The basics of getting into airport lounges
This isn’t designed to be a click bait article. No, I’m not about to tell you that if you dress smart, in a suit and cravate you will get in - instead, here’s what you’ll need to do to get into lounges and some pieces of advice you may not be aware of. This was inspired by a few comments on my Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge at London Heathrow review where some people were asking if you could enter multiple lounges on the same day. Here’s what you’ll need to know.
Lounge access is included in most business and first class tickets, with exceptions
As a rule of thumb, most Business and First Class tickets will include access to an airport lounge for use prior to your departure. Exceptions to this includes:
Some airlines selling Business Class Light tickets or paid airport upgrades e.g. Emirates and Qatar - they do make this clear on their website.
Airlines which do not operate lounges across their entire networks e.g. jetBlue despite having a leading Business Class product on board.
Some points-based tickets. While most airlines do not differentiate access based on paying via cash or points some such as Qatar Airways do flip flop on allowing access via points-based bookings.
This can get confusing quickly, but you are best off referring to the airline’s website page on lounges to find out more. An example of Qatar Airways can be found below
Status with an airline will get you in to many lounges even on an economy ticket
Most major non-budget airlines will have some form of frequent flyer scheme where you can earn status which will have varying levels depending on your loyalty to that airline. Benefits of status often includes extra baggage allowance, free seat selection and of course lounge access. Many airlines will have reciprocal relationships with other airlines either in terms of a bilateral partnership with another airline or being part of an alliance. Globally, there are three major alliances:
Star Alliance - the largest with 26 members and major airlines such as Lufthansa Group, Singapore Airlines, Air Canada and United.
SkyTeam - 19 global members including Air France KLM, Delta and China Eastern. In the view of many, the weakest global alliance.
oneworld - 14 global members including British Airways, American, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Japan Airlines.
Star and SkyTeam only allow access to mostly business class lounges on their Star Alliance Gold and SkyTeam Elite Plus (same day international itineraries) tiers only when flying in Economy. Meanwhile, oneworld’s middle tier known as Sapphire enables access to Business Class lounges on any itinerary and the highest tier known as Emerald allowing you access to business and first class lounges.
Airlines such as Virgin Atlantic are not aligned to an alliance but have very close partnerships with Delta (due to 49% ownership) and Air France KLM where you can get into their lounges when holding Virgin Flying Club Gold status.
It’s also worth noting that if you have status, you will often be able to bring one guest along to the lounge - which is generally not the case for Business Class tickets. You do not have to be on the same booking reference to bring a guest in - I have tried this successfully with both Star Alliance Gold and oneworld Emerald/Sapphire.
Most airlines will have a designated lounge
Many airlines will have a designated lounge that they use in the airport you depart from. If it is their home or hub airport, such as Heathrow or Gatwick for British Airways, Hong Kong for Cathay Pacific, this will usually be operated directly by the airline themselves. If at a partner airline’s hub airport it may be operated by the partner - for example Virgin Atlantic use the Delta SkyClub at Atlanta. When at a location that is not their home airport, and even if there is a partner lounge, they may opt to use a third party - which could either be a lounge operator, such as Plaza Premium or No. 1 Lounges, or even those operated by a competing non-partner airline such as Finnair using the Air France KLM lounge at Munich Airport.
Some airlines have more than one lounge you can admit yourself to - even if they don’t actively advertise this
Often your printed boarding pass from check in will state something like ‘Use <<Lounge Name>> near Gate number <<00>> by showing this boarding pass’ or you’re departing from Heathrow Terminal 3 on British Airways and you head straight to the BA Lounge. In some cases, you may have multiple options for lounge access within your departing terminal. The best example of this is Heathrow Terminal 3 where you have four lounge options for departing passengers on oneworld airlines - these are British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and American (currently closed under refurbishment). In the example of the passenger who is flying BA from Terminal 3 and is directed to the BA lounge, you can still head across to any of the other open oneworld lounges with the same ticket. As I did in January, you can enter and exit the lounges multiple times - there is no limit other than visiting on same day as departure and being able to have the right to enter (either via status or class on-board).
A personal example of mine is departing from Hong Kong on Finnair, the lounge invitation stated ‘Welcome to Qantas Lounge close to North Hall or Plaza Premium Lounge by Gate 40. This invitation is for 1 person’. Hong Kong is the home airport for Cathay Pacific who, at the time, operated several lounges which you could equally settle into despite the ticket not mentioning so.
The three major alliances all have a lounge finder tool which can help you find out which lounges you can access at your departing airport - Star Alliance | SkyTeam | oneworld.
No business class or status? You may be able to get into a lounge at cost, with a membership or credit card
Not everybody is going to be flying in business or first class, neither does everybody maintain loyalty to one alliance or maybe you fly low cost airlines more often. Even in these cases, you can still get into lounges. If you are doing so infrequently, you will probably be best off checking which lounges operate at your departing airport by going to the airport’s website and seeing if there is a pay for access lounge. Heathrow Airport have a page detailing the lounges in their terminals - and note that it may be worth paying in advance to guarantee access or to sometimes get a discount.
If you plan to visit lounges more often without getting status with an airline, they you may want to either considering subscribing to Priority Pass or getting a credit card that includes a Priority Pass, Lounge Key or Dragon Pass for free. These schemes allow you access to third party lounges such as No.1 Lounges either for an annual fee (which allows a certain number of free/discounted visits) or free access to lounges via a credit card. The latter option via a credit card is likely to be a good option since the annual fee for the credit card may be similar or get you more benefits than just opting for a paid scheme.
