Nowadays it feels like there are few secrets left when it comes to airline travel. Sometimes it feels like everyone and their second cousin is sharing their “travel hacks” online, and will tell you how they flew on an $8,000 flight for FREE, and how they save so much money by having premium credit cards and eating in lounges before their flights (or maybe my algorithm is just doing its thing)!
With that in mind, here’s something that I’m surprised more people aren’t aware of, in an era where there seem to be fewer and fewer “tricks.”
In this post:
A tale of three Star Alliance lounges at Bangkok Airport
For the return portion of my review trip to Bangkok, I flew Thai Airways’ 787 business class from Bangkok (BKK) to Milan (MXP). I had some time at the airport, and my first stop was the Thai Airways Lounge. Logical enough, right, since it’s the airline I was flying, and it’s the carrier’s hub?
As you’d expect, the lounge was absolutely slammed, given the size of Thai Airways’ presence there, plus how it’s a banked hub. I didn’t take any pictures, as I’ve recently reviewed the lounge, and wasn’t planning on doing so again (for that matter, it was too uncomfortably crowded for me to review it again, and to take pictures while trying to respect the privacy of others).
Honestly, nowadays I expect lounges to be full. People generally come to lounges with one of two primary motivations — to eat and drink, and/or to have a quiet place from which to relax, work, etc. I’m generally more in the latter category than the former category, since I eat plenty on planes.
Since I had some time to spare, I decided to see if there were any better options. Thanks to reciprocal Star Alliance lounge access policies (as a Star Alliance business class passenger), I visited the Turkish Airlines Lounge, only a short walk away. This lounge no longer belongs to Priority Pass, due to the airport’s shady rule changes.
While the Thai Airways Lounge was packed, there was no one in the Turkish Airlines Lounge. Like, zero guests. Umm, talk about quite a contrast. Maybe the Turkish Airlines Lounge food spread isn’t quite as good as in the Thai Airways Lounge, but I’d take this setup any day of the week.
For giggles, I also decided to check out the EVA Air Lounge, which admittedly is a bit of a trek from the central part of the terminal. When I arrived there, I found a total of two guests in the lounge. Again, what a contrast!
I guess it’s good that more people don’t know this?
I suppose it’s not too surprising that the average premium traveler isn’t aware of reciprocal lounge access policies. I think most people just go to the lounge of the airline they’re flying with, because that seems like the logical thing to do.
Furthermore, I tend to think we see a lot more savviness with credit card lounges (since those people are putting effort into maximizing their lounge experience by virtue of getting a card), plus when you’re closer to the United States (kind of the epicenter of miles & points, due to higher interchange fees, which fuels the whole ecosystem).
I’m always amazed when I’m flying out of London Heathrow Terminal 3 on American, how there are actually people using the American Admirals Club, when they could instead be in the far (far, far, far) superior Cathay Pacific Lounge or Qantas Lounge. With reciprocal oneworld lounge access rules, oneworld business class passengers and oneworld Sapphire members could use either of those lounges.
On the one hand, I’m tempted to go into the Admirals Club with a megaphone and do a PSA. On the other hand, I guess I’m grateful people don’t know, or else the Cathay Pacific Lounge would be slammed, while the Admirals Club would be empty.
Bottom line
In an era where it feels like there are very few premium travel “tricks” remaining, it’s interesting to me how reciprocal lounge access policies only seem to be known by a small percentage of people (in the scheme of things). With the major alliances, you typically have quite a few options as to which lounge you can visit, assuming you’re in a premium cabin or have elite status, and are flying from a major airport.
That was very clear to me during a recent visit to Bangkok, where the Thai Airways Lounge was beyond packed, while the nearby Turkish Airlines Lounge had zero people in it, and the EVA Air Lounge was also really quiet. Personally, a quiet environment is the single most important thing for me in an airport lounge, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to “shop around” as to where I want to hang out.
Anyone else surprised by the general lack of knowledge of reciprocal lounge opportunities?
I've wanted to use the Polaris lounge at LAX but TBIT is so far away and the last few times I've flown I only made it to *A lounge with a couple hours before departure. I planned to get there earlier to check out the lounge but the traffic situation is terrible!
I fly through T3 at LHR once every two to three months and am oneworld emerald. All but once this year I was denied entry into the Cathay Pacific lounge “due to capacity” (they would only allow passengers in CX flights). So, I would go over to either the Qantas or BA lounge since I share Ben’s assessment of the AA lounge.
@ phazedowt -- Interesting. I'm curious, is that just for the first class section, or for the lounge overall?
Last time I was in BKK, I went to the Turkish lounge for complimentary massage, then to EVA lounge for the food & quiet. The EVA lounge even had fresh young coconuts to drink from, which I've never seen in an airport lounge before.
Can all business class passengers flying AA business class from LHR access the Cathay and Quanta’s lounge? Or just me as the one with Admirals club membership? Transversing through LHR in a couple months with family.
