Who Can Access Alaska Airlines Lounges? A Complete Guide

In this post, I’d like to take a look at how to access Alaska Lounges. While Alaska isn’t one of the “big three” US airlines, it nonetheless has a pretty robust lounge network, and also belongs to the oneworld airline alliance.

There are many ways to access Alaska Lounges, ranging from buying a membership, to booking an eligible first or business class ticket, to having eligible elite status. Alaska is also unique among US airlines when it comes to its lounge access policies, as it’s the only major US airline to allow many domestic paid first class passengers into lounges.

What are Alaska Lounge amenities like?

Among “standard” airline lounges in the United States (in other words, excluding American Flagship Lounges, Delta One Lounges, and United Polaris Lounges), I rank Alaska Lounges as being among the best. Don’t get too excited, as it’s not like you’re going to find a la carte dining, or even shower suites.

However, there are some things Alaska does a great job with on its lounge network. For example, Alaska has barista coffee in all of their lounges, which can be enjoyed either in the lounge or in a to-go cup, so it’s the best coffee you’ll find in any US airline lounge. On top of that, I find Alaska Lounges have a great selection of wine, beer, and cocktails, and they’re consistently regional, which adds a bit of personality to the experience.

Of course Alaska Lounges also have a food selection, though it tends to be more on the basic side, with mostly cold options (though there are also some hot options). I also love the design of Alaska Lounges, at least for those that have been updated in recent times. Lounge staff are also typically super friendly.

Where are Alaska Lounge locations?

While American, Delta, and United, all have dozens of lounges, Alaska Airlines has a comparatively small network of lounges. Alaska Airlines has a total of seven lounges at five airports. There are Alaska Lounges in:

• Anchorage (ANC), Concourse C
• Los Angeles (LAX), Terminal 6
• Portland (PDX), South Hall
• San Francisco (SFO), Terminal 1
• Seattle (SEA), Concourse C, Concourse D, and the North Satellite

Alaska Airlines is continuing to expand its lounge network in a multi-year project, including opening new lounges in Honolulu (HNL) and San Diego (SAN), and more.

As you can see, all of the above airports have a single Alaska Lounge, with the exception of Seattle, which has three Alaska Lounges.

How do you get Alaska Lounge access?

There are so many different ways to access Alaska Lounges, though there’s some fine print associated with some of the lounge entry options. Below I want to look at all the ways you can access Alaska Lounges, from select first or business class tickets, to a membership, to a day pass, to oneworld elite status, to a Priority Pass membership.

Buy a first or business class ticket in select markets

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are the only US airlines to offer many paid domestic first class passengers lounge access, though there are some restrictions. Lounge access is only offered to those on itineraries that have segments of 2,000+ miles (this includes long haul flights, many transcon flights, flights to Hawaii, and some flights to Mexico and Central America).

If you have at least one segment of that length in first class or business class, you’ll get lounge access throughout your same day journey, even at connecting airports. Note that paid first class passengers on other routes can purchase a discounted Alaska Lounge day pass for $35.

Alaska’s complimentary lounge access policy for domestic first class flights applies to passengers who pay with cash or points (in fare classes C, D, E, J, and I), though it excludes passengers who have upgraded (whether the upgrade is with points, purchased, or complimentary based on elite status). Your flight must be operated by Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines, so a codeshare flight on American Airlines wouldn’t qualify.

One other quirk worth being aware of is that residents of Alaska who are part of the carrier’s free Club 49 program get lounge access through this perk regardless of the length of their flight, as long as travel touches the state of Alaska.

When visiting based on your first or business class ticket, you can’t bring any guests with you for free.

Buy an Alaska Lounge membership

Alaska Airlines has two different lounge membership plans, at different price points and with different lounge access inclusions:

• An Alaska Lounge membership gets you access to just Alaska Lounges and The Plumeria Lounge Honolulu, and costs $595
• An Alaska Lounge+ membership gets you access to Alaska Lounges, The Plumeria Lounge Honolulu, American Admirals Clubs (when flying Alaska or American), select Qantas Clubs (when flying Qantas), and select United Clubs (when flying Alaska), and costs $795
• Those with the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (learn more) or Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (learn more) can receive a $100 discount on an Alaska Lounge+ membership if paying with the card

Regardless of which membership option you choose:

• You can access Alaska Lounges only when traveling on Alaska, Hawaiian, or a partner airline, which could include a oneworld partner or non-oneworld partner
• Alaska Lounge members can bring two guests or immediate family members (partners and children under 21) with them into Alaska Lounges

Buy an Admirals Club membership (with miles or cash)

Alaska and American have a reciprocal lounge access agreement, so alternatively you could purchase an American Airlines Admirals Club membership. This allows you to access Alaska Lounges when flying either Alaska, American, or Hawaiian, same day.

Below is the cash cost to buy an Admirals Club membership.

Then below is the cost to purchase an Admirals Club membership using AAdvantage miles.

With an Admirals Club membership you can bring two guests or immediate family members (partners and children under 21) with you. As you can see, this typically won’t be a very good deal. That’s because the full membership with guesting privileges costs significantly more than an Alaska Lounge membership. Fortunately there’s a more efficient way to get an Admirals Club membership, as I’ll cover below.

Get the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card

This is along similar lines to the above point about getting an Admirals Club membership, but is worth pointing out separately. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard® (learn more) is the best credit card for getting access to American Admirals Clubs and Alaska Lounges.

