In 2019, the oneworld alliance revealed how it planned to start opening its own branded lounges. The pandemic ended up delaying these plans, but there’s now a positive update, as we’re weeks from the first such lounge opening.
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The concept behind oneworld branded lounges
The “big three” global alliances offer all kinds of perks for elite members, and one of those perks is lounge access. In the oneworld alliance, Emerald members and Sapphire members receive access to oneworld lounges. These are operated by individual airlines, and collectively oneworld airlines operate hundreds of them.
In 2019, oneworld announced that it planned to operate its own branded lounges. The idea is that at some airports, no single oneworld airline has a huge presence, but collectively oneworld airlines have a significant presence. So while no individual oneworld airline could justify opening a lounge, there would be merit to a shared lounge. Think of airports in major cities that aren’t otherwise the hubs of oneworld airlines.
This is a concept we’ve already seen from SkyTeam and Star Alliance, as they each operate some of their own lounges as well, so oneworld is the only alliance that doesn’t currently do this.
Some might say “well isn’t there a oneworld lounge at LAX?” Good question. While there’s a lounge that’s marketed as a oneworld lounge, it’s in fact a joint venture between British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas, so the alliance as such has no stake or involvement in it.
Executives at oneworld have stated that they see opportunities to open lounges in 15-30 airports globally, with many of the choices driven by terminal developments (in other words, airports where oneworld airlines depart from a common terminal, and there’s space to open a lounge).
In 2019, oneworld had announced that the first alliance lounge location would be in Moscow. However, that was initially delayed by the pandemic, and then those planes were later shelved due to the sanctions in place. Fortunately the alliance has now decided on a different airport for its first lounge.
First oneworld lounge will open at Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN)
Executive Traveller reports that the oneworld alliance will open its first branded lounge at Seoul Incheon Airport:
- The lounge is expected to have a soft opening in late December 2023, and an official opening in January 2024
- The lounge will be located in Terminal 1, which is home to several oneworld airlines, including American, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and SriLankan Airlines
- The lounge will be located on the fourth floor of Terminal 1, near gate 28
- The lounge is taking over the space of the former Jeju Air “JJ Lounge,” which closed in 2020, around the start of the pandemic; that lounge was around 550 square meters (around 6,000 square feet) with seating for around 140 passengers, so I imagine it will be a similar size
- In line with oneworld lounge access policies, the lounge will be open to oneworld first and business class passengers, as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members
I’m happy to see oneworld finally moving forward with this concept. Unfortunately this lounge space likely won’t be very large, so I’d recommend managing your expectations, especially during peak periods, when the lounge will no doubt be crowded.
I’m guessing oneworld is just planning a single lounge here, though given that the alliance has two elite tiers offering lounge access, it sure would be nice if there were separate Sapphire/business class and Emerald/first class sections. However, I suspect the lounge is too small for this to be practical.
Bottom line
The oneworld alliance is planning on opening branded lounges at several airports, and the first lounge is expected to open at Seoul Incheon Airport Terminal 1 in late 2023 or early 2024. While this concept is way delayed, I’m excited to see the idea finally become a reality. Seoul Incheon seems like a logical first airport for this concept, given that it’s a hub for the two rival alliances.
What do you make of the concept of oneworld branded lounges?
Good news. I like this strategy.
There were official Oneworld lounges c.2015, e.g. at ZRH, which was an Air Berlin hub then.
@classcair agree, and the silly receptionists at the SEA Alaska lounges were refusing to let me in as a Qantas Platinum One /Emerald member which entitles me access to their lounges. It happened three times at two different Alaska lounges. they were soon read the riot act by me and they succumbed.
SEA, YYZ, BOS, GRU, CDG, FRA, DXB, SIN, and BKK all come to mind as good airports to build a Oneworld lounge.
Smart move by Oneworld. Plenty of Oneworld airlines fly to ICN despite it not being a hub and it’s a strong market that’s growing. On a side note, I feel like Oneworld could use a lounge in SFO. Although it is primarily a Star Alliance hub, a lot of foreign Oneworld airlines also fly to SFO. Right now, there is a Cathay Pacific Lounge, JAL Sakura Lounge, and British Airways Lounge in the A side...
Smart move by Oneworld. Plenty of Oneworld airlines fly to ICN despite it not being a hub and it’s a strong market that’s growing. On a side note, I feel like Oneworld could use a lounge in SFO. Although it is primarily a Star Alliance hub, a lot of foreign Oneworld airlines also fly to SFO. Right now, there is a Cathay Pacific Lounge, JAL Sakura Lounge, and British Airways Lounge in the A side of the International Terminal, each of which are relatively cramped. I also heard that Qantas passengers had to use the Air France-KLM lounge there because there was too little space at the other Oneworld lounges. It would make a lot more sense if they combined the CX, JL, and BA lounges into one large Oneworld lounge for international passengers. They should separate it into business class and first class since most of the Oneworld airlines send their first class products to SFO. They added an Admiral’s Club in the new Terminal 1, which is connected airside, and a new Alaska lounge, but those are domestic lounges and are useless for people flying say Japan Airlines business class as far as I know.
So are those 3 OW member lounges literally RIGHT next to each other and physically share walls or something?
