NightFly

Just came across a case of no lounge access for *G pax booked on UA Y (TATL) at the outstation (with contract lounge for C pax only). Is this a common occurence or just an exception? Not honoring a *G benefit would seriously deter me from using UA rather than other airlines, should I have a choice.

EWR764

Contract lounges are not necessarily *G lounges, which would provide access to UA*G pax in Y on international itineraries. For instance, at an airport like Shannon (SNN), UA has a contract lounge for J pax only, and does not provide access to Y pax of any status.

A bit frustrating but it's consistent with the Star Alliance lounge access policy. You probably won't get anywhere trying to fight this.

paperwastage

A) does lounge have star alliance logo outside

B) does star alliance website lounge finder list the lounge?
https://www.staralliance.com/en/lounge-finder

If no for both, then contract lounge for J passengers, no *A access

NightFly

,

Fully aware of that.


Umm, not so sure about this one. Quoting the official Star Alliance lounge access policy: "At airports where neither a Star Alliance branded lounge nor a Star Alliance member carrier offers a lounge, third party lounges are contracted by some of our member airlines. As a Star Alliance Gold customer travelling on a Star Alliance member airlines operated flight from such airports, you have access to these third party contract lounges, if the member airline you are travelling on has a contract with this lounge." There is no mention of any exclusion nor "limited" contracts for a certain travel class only.

Anyway, good to know about an eventual impossibility of lounge access from outstations. Will be taking that into consideration.

A) No.

B) Yes.

cfischer

if *A lists the lounge then UA ought to provide access.

jhayes_1780

How about we dispense with the covert stuff and name the airport and lounge you are attempting to access.

FWIW, Its not the OP's exact situation. But I (and a guest) was able to access the Alitalia Lounge at FCO when flying LH Y as a UA *G.

cranky1K

Had this problem in NAP. Denied access to contract lounge used by UA as was not in J.

aacharya

The caveat is clear, if there is a contract. Obviously, the website will not speak to the nuances, such as certain lounges having a set-off for "Singapore Airlines" customers only.

VWang1111

Same for the Icelandair Saga lounge in KEF

IADFlyer123

You are forgetting this KEY point -
" As a Star Alliance Gold customer travelling on a Star Alliance member airlines operated flight from such airports, you have access to these third party contract lounges, if the member airline you are traveling on has a contract with this lounge."

If UA does not have a contract for Y passengers, then you won't get access. I have received access to several contract lounges in outstations even when flying non-UA, *A airlines. It all depends on whether the airline has some deal with the lounger owner/operator.

Kacee

It's just silly not to name the lounge. Can't tell whether this was an error by lounge staff, or a non *G lounge.

MSPeconomist

DL has been doing this for its elite coach passengers at contract lounges, and has rewritten rules to highlight the change, although other SkyTeam airlines generally give access (including to DL elites) to coach passengers at contract lounges.

To me the annoying part of the rule is not having lounge access to the contract lounge at HND (where there are no PP lounges) even as a top tier elite traveling on a paid premium economy fare. I think the same issue might arise at LHR for premium economy passengers on DL or bilateral partner VS and SYD for premium economy on DL or VA. The issue doesn't arise at CDG, AMS, or ICN because those lounges are operated by alliance partners AF, KLM, and KE respectively.

milepig

And you failed to bold the most important part:

if the member airline you are travelling on has a contract with this lounge."

I add myself to the "why the mystery" group. Just name the station and then we'll have something concrete to go on.

threeoh

I think the poster was hoping for UC accesses based on their arrival in long-haul partner J, which is reasonable to assume (but not what the rule says).

Fredd

This is perhaps somewhat OT for a discussion of access to contract lounges, however since you raised it...

We're both "lifetime" UA *Golds. While flying BNE-YVR last year in AC Business First, we were initially denied entry to the SQ *G Lounge, and directed to the NZ Lounge. As I documented in this post in the AC forum, when we returned to the Silver Kris Lounge after researching the rules, the employee was much more polite, said she knew the policy, invited me twice to enter, and claimed AC had requested them not to let in AC passengers, but to "contain them" in the NZ lounge.

In this case, it appears it was the airline (AC) putting the lounge employee in an awkward situation. The NZ lounge was perfectly fine but I'm always alert to any sign of the loss of our "lifetime" privileges.