The card has a $695 annual fee, and offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember, allowing them to access Alaska Lounges. While authorized users also qualify for lounge access, that’s limited to American Admirals Clubs. Getting this card is a much better deal than outright buying an Admirals Club membership, given that the annual fee is a fraction of the typical membership fee.

Use Atmos Rewards Summit Card lounge passes

The Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (learn more) has a $395 annual fee, and is the most premium product in the Atmos Rewards credit card lineup, given the strong perks that it offers.

As one of the card perks, you receive two Alaska Lounge passes quarterly, each of which can be used to access Alaska Lounge locations throughout a travel day, when flying with American, Hawaiian, or any partner airline. Each pass entitles the cardmember and two children up to 21 years old to access lounges.

If you fly with Alaska once in a while, this is a great way to get access to lounges, given the card’s other super strong perks, like the ability to earn Global Companion Awards, 3x points on foreign purchases, free points transfers between accounts, and more.

Buy an Alaska Lounge day pass for $65

You can buy an Alaska Lounge day pass for $65 per person. The passes are only valid for the lounges at which they’re purchased, so you can’t visit multiple lounges the same day with them.

As mentioned above, also note that first class passengers (with cash or points) can buy discounted $35 day passes for any Alaska Lounges.

Select access through Atmos Rewards milestone perks

In addition to outright being able to buy an Alaska Lounge membership or day pass, Atmos Rewards elite members get access to the milestone perks program, and that provides the opportunity to select either an Alaska Lounge membership or day passes for passing certain thresholds:

• When passing 55,000 status points in a year, members can choose one Alaska Lounge day pass as a perk, and when passing 95,000 status points in a year, members can choose two Alaska Lounge day passes as a perk
• When passing 125,000 status points in a year, members can select an Alaska Lounge+ membership as a perk

While this is an option, I should mention that I don’t generally consider this to be the most “efficient” redemption. For example, when looking at the Alaska Lounge+ membership, the opportunity cost is 50,000 Atmos Rewards points, which I consider to be worth $750, based on my valuation of 1.5 cents per point.

So I’d select the points over the lounge membership, especially when having a co-branded credit card would allow you to buy a membership for $695. However, some may prefer selecting a complimentary Alaska Lounge+ membership instead, especially if they have plenty of points and don’t want to shell out the cash.

Have oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status

With Alaska Airlines being in the oneworld alliance, there’s a whole additional way to access Alaska Lounges based on oneworld status:

• Those with oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status in any program other than Alaska Atmos Rewards or American AAdvantage can access Alaska Lounges when flying any oneworld flight the same day, even if it’s domestic
• Those with oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status in the Alaska Atmos Rewards or American AAdvantage program can access Alaska Lounges when flying any oneworld flight the same day that includes travel outside of North America

In other words, a oneworld Emerald member through British Airways Club could access Alaska Lounges when flying exclusively within the United States, while a oneworld Emerald member through Alaska Atmos Rewards couldn’t. Eligible oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members can bring one guest into Alaska Lounges.

One quirk worth understanding is that Alaska Lounge access based on oneworld status is typically only granted if you have that eligible frequent flyer number on your reservation. Unlike other oneworld airlines, Alaska doesn’t typically let you give a different frequent flyer number for lounge access than what you otherwise have on your ticket.

Fly oneworld long haul first or business class

It’s not only oneworld elite status that will get you into Alaska Lounges, but also a oneworld long haul first or business class ticket. If you’re traveling same day on a oneworld premium cabin ticket then you can access Alaska Lounges, either at your gateway airport, or at a connecting airport.

In other words, if you’re flying Qatar Airways business class from Seattle to Doha, or British Airways business class from New York to London, you could use Alaska Lounges.

Have (non-oneworld) partner elite status

Select partner elite members can access Alaska Lounges when flying with Alaska or Hawaiian same day. However, this comes with some catches, and is pretty niche outside of oneworld. For example:

• Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Platinum & Gold members can access Alaska Lounges when flying Alaska same day
• Icelandair Saga Club Gold members can access Alaska Lounges when flying Alaska same day

Be an active duty military member

Active duty US military personnel traveling on orders can receive a complimentary Alaska Lounge day pass. You must be able to verify your active status, provide orders, and be ticketed to fly on an Alaska or Hawaiian flight within three hours.

Have a Priority Pass membership and pay a fee (SFO only)

Can you access Alaska Lounges with Priority Pass? Well, the Alaska Lounge San Francisco (SFO) is the only one that has a partnership with Priority Pass nowadays, and there’s a quirk to it. Priority Pass members (whether you pay for a membership outright or have a credit card) can visit the lounge, though have to pay an additional fee of $15 per person.

So that could still absolutely be worth it, but you’re not getting free access with your membership. Note that you can stay for at most four hours under this arrangement.

Bottom line

There are many ways to access Alaska Lounges, ranging from select paid first or business class tickets, to a lounge membership (either with Alaska or American), to buying a day pass at select airports, to having partner airline elite status.

Alaska is unique in offering domestic first class passengers lounge access. On top of that, the airline has among the most reasonable membership costs for lounges, and continues to allow people to access lounges when flying on other airlines.

Hopefully the above clears up everything you could want to know about Alaska Lounge access. If I missed anything, please let me know.