Airport lounges have all kinds of different entry requirements. Some are open to first and business class passengers. Some are open to Priority Pass members. Some require travelers to purchase access.
But in China, there’s a program that will only give you access to one specific lounge if you hold at least $2.8 million in assets with the bank, so that doesn’t even include property or vehicles.
In this post:
The world’s most unusual airport lounge access requirement
The South China Morning Post reports on what’s perhaps the most stringent requirement we’ve seen for accessing an airport lounge through an airport lounge program. The International First Class and Business Class Lounge at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (TFU) is one of the primary lounges at the airport.
The lounge can be accessed with a first or business class ticket. While it’s not open to Priority Pass members, it can be accessed with China Merchant Bank’s Golden Sunflower program, which is a program in China that offers lounge access.
Golden Sunflower cards typically require an average monthly balance of at least 500,000 yuan ($70,000) to open, with airport lounge access being one of the primary benefits. However, a member was recently shocked to find that accessing the lounge in Chengdu requires at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) in assets for entry, 40x the standard requirement.
The program also requires members to redeem points, so it’s not just that you need that much in assets, but you also have to redeem nine rewards points from the program. As the user explained:
“I arrived at the airport early and searched online for available lounges. I noticed that Golden Sunflower clients could use them, and since I happen to be one, I called for clarification. But then I learned I needed to verify 20 million yuan in assets! Moreover, property and vehicles don’t count! Poverty really limits my imagination!”
“I’m baffled as to how they determined this 20 million yuan and 9 points threshold. Anyone with such wealth would likely just purchase a business-class ticket outright. Why would they bother redeeming points for lounge access?”
Of course let me acknowledge that this is only one of the ways to access this lounge, but this system does seem funny. If you were in first or business class, you’d get lounge access anyway.
I’m not saying everyone with at least $2.8 million in assets is flying first and business class, but I have to imagine that the number of people accessing this lounge through the program on an economy ticket is minimal. It seems like at that point, you might as well just remove this lounge from the program.
This is intended to “ensure quality service” in lounge
In response to this policy, the lounge operator explained the following:
“If you’ve bought a first or business class international ticket, you can access the lounge directly. If not, you can pay 600 yuan (US$85) for individual use. For China Merchants Bank cardholders, verifying assets over 20 million yuan is necessary. Lounge access is by reservation only, and cardholders must contact the issuing bank to verify eligibility and complete the booking process.”
A China Merchants Bank representative explained that this policy has been in place since June 2024, and justified it as follows:
“To access the international First Class Lounge at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, cardholders must redeem 9 points and verify that their average daily financial assets total at least 20 million yuan. This requirement is currently unique to Tianfu Airport due to high passenger traffic and lounge overcapacity, which led to an adjustment aimed at maintaining service quality.”
Bottom line
It’s interesting to learn about the different lounge access programs in various countries. China Merchant Bank’s Golden Sunflower program requires 500,000 yuan in assets for membership, with one of the primary perks being lounge access.
However, in the case of one lounge at Chengdu’s Tianfu Airport, the requirement is 40-fold, and you need 20 million yuan in assets. The irony is that this all assumes that you’re flying in economy, since first and business class passengers already get access to this lounge.
What do you make of this unusual lounge access entry requirement?
A) People who are worth a few million generally don't flaunt it around.
B) If you want to address the lounges overcrowding, just implement a no shorts/no flip flops policy and immediately get rid of 80% of the line. Put on some pants and shoes to fly. You're not 10 anymore. More like 6.
How is this flaunting? It's just a perk.
This is also nothing that new for Asia. Changi Airport has an Asia Treasures lounge that has the limit set at just over $1m USD and that has been the bar for years. Many of their customers are well over the limit.
CMB being CMB, lol. Above the Golden Flower tier, there’s a program called Private Banking, which requires a 10 million RMB relationship threshold—or 5 million if your manager wants to give you a taste—known as Private Diamond.
Prior to November 2023, you and one guest had unlimited domestic lounge access. After that, they “enhanced” the program with a ridiculous points system full of caps and restrictions. I even heard some Beijing lounges require you to...
CMB being CMB, lol. Above the Golden Flower tier, there’s a program called Private Banking, which requires a 10 million RMB relationship threshold—or 5 million if your manager wants to give you a taste—known as Private Diamond.
Prior to November 2023, you and one guest had unlimited domestic lounge access. After that, they “enhanced” the program with a ridiculous points system full of caps and restrictions. I even heard some Beijing lounges require you to have a Beijing-registered account. Seriously, what kind of person with such a large portfolio has the time to figure out the whole point accrual and redemption system?
Until mid-2024, they also issued a Priority Pass for unlimited overseas lounge access, renewable every three years. Now, that too has been dragged into the points system, along with a bunch of other former perks. Being part of their most exclusive program practically offers zero benefit—unless you have the time and energy to study the whole convoluted system. The only obvious perk is your phone app UI turning slightly more golden.
