Airline partnerships may be sophisticated, and when you’re a frequent flyer, perhaps you’ve questioned who precisely is paying when your ticket will get you lounge entry. Should you’re flying Lufthansa enterprise class and have Star Alliance Gold standing with United MileagePlus, who pays for lounge entry? What about when you’re flying in economic system?
Primarily Miles wrote an attention-grabbing publish about this lately. It occurred to me that it’s one thing that I’ve by no means coated earlier than, so I determine it’s a subject which will curiosity some…
Which get together is paying to your airport lounge entry?
Clearly there are various other ways to entry airport lounges these days. Perhaps you get entry by way of your first or enterprise class ticket, perhaps you get entry by way of your elite standing, or perhaps you get entry by way of Precedence Cross. In lots of circumstances the logistics may also get sophisticated, so let’s discuss that.
Every of the massive three airline alliances — oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance — have their very own airport lounge entry insurance policies. Nevertheless, which get together foots the invoice for lounge entry appears to be fairly constant between the alliances:
- The working provider (the airline you’re flying with) is on the hook for the price of lounge entry first, assuming the category of service you’re touring in entitles you to entry the lounge
- Should you’re gaining lounge entry based mostly in your elite standing slightly than based mostly on the category of service you’re touring in, then the airline with which you could have standing foots the invoice
Let’s use a “lounge hopping” instance, within the case of London Heathrow Terminal 3, which is nice for oneworld flyers. Say you could have oneworld Emerald standing by way of American AAdvantage, and are touring British Airways enterprise class:
- British Airways would foot the invoice for any lounges you might entry based mostly on your online business class ticket, just like the American Admirals Membership, British Airways Galleries Membership Lounge, Cathay Pacific Enterprise Lounge, and Qantas Membership
- American would foot the invoice for any lounges you might solely entry based mostly in your oneworld Emerald standing, just like the American Worldwide First Lounge, British Airways Galleries First Lounge, and Cathay Pacific First Lounge
In case your ticket had been as an alternative in economic system, American can be on the hook for paying for all of your lounge entry.
For packages like Precedence Cross, the person lounges are paid by this system for every go to {that a} member makes. Then Precedence Cross both sells memberships on to customers or to bank card corporations at a set price, and primarily takes a danger on how a lot individuals will use lounges.
In fact Precedence Cross loses cash on some prospects, however a overwhelming majority of consumers are probably very worthwhile (it’s no totally different than the economics of nearly every other subscription service).
How a lot is being paid to your airport lounge entry?
So, once you entry a lounge, how a lot cash is definitely being paid so that you can use it? The reply could be very a lot “it relies upon,” as there’s not a single quantity that’s constant.
Based mostly on what I’ve heard (and these are ballpark figures), you may usually anticipate that entry to a enterprise class lounge belonging to a significant alliance might be billed at someplace round $50 per individual, and a contract or Precedence Cross lounge might be billed at someplace round $30 per individual. In the meantime for top notch lounges, the reimbursement fee might even be a bit larger than that.
As you would possibly anticipate, when you go lounge hopping round a terminal, an airline might simply be dropping a few hundred bucks in your visits. Nevertheless, it’s essential to do not forget that that is largely an accounting train.
Whereas there’s some imbalance, lounge entry clearly goes each methods. Simply as you may need American passengers visiting British Airways lounges in London, you’ll have British Airways passengers visiting American lounges in Miami.
You’ll additionally discover that in some conditions, airways might attempt to ship you to a contract lounge over a companion airline lounge. In these conditions, you’re usually nonetheless allowed to make use of the companion airline lounge, however the purpose for that is usually to attenuate prices (typically capability can also be a consideration). That’s as a result of contract lounges usually cost much less for entry than alliance lounges.
Backside line
As a frequent flyer, it’s at all times enjoyable to do some “lounge hopping,” and take a look at the totally different lounges in terminals. Lounge entry is often paid first by the category of service you’re touring in, and second by your elite standing, if that’s larger.
Whereas lounge entry may be fairly expensive for airways, finally not a lot money essentially modifications arms, since these preparations go each methods.
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