@ Jon -- All American business class passengers can, that's what matters, not if you have an Admirals Club membership. Sometimes there may be space constraints, but that's the general policy.
Not only this, but sometimes airline staff direct passengers to one specific lounge and, if said passengers are not familiar with alliances, etc., they'd simply do what they're told to. For example, at BOG, AC staff tell passengers with lounge access entitlement to go to the (abysmal) CM lounge...
Not only this, but sometimes airline staff direct passengers to one specific lounge and, if said passengers are not familiar with alliances, etc., they'd simply do what they're told to. For example, at BOG, AC staff tell passengers with lounge access entitlement to go to the (abysmal) CM lounge (a 5 USD coupon for Juan Valdez would be better than the CM lounge).
Also, when flying from outstations, some airline staff don't even tell passengers entitled to lounge access that there's a partner lounge available. Of course, airlines will always be happier by extracting as much money as possible from passengers, and strategically hiding or denying as many services as possible.
I guess this may just be a secret stateside, as in my experience BA elite members and regular premium travelers in the UK are very aware of the numerous lounge options, especially flying on a Oneworld airline from T3 or Star Alliance from T2.
In my opinion, a greater secret at LHR is the wonderful BA business lounge at the B gates with the Whispering Angel bar. Most BA business passengers just flock to the...
I guess this may just be a secret stateside, as in my experience BA elite members and regular premium travelers in the UK are very aware of the numerous lounge options, especially flying on a Oneworld airline from T3 or Star Alliance from T2.
In my opinion, a greater secret at LHR is the wonderful BA business lounge at the B gates with the Whispering Angel bar. Most BA business passengers just flock to the busy and inferior North and South lounges in the main terminal. Saying that, it does seem to be getting busier!
Thanks for all your great posts Ben.
Well, I just learned something new after being obsessed with the miles game for 10+ years. Thanks Ben!
It was quite funny to be directed to the Air France lounge in Montreal by the Turkish Airlines check-in agent. Most passengers just go where they're told and many don't know airline alliances/partnerships exist (I don't blame them). Ended up going to the Maple Leaf lounge instead for the better shower situation, but I assume Air Canada tries to get partners to send passengers elsewhere to limit crowding at the Maple leaf.
Any particular reason why you skipped the arguably best Star Alliance lounge at BKK - SQ's SKL lounge?
@ JakobZH -- Good question! Sadly it was closed for a few days for a refresh, coinciding when I was at the airport.
"...how there are actually people using the American Admirals Club, when they could instead be in the far (far, far, far) superior Cathay Pacific Lounge or Qantas Lounge."
Admirals Club members that are non-elite or Gold can only use the Admirals Club.
This isn't necessarily a good thing as the lounges need to at least break even or they'll close down and you may get sent to a semi-dodgy Aspire/Menzies facility instead. BKK likely is a pretty big station for THY, but they might have had a problem if they couldn't accept Dragonpass etc at NBO (particularly since their frienemies at LH use a contract lounge there).
I've also had a few instances of airlines sort of...
This isn't necessarily a good thing as the lounges need to at least break even or they'll close down and you may get sent to a semi-dodgy Aspire/Menzies facility instead. BKK likely is a pretty big station for THY, but they might have had a problem if they couldn't accept Dragonpass etc at NBO (particularly since their frienemies at LH use a contract lounge there).
I've also had a few instances of airlines sort of hiding the access information from pax (the AV check in supervisor at MEX had to do a double take when I asked him whether the gate was near the UA lounge- it was obvious they weren't telling pax that a lounge was available to them) and poor service by loungedragons who weren't really pleased to see me using their lounge while flying with a 'lesser' carrier, including one occasion of openly hostile behaviour by an SQ dragon at LHR.
I think it all boils down to a failure of the alliances to get their members to work together more closely with each other.
Re: Heathrow’s T3 OneWorld lounge options…
SSHHHHHHH!!!
A lot of people just default to choosing the lounge of the airline operating their departing flight because the lounge may be considered more conveniently located to the gate — but that doesn’t really apply very much at BKK — or because they think the lounge staff can be more helpful with gate directions, departure updates and maybe even itinerary changes. Also, sometimes the partner airline lounges have different hours or may place capacity restrictions...
A lot of people just default to choosing the lounge of the airline operating their departing flight because the lounge may be considered more conveniently located to the gate — but that doesn’t really apply very much at BKK — or because they think the lounge staff can be more helpful with gate directions, departure updates and maybe even itinerary changes. Also, sometimes the partner airline lounges have different hours or may place capacity restrictions on partner airline’s customers getting access to the lounge.
Speaking of travel hacks, I still have a bunch of ones in my repertoire that I use to reduce my travel costs. But the best ones are limited in circulation because being clued-in comes with conditions or because posting about them can risk their being shutdown far faster than used to be the case say 20 years ago.