Jan 14, 2020, 11:19 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Affected airports, select "Partner Lounges"

Many of us have premium credit cards that include Priority Pass. Here is a list of airports which have PP lounges that are not the same as UA contract lounges. For many it's not clear based on the UA website whether the PP lounge is the same as the UA contract lounge.

CPT (but have another option)
CTU? (have other options, not clear if the same lounge)
DUB (other lounges, but not after us pre-clearance)
BOM (GVK Lounge East Wing for Polaris Business Class only, Loyalty Lounge for Priority Pass cardholders)
NAP (have other lounges, not clear if the same lounge)
KIX (have other lounges including the TG lounge)
PPT (have other lounges, not clear if the same lounge)
OPO (have other lounges, not clear if the same lounge)
UIO (have other lounges, not clear if the same lounge)
FCO (Have other lounges)
SNN (have other lounges)

not
KEF

United removing contract (non-*A partner) Lounge access for Golds unless in Polaris?

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Jan 15, 2020, 9:01 am

#46

TerryK

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Join Date: Sep 1999

Location: New York, NY, USA

Posts: 12,482

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreqFlyerCLE

Okay, thanks...so if I have a UC membership then I should still be able to access lounges as per *A policy?

Yes for lounges operated by *A airlines. There is no lounge operated by *A airlines in FCO, amongst other locations.

Jan 15, 2020, 9:10 am

#47

Intl359Widget

Join Date: Mar 2018

Location: EDI/GLA

Programs: DL 2 MM Unobtainum | UA 1.1MM Gold | MR Bonvoy Titanium

Posts: 2,272

Quote:

Originally Posted by mherdeg

Jeeze this is just so petty. Like the extra 2k mile surcharge on awards that they started charging "because we can".

So much for the perks of *G Lifetime Status with UA. :-:

lsquare likes this.

Jan 15, 2020, 9:13 am

#48

aacharya

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I had this last year in AMS twice - luckily I had PP.

8MiHi likes this.

Jan 15, 2020, 9:14 am

#49

LondonElite

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Location: Canada, USA, Europe

Programs: UA 1K

Posts: 31,452

What a yawnfest...

Jan 15, 2020, 9:15 am

#50

1353513636

Join Date: Jan 2014

Location: SFO

Programs: OZ Diamond/*G, IHG Diamond Amb, Hilton Gold

Posts: 2,239

Quote:

Originally Posted by fassy

Unfortunately, at least for European carriers some are going the same direction... e.g. SK shut down all contract lounge access like 18 months. I would assume LHG will follow pretty soon.

Not exactly. SK in 2017 and TP in 2019 cut 3rd party lounge access for most European airports for BOTH business class and *G. I recall seeing on the *A website that if contract lounge access was allowed for C pax, then *G would also have access, and the fact that SK/TP cut lounge access for both C and *G would suggest that was the case and that SK/TP decided the cost savings of not giving contract lounge access to *G was worth also leaving C pax without lounge access.

It seems that the *A website was recently changed and it now says this:

Quote:

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. In order to gain access to such lounges:

You will need to show your boarding pass for a flight operated by the Star Alliance member airline that has contracted that lounge.
If your boarding pass does not show the Star Alliance Gold indicator, you will need to also show a valid Star Alliance Gold card.
You can bring one guest, who must be travelling on the same Star Alliance flight as you.

which I still interpret to mean that *G still has access to contract lounges that C pax have access to but it does leave some leeway to interpretation. If it is now *A endorsed to give contract lounge to C pax and not *G, I imagine this will spread like wildfire; it can't be long before AC/LH will adopt this, although I imagine it won't spread to the Asian airlines.

There also seems to be a new restriction that same-day is defined as same calendar day or before 5AM the next morning, rather than next 24 hrs which was previously the policy, which will now stop passengers from dropping by the lounge for dinner prior to an overnight connection.

Jan 15, 2020, 9:33 am

#51

mduell

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Join Date: May 2007

Location: Houston

Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold

Posts: 12,693

I don't understand the phrasing of this thread headline.

Polaris gets lounge access regardless of Gold; no change to that policy. You don't need to be both Polaris and Gold to get lounge access.

Gold generally doesn't get non-*G lounge access. In the past there were more exceptions, now there are less.

Jan 15, 2020, 9:34 am

#52

SS255

Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K

Posts: 6,956

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1353513636

...I imagine this will spread like wildfire; it can't be long before AC/LH will adopt this, although I imagine it won't spread to the Asian airlines.

Not every airline is as obsessed with slashing costs and devaluing their program as United.

GUWonder and narvik like this.

Jan 15, 2020, 10:01 am

#53

Flying Machine

Join Date: Apr 2009

Location: LAX

Programs: UA Plat MM, CM Plat, Amex Plat, Hertz CP, Hyatt Globalist, SPG Gold, Vons Club

Posts: 6,852

Quote:

Originally Posted by LondonElite

What a yawnfest...

not if you travel regularly to the airports effected and are not traveling Polaris class

Jan 15, 2020, 10:03 am

#54

narvik

Join Date: May 2010

Location: AVP & PEK

Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM

Posts: 6,351

Happy I recently aquired PP (through AMEX).

Jan 15, 2020, 10:05 am

#55

LondonElite

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Join Date: Mar 2002

Location: Canada, USA, Europe

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Posts: 31,452

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flying Machine

not if you travel regularly to the airports effected and are not traveling Polaris class

If you are affected and feel this is a great loss, get PP or something similar. Most contract lounges are pretty much a waste of real estate, not unlike most UA Clubs.

Jan 15, 2020, 10:06 am

#56

paperwastage

Join Date: Jun 2012

Posts: 3,381

Quote:

Originally Posted by mduell

It was the norm

Someone want to go thru and see how the page changed? From what I can eyeball, large chunk of the list had the gold+1 icon

Now, it's only SIN left

https://web.archive.org/web/20190609...ations/bf.aspx

Last edited by paperwastage; Jan 15, 2020 at 10:16 am

Jan 15, 2020, 10:21 am

#57

HNLbasedFlyer

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: HNL

Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold

Posts: 6,447

I suppose I'll be in the minority, but definitely a change I like since I would never consider a long haul international flight in economy.

This makes the experience for business class flyers better with less crowded lounges. This seems like bad news for PP - as I see those lounges getting more crowded.

Jan 15, 2020, 10:51 am

#58

mechteach

Join Date: Jun 2006

Programs: Various

Posts: 6,526

Quote:

Originally Posted by aacharya

I had this last year in AMS twice - luckily I had PP.

Ditto. I didn't have PP at the time, though, which sucked. I'm glad I have it now for things like this.

Jan 15, 2020, 11:12 am

#59

docbert

Join Date: Jul 2007

Location: San Francisco/Sydney

Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC

Posts: 8,157

Quote:

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

TLV is maintaining partial *G access

This isn't partial as such - it's the exact same access it's always been for *G.

Previously both business and *G only had access to the lounges in B/C. They very recently added access for business to the E lounge, but *G remains in B/C.

ie, it's a change, but it's not a devaluation in this particular case for *G, but instead an improvement for Polaris passengers.