Star Alliance has just revised its lounge access policy for the customers of its member airlines and this seems to make a lot of people cringe. Rightly or wrongly?
What gives access to a lounge?
Before going any further, let’s recall a few obvious rules whose understanding will help in the following.
Who do airlines allow to enjoy a lounge before (or even after) a flight? Without going into too much detail, it depends on two main factors: the travel class of the customer and his status in the loyalty program of the airline or a member airline.
Typically I am platinum on Flying Blue, that gives me access for example to a Korean lounge between Seoul and Shanghai…even if I do it on China Eastern because the 3 airlines are members of the same alliance.
And when I fly business on an airline, regardless of my status, I am entitled to this access…as long as a lounge exists.
That said, some airlines like Lufthansa or Turkish Airlines offer different lounges depending on whether you are a business passenger or have a Star Alliance Gold status with a partner airline, but here it doesn’t matter.
Airline lounge or “countract lounge”?
In all major airports, the major airlines have their own lounge or send their customers to the lounge of a partner airline that has a larger presence there, or even the alliance provides a lounge for all its member airlines such as for example Skyteam in Istanbul.
But sometimes they don’t have this capacity, often in “second-tier” airports where it is not profitable for them or because they choose to offer their customers a lounge other than that of their partners. In this case they use a contract lounge. These are lounges owned by companies whose business it is to offer paid access to their lounges, regardless of travel class or status on a loyalty program. In these cases the airline pays for each customer it sends there.
Typically the excellent Business Lounge at Tallinn airport, used by all the airlines that serve the airport because given the size of the airport having its own lounge would be a nonsense, is a “contract lounge”. I had access to it in two ways: first because I was traveling on business on Lufthansa and second because of my status on the SAS Eurobonus program. This is important for the continuation.
When United cuts a hole in the marriage contract
The Star Alliance Contract Lounge terms and conditions were quite clear for Star Alliance Gold members.
Contract Lounges
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.
But all of a sudden, United decided not to apply this provision and decided that when using a “contract lounge” it would no longer allow, in certain airports, access to the members of partners having the right status but not travelling in business. If another Star Alliance airline has a lounge at the airports in question, then the passengers in question have a refuge, otherwise they are homeless.
How could the alliance tolerate such a failure by a member airline to meet its obligations? Well, by dropping its pants!
When Star Alliance bows to United
Did the alliance try to get United to fall in line? We’ll never know. On the other hand, it could not let the American airline be “outlawed” without losing its credibility and rather than getting angry with its biggest member (but not the best ….) it simply adapted its lounge access policies. You will notice the art of nuance.
Contract Lounges
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 may have access to these third party contract lounges. Please refer to the Lounge Finder to identify which lounges you may have access to, according to the policy of each airline*.
*Check the current policy of the airline with which you are travelling.
Going back to one of my previous examples. Today, if I do my Tallinn-Frankfurt flight in Business on Lufthansa, I will still have access to the lounge. If I am in eco, on the other hand, the German airline would have the right to deny me access even though I am Star Alliance Gold.
A storm in a glass of water?
You might as well say that the affair made a lot of noise, especially on the other side of the Atlantic, with United being reproached for its pettiness and Star Alliance for its lack of courage. In short, the perceived value of the alliance has just taken a big hit.
But is it the end of the world?
Without wanting to give English lessons there is a difference between “may” and “won’t”. This legalizes United’s position without (over)devaluing the value of the status.
The real question is whether others will follow suit? I don’t think so, except for the occasional use of it to regulate the overcrowding of certain lounges, which I was complaining about last week. And all the more so as “contract lounges” are often medium-sized or even small lounges, shared by several airlines, accessible to everyone for a fee, so they can indeed sometimes be crowded. And since the airline pays to use them, it can, like United, regulate the occupancy, lower its expenses and better satisfy those who have paid full price for their ticket, be they occasional passengers and to the detriment of loyal customers.
I don’t see Lufthansa, Swiss, or Singapore Airlines playing the same game, because what works against United is also its size, which makes it accumulate, in my opinion, many more “contract lounges” than its partners.
In short, the future will tell us if we have lost out overall, but if we can understand that an airline or an alliance wants to fight against overcrowding in certain customers which is detrimental to the customer experience, we can regret the weakness of Star Alliance on the subject. Would it have retreated in front of SAS or Aegean? I’m likely to bet it wouldn’t.
[Update] : Useful clarification brought by one of our readers.
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