Golden Flower used to be exclusive twenty years ago, but it’s been watered down—just like their Platinum program before it. Even the so-called priority queues are often longer than the regular ones, unless you reserve in advance with your bank manager.
But still, CMB doesn’t have much real competition. They remain the most civilized and internationally-minded bank in China—at least on a large scale.
This article feels overly sensational. While Ben does mention first and business class passengers have access, the headline and intro feel misleading.
Anyway, I’ve been to this lounge. It was ok and comfortable but not amazing. It’s very spacious with multiple sections for dining/lounging/sleeping. It’s the only lounge option here so you don’t really have a choice.
Isn't China supposedly still a communist country?
Only politically. Economically, it's more capitalist than any Western country; everything costs money, and no welfare for nobody. It'd be a shock and disappointment for the socialists in the West to find that out.
It's not true to say there's no welfare for nobody, although the system is far from perfect, and some parts of it are threatening to break apart at the seams, with health insurance being a particular worry.
You can't call the Chinese economy "socialist" anymore, not by a long shot. They love their money as much as any American, and are just a savvy when it comes to making it. Of the first fifty...
It's not true to say there's no welfare for nobody, although the system is far from perfect, and some parts of it are threatening to break apart at the seams, with health insurance being a particular worry.
You can't call the Chinese economy "socialist" anymore, not by a long shot. They love their money as much as any American, and are just a savvy when it comes to making it. Of the first fifty people on Forbes' list of Real Time Billionaires, eight are either Chinese nationals or of Chinese origin. They're coming for you, and they're unstoppable.
This is Gary tabloid content.
$2.8M is peanuts.
Many banks already have $10M tier. Many of those comes with Priority Pass.
One could say every Priority Pass lounge requires $10M.
That being said, this TFU lounge is nothing special than your typical Chinese lounge. The only bad thing is the airport has monopoly and don't allow airlines to have their own lounges. Everyone uses this huge lounge. Therefore no airline VIP escort to the gates anymore.
I think people have a really weird perception of the ultra-wealthy. They're not just a singular group. Some of them don't always take biz or first, e.g. someone snapped a pic of the son of Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin taking a low cost carrier earlier this week. He was in an aisle seat while rocking a PP x Tiffany Nautilus 5711 lol
I'm still going to take calls on speakphone, put my feet up on the wall and load my plate up 2 feet tall from the buffet. I'm also going to drink all the cheap liquor as if it's going to run out.
You're talking about a lounge in China?
They call me Mr. Worldwide
Well, if anyone is interested in a review of this $2.8mm lounge, look no further ;) https://www.satayaway.blog/blog-sea-level-prelude/review-chengdu-tianfu-international-first-and-business-class-lounge-terminal-1
Not humble bragging, but my net worth is $5m+ and I still fly economy almost all the time, except when I'm redeeming points for long hauls.
May I ask why?
Quite often business class is ridiculously overpriced. KLM will happily charge you €800+ for four sectors on Embraers without a blocked seat or any cutlery onboard and with access to a rodent-infested lounge. There's no reason to accept that sort of price for that level of service just because you happen to have a large amount of money in the bank.
You can't afford a Bombardier with just $5M.
That's also very true.
Nothing to brag about. That just makes you a moron.
Isn't this what people complaining about lounge crowding have always wanted?
Restrictions to keep the poors out.
There's no shortage of affluent people who exclusively travel in Y because they're frugal, keen on obtaining value for money for every transaction they make, or even because they use that choice as a virtue signalling opportunity to show their employees, family members, and/or the world at large that they're prudent, humble, environmentally conscious or whatever. The virtue signalling thing (maybe apart from the environmentally conscious bit) is particularly true in developing countries where premium...
There's no shortage of affluent people who exclusively travel in Y because they're frugal, keen on obtaining value for money for every transaction they make, or even because they use that choice as a virtue signalling opportunity to show their employees, family members, and/or the world at large that they're prudent, humble, environmentally conscious or whatever. The virtue signalling thing (maybe apart from the environmentally conscious bit) is particularly true in developing countries where premium class travel is unaffordable to the vast majority of the population - China may be full of millionaires nowadays, but real poverty is still fresh in the minds of hundreds of millions of its residents.
So what you're saying is you also got embarrassingly rejected from this lounge for being poor?? Just get to the point, lady. We ain't got all day..
I haven't been to TFU unfortunately. Probably would get into it, despite being too poor, using my shiny airline card.
The point is inverse snobbery and virtue signalling are extremely common. Whether you need all day to process that information depends on things like your attention span and overall level of understanding of complexity and nuance...
For large city like chengdu and capital of west of China. I can see that this threshold is easily surpassed. Anyway, visit the new air china lounge in TFU for much better experience.
When did that open?
The lounge discussed here is on the international side not domestic.
Regardless, I would say this is on par with the domestic CA lounge.
Good way to keep the maximizer riff-raff out.