Another airline has just announced a price increase for lounge memberships.
In this post:
Alaska Lounge membership fees increasing
It has just been announced that the cost of Alaska Lounge memberships has increased as of August 30, 2019. This comes just days after Alaska opened their new flagship lounge in Seattle.
Alaska’s new lounge membership costs are as follows:
- Standard membership — $450
- Mileage Plan MVP membership — $400
- Mileage Plan MVP Gold membership — $350
- Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K membership — $300
Here’s their current pricing (through August 29, 2019):
- Standard membership — $450
- Mileage Plan MVP membership — $375
- Mileage Plan MVP Gold & MVP Gold 75K membership — $295
So, how are Alaska Lounge membership fees increasing?
- The standard membership cost is staying the same
- The cost for MVP members is increasing by $25
- The cost for MVP Gold members is increasing by $55
- The cost for MVP Gold 75K members is increasing by $5
While I assume most people buying memberships are elite members, it’s still interesting to see the standard membership cost not increase, but rather only to see the elite membership price increase.
Alaska Lounge Seattle
Alternatives for Alaska Lounge access
If you’re looking to access Alaska Lounges, there are a few other options available to you.
Fly paid first class
Alaska is the only US airline that lets paid first class passengers traveling on all routes into lounges. So as long as you’re redeeming miles or paying cash you get access, while those upgrading don’t.
Alaska first class
Citi AAdvantage Executive Card
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) has a $595 annual fee, and comes with an Admirals Club membership. Admirals Club members get access to most Alaska Lounges when flying Alaska or American same day.
Priority Pass membership
Priority Pass is the world’s largest network of independent lounges, and several premium credit cards come with a membership.
Alaska Lounges in Anchorage, Los Angeles, New York, and Portland belong to Priority Pass, though the ones in Seattle don’t.
This can be a great way to access Alaska Lounges, though note that there are sometimes capacity controls where Priority Pass members aren’t allowed in.
Alaska Lounge New York JFK
Bottom line
In the grand scheme of things the price increase for Alaska Lounges seems reasonable enough, as it’s a trend we’ve seen from other airlines.
Furthermore, unlike other airlines, Alaska lets members use their lounges even when flying other airlines. The major US carriers are all otherwise in the process of adding restrictions about that.
Personally, I don’t have an Alaska Lounge membership, but rather I access their lounges either through Priority Pass or through my Citi AAdvantage Executive Elite Card.
Gotta pay those entitled flight attendants and CEO.
Stick to Delta Sky Club. At least they have showers.
The little airline that thinks they invented First Class.
This was in an email that I received (I am a 75K and pay for lounge access for myself and my fiancé):
“As part of this update, we will be eliminating initiation fees and the spouse/domestic partner membership option and will have a single annual lounge membership fee of $450 per member. However, as an MVP® Gold 75K, you will get a $150 discount, so your annual price will be $300.”
So if I’m reading...
This was in an email that I received (I am a 75K and pay for lounge access for myself and my fiancé):
“As part of this update, we will be eliminating initiation fees and the spouse/domestic partner membership option and will have a single annual lounge membership fee of $450 per member. However, as an MVP® Gold 75K, you will get a $150 discount, so your annual price will be $300.”
So if I’m reading this correctly, there is no longer a spousal “add-on” to my membership at a much cheaper annual fee. So my fiancé and I will have to pay individual rates of $300 for myself (75K) and $350 for her (MVP Gold). The total bill for both increases from $525 to $650.
Not in favor of this move, and I’ll be looking at several options. I am an Alaska fan, but this is unfortunate.
Alaska are operationally wonderful for the most part, have good onboard catering and an excellent loyalty program, but they have major issues to fix:
* They're providing feed and connectivity for their international partners, but none of their lounges feature showers. This is a massive letdown.
* Codesharing arrangements are quite limited, which is important for those of us who would like the option to fly on non-AS flights internationally on an AS ticket...
Alaska are operationally wonderful for the most part, have good onboard catering and an excellent loyalty program, but they have major issues to fix:
* They're providing feed and connectivity for their international partners, but none of their lounges feature showers. This is a massive letdown.
* Codesharing arrangements are quite limited, which is important for those of us who would like the option to fly on non-AS flights internationally on an AS ticket as to move toward MVP Gold 75K more quickly. Even the AS codeshare agreement with QF is broken, as it only applies to Economy seats on QF metal, QF metal flights always accrue as partner operated (meaning the arrangement is useless for status building purposes) *and* QF-ticketed AS-operated flights can't be credited to MileagePlan at all (making it impossible to book a single ticket mixed itinerary that can be credited fully to MileagePlan in anything other than Economy).
Uh...what? So essentially what they’ve done is increased the prices for their most loyal customers, but not ‘normal’ passengers?
@Lucky, VFTW recently wrote about the AA-AS partnership changing per JonNYC, even though reciprocal lounge access isn't being eliminated (for now). If that's the case, then can you really count on Admirals Club members being able to access Alaska Lounges in the future?
@ Ben -- Wanted to add that this is useful for the time between Citi Executive cards. As an Alaska MVPG75k, I would rather buy the Alaska lounge membership than pay the Citi Executive renewal fee. So, Year 1 = Citi Executuve and 60,000+ sign-up bonus, then Years 2-4 = Alasaka Lounge membership. Year 5+ = Rinse and Repeat.
@ Ben -- Thanks!
They are not increasing prices, but decreasing discounts for elites.
It appears like the renewal discounts are going away across the board as well. Were you able to confirm this?
Lucky - I prefer Admirals Club membership to access Alaska lounges. Price is comparable and Admirals gives me access to Admirals at SFO.