SAS Adds Third Party Lounge Access At 35 European Airports

All those destinations are where AF and KL operate. The main problem with third party lounges is they get crowded and have no branding , unlike an actual airline lounge . I was in one recently and it was like a hospital canteen, although the staff were very pleasant and one even apologised to me. Not her fault. I believe some of them have a zone for AFKL ultimate members of they are large enough. Third party lounge staff also get rules and regulations confused as they are dealing with so many airlines and policies. A friend was turned away from a lounge once even though he has status. He didn’t have energy to argue with the lounge dragon.

The irony is that in low season a lot of those airports are very quiet and you can turn up 50 minutes before departure and still have time to buy a coffee in a takeaway cup, no need for visiting the lounge. In high season, the airport is crowded, so you go early and then visit the lounge in order to avoid the mayhem in the terminal only to find that you're denied access because it's full or struggle to find anywhere to sit!

Small correction: While SAS only offered its own and alliance lounges back in *A days, when they switched to SkyTeam, they added a few contract lounges at airports where they previously offered *A lounge but there's no ST lounge. One example is WAW.

These 35 new contract lounges are on top of that.

Disappointed DUB isn’t there (even if the lounge they would use is closed for renovations for a few months).

THANK GOD I won't have to read the typical "uH i FlEw SaS pLuS fRoM aLiCaNtE aNd I dIdN't HaVe LoUnGe AcCeSs, WhY nOt????" posts on SAS Facebook groups anymore.

One of the downsides contained in the announcement was the removal of the SAS Gold sections in OSL, ARN and CPH. An enhancement which will likely lower the standard of the SAS lounge for those who did have access to the SAS Gold section.

If SAS has a contract lounge in City X, and a Delta Elite member flying KLM accesses the lounge, who pays for that lounge access? SAS, Delta or KLM?

You'll only get access if the carrier operating your flight has a contract. It's probably a theoretical question though I don't think there will be any airports where SK has got one and KL hasn't.

I'm pretty certain the operating carrier will be covering the cost of your lounge visit- and you will need Elite Plus status for it.

Let's just hope they're nothing like the SAS "lounge" at ORD. Yuck.

Note that the list on the website doesn't mention 35 airports, it's 24 if I counted correctly. Presumably the lounges listed are just the ones they're prioritising for October- it wouldn't make a lot of sense to offer a lounge at NCE but not LYS or MAN but not BHX.

I have heard they're planning on making a dedicated SAS Diamond area at the new flagship lounges at ARN and CPH. As diamond is literally the new gold status, I guess it makes sense to consolidate the gold and business sections and 'up' the current gold section to a diamond one.

Otherwise I agree, not fan of the opening of the barriers between gold lounge and business lounge. Now all the plebeians can joins us golds.

The ORD lounge is pretty representative of SAS's own lounges (except the lack of toilets), plenty of chairs placed closely together to make room for the thousands of SAS Golds who fly once a year.

It wouldn't surprise me if some of these contract lounges are better than the SAS Lounges, such as the ERSTE Premier lounge in PRG if that's the one they decide on.

@E39 I thought you were avoiding Skyteam!

They should use the SkyClub now along with AFKL passengers.

I would, of course, but sadly I’m a victim of geographical isolation and lack of airlines flying to my home airport. Fortunately LH flies here so I’m saved

Unless you're into hard liquor, there's no difference between gold and "general" sections of SAS Lounge, and even then I assume some sort of spirits will be offered in the new merged lounges. As a STE+, I couldn't care less. I often went to the general lounge anyway because it was less busy.

Not sure about SkyTeam but in *A your program pays (which makes sense since they're the ones who decided to grant you status - otherwise LHG would be paying for all those "cheap" A3 *Gs).

As @Throwawayname said, you can only access lounges contracted by your operating carrier. The lounge bills that carrier and it will in turn bill your FFP. The inter-airline charges are fixed, so they do not necessarily equal to what airline paid to the lounge.

Totally agree with Samo. The "oh look at me I'm so special I'M A GOLD MEMBER" attitude of some of the crowd, especially at my home airport was nauseating, as if being a Gold member with EB is anything special these days. Most of the time I choose to take my chances with E39s plebs instead.

As for the booze, if you care about that in an airport lounge, it'll be avaliable in the combined lounges as well.

SK lounge at CPH is way above the ERSTE dump at PRG.

i wouldn't call that a 'lounge' (with the red seats and white tables). looks more like the food court at a mall.