Does SFO have available space for such a new mega lounge?
If neither of those is true, then it can't happen. Unless SFO is building a new international terminal (which they could be doing, I just don't pay attention to that airport).
Pointing this out because lots of commenter always say/wish that Austin had...
So are those 3 OW member lounges literally RIGHT next to each other and physically share walls or something?
Does SFO have available space for such a new mega lounge?
If neither of those is true, then it can't happen. Unless SFO is building a new international terminal (which they could be doing, I just don't pay attention to that airport).
Pointing this out because lots of commenter always say/wish that Austin had this lounge or that lounge and they literally have NO SPACE for anything.
I don’t recall if Sakura lounge is immediately next door to Cathay, they are at least in the same hallway. BA’s lounge is on the main floor and is much bigger than the others and used to offer direct lounge boarding. I’m trying to recall if the emirates lounge is next to BA but it might be across the concourse
JAL Sakura lounge in SFO was permanently closed in this June. Not next to each other but in same hallway, so maybe CX can take over the space and convert it to F lounge, and convert current lounge as J lounge, could make sense.
That will help OW passenger avoid the bRitish Airways Shenanigans when trying to access their lounge. As a founding member of OW, their abject behavior in systematically trying to prevent other OW pax from using their mediocre lounge needs to be called for. Too bad so few bloggers actually do it.
Well now that Qatar has bought into BA it seems they’re taking the same approach giving off business/first from emerald sapphire
I think they should convert the BA lounge in SEA to a Oneworld lounge. It's in need of a renovation as it is, and with BA, JAL, Finnair and Qatar all operating out of the S gates where the current BA lounge is located, it seems logical choice. All of the Alaska lounges are inconvenient to the S gates.
It effectively is at this point for OW elites flying from the South satellite. Probably made more sense before AA dumped the LHR flight.
As many comments have pointed out, JAL doesn't fly to ICN. They terminated their NRT-ICN route long ago.
From ICN, they only have codeshare flights operated by Korean Air. I'm not sure if JL marketed Korean Air flight boarding pass will let you access this Oneworld lounge.
JAL subsidiary Zipair does fly NRT to ICN though. I don’t think the two airlines codeshare but it says you can redeem JAL miles on Zipair and vice versa.
That's where their relationship (so far as customers are concerned) begins and ends. AFAIK ZIPAIR isn't considered to be part of JAL Group, they don't codeshare, and any ZIPAIR flight you take wouldn't be considered to be a oneworld flight wrt to lounge access.
Yeah Brianair.....but they aren't a part of OneWorld......so......Mute Point.......
I thought JAL uses GMP instead of ICN.
Yes. Correct @Ben JL operates GMP-HND
Yes. JAL doesn’t fly to ICN at all. They fly GMP-HND and that’s it. Their LCC subsidiary Zipair flies NRT-ICN though. They aren’t listed as codeshare partners but it looks like you can redeem JAL points on Zipair flights and vice versa.
Choosing ICN is interesting in light of the pending merger between Korean and Asiana. oneworld has had low market share in S. Korea relative to Skyteam and Star, the latter of which will also be a small player if the merger is approved.
There is value in offering amenities comparable to dominant alliances and their carriers in their major hub airports and oneworld could be trying to validate the value both now with Korean...
Choosing ICN is interesting in light of the pending merger between Korean and Asiana. oneworld has had low market share in S. Korea relative to Skyteam and Star, the latter of which will also be a small player if the merger is approved.
There is value in offering amenities comparable to dominant alliances and their carriers in their major hub airports and oneworld could be trying to validate the value both now with Korean and Asiana both operating and potentially after Asiana is folding into KE
I initially thought the same thing when I saw the headline, but the more I thought about it, it actually makes perfect sense. Since ICN isn’t home to any oneworld airlines, I assume there are no airline operated lounges for F&J pax flying on any of those eight airlines...(maybe 9 with CZ). While they may have a small presence, it’s still a presence and I guess they figure combined they can be stronger, even if...
I initially thought the same thing when I saw the headline, but the more I thought about it, it actually makes perfect sense. Since ICN isn’t home to any oneworld airlines, I assume there are no airline operated lounges for F&J pax flying on any of those eight airlines...(maybe 9 with CZ). While they may have a small presence, it’s still a presence and I guess they figure combined they can be stronger, even if some of them only offer one daily flight. If you’re on say Qatar or AA, I suppose it would be nice to have a decent (albeit small) lounge to visit before departure to relax and get some work done.
And to your point about a Korean/Asiana post merger Star presence, maybe they’ll be next with this sort of lounge there?
I assume that's the point. Pick large global destinations where multiple oneworld airlines fly but none of their members is based.
In small lounges, it's an inefficient use of space to hive off an area for F / highest tier passengers.
I don't think any of the oneworld airlines even operate F to ICN, so it would literally be a status lounge only.
Japan Airlines no longer flies to Incheon. (Does ZipAir count?)
No. Unless the actual airline is a member of the Alliance, it does not count. Like IAG owning British Airways and Iberia (which are both OW members) and they also own Vueling, Level, Air Europa, and Aer Lingus (which are not members).