried that before because the priority site says departing from concourse A only? How far is it to walk landside from G to A? Thanks.

MDtR-Chicago

Would you really want to? Depending on where you land, it could be a 20 min walk to the A side, 15 min thru security, then 15 min walk back and another 15 min thru security. In the best situation, that uses over an hour of your layover. You might have an hour in the lounge? If that?

docbert

Officially - no. The description for this lounge is that it is for departures form concourse A only.

However based on reports from others, yes, they will let you in with a boarding pass for another terminal. As the previous posted said you'll need to re-clear security twice (once into A, then once back into G), whereas can you can directly from Terminal 3 to terminal G without going through security at all.

This lounge isn't all that special - if you have Pre or at least priority then it might be worth the effort. Otherwise I'm not sure that I'd bother - especially given that your SFO-HND will start boarding ~45 minutes before departure.

keisari

Lots of nice places to grab a bite at Terminal 3 of G terminal.
You can cross from T3 to G without clearing security
AF lounge is nothing to write home about. They used to have (cheapo) French Champagne and some snacks.
Nothing more premium than avoiding security twice and chilling out.

T3 have an amex lounge and you can get it if you have an amex card + $50 per person. I think it is free if you have one of the expensive amex cards.
You could also buy on ebay a cheap UA club and use it in T3 or Terminal G. Not worth spending a lot of money either.

RichardInSF

Last time I was through SFO, I think a few weeks ago, there were signs outside the UA lounges saying they were suspending the sale of day passes due to overcrowding.

The Amex Centurion lounge (free for Platinum and Centurion) has real, edible, hot food. Drinks too.

dhuey

Welcome to FlyerTalk, David! I agree with others above that you'll probably get into the AF lounge if you try (act like you expect to get in -- don't call attention to your G-side departure), and that this lounge run would be a marginal benefit for you. There are lots of good food and drink options if you stay airside in Terminal 3/International-G. Then again, you would save some money if you make the trek to the AF lounge. Like others said, it's an ordinary airline lounge. Nothing special, but nice.

If you do this, be sure to walk to your right after you exit Terminal 3 security and go to the International Terminal. You'll end up on the G-side, and you'll walk across the whole check-in area of International to get to the A-side. You might need to explain to the boarding pass checker that you know your flight is in G; you're there for the AF lounge in A. I recommend leaving the lounge and making your way to G one hour before the flight time.

Safe travels!

docbert

This isn't fixed - it varies depending on how crowded they are. The new lounge (near gate 60) frequently has the sign out. The old domestic one occasionally does, and I don't think I've ever seen one at International.

RichardInSF

I saw it at international.

docbert

Although not relevant for this particular question (due to the timing of SFO-HND), but in the PP update today they added the following to the restrictions for the AF lounge :

Access may be restricted between 11:00 - 13:30 and 19:00 - 22:00 daily.