SkyTeam Elite Plus members will finally be able to access selected lounges when flying on domestic tickets from 1 April 2025. This change will bring SkyTeam’s lounge access policy more closely aligned with those of Star Alliance and Oneworld.
Elite Plus is SkyTeam’s top alliance-wide status tier, equivalent to Star Alliance Gold. Frequent flyers with status tiers such as Flying Blue Gold, GarudaMiles Platinum, Delta Gold or Virgin Atlantic Gold are SkyTeam Elite Plus members.
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A welcome change
Since the inception of the alliance, SkyTeam has had an unusual lounge access policy in that it only provides lounge access to Elite Plus members on international itineraries. This has meant that elite members travelling on domestic flights, without a same-day international connection on the same ticket, do not get lounge access.
There are numerous SkyTeam member airlines with extensive domestic networks. These include Delta, China Eastern, Xiamen Air, Garuda Indonesia, Vietnam Airlines, Aerolineas Argentinas, Korean Air and Saudia.
Air France also has a lot of domestic flights, but had already been allowing SkyTeam Elite Plus members into its lounges on domestic trips despite the official SkyTeam rules.
Until now, the lack of domestic lounge access was a significant limitation of SkyTeam status that made it less appealing than the Star Alliance and Oneworld equivalents, so this is a welcome change.
This also means that SAS EuroBonus elite members, who previously enjoyed lounge access on domestic trips before the airline switched from Star Alliance to SkyTeam in September 2024, will soon get this benefit reinstated.
SkyTeam’s new domestic lounge access policy
From 1 April 2025, SkyTeam Elite Plus members will be able to access selected SkyTeam airline lounges when flying on wholly domestic itineraries. However, this will be a gradual rollout and there are exceptions. (I’m sorry to say that the gradual rollout and long list of exceptions seems somewhat on-brand for SkyTeam…)
When the new policy goes live, according to the SkyTeam website, Elite Plus members will be able to access the following lounges operated by SkyTeam airlines on domestic trips:
| Airline | Airport | Lounge(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Air France | Paris (CDG) | Air France Lounges in Terminals 2F & 2G |
| Air France | Paris (ORY) | Air France Lounge – Terminal 2, Boarding Gates C |
| Air France | Bordeaux (BOD) | Air France Lounge |
| Air France | Geneva (GVA) | Air France Lounge |
| Air France | Boston (BOS) | Air France Lounge – Terminal E |
| Air France | Washington (IAD) | Air France Lounge – Terminal A |
| Air France | Houston (IAH) | Air France Lounge – Terminal D |
| Air France | New York (JFK) | Air France Lounge – Terminal 1 |
| Air France | San Francisco (SFO) | Air France Lounge – Terminal A |
| Air France | Los Angeles (LAX) | Air France Lounge – Midfield Satellite Concourse |
| KLM | Houston (IAH) | KLM Crown Lounge – Terminal D |
| Garuda Indonesia | Jakarta (CGK) | Garuda Indonesia Lounge – Terminal 3 Domestic |
| Garuda Indonesia | Denpasar/Bali (DPS) | Garuda Indonesia Lounge – Domestic |
| Kenya Airways | Nairobi (NBO) | Msafiri Lounge – Terminal 1D |
| China Eastern | Shanghai (PVG) | No.35 Lounge |
| China Eastern | Shanghai (SHA) | V28 China Eastern, V23 China Eastern & V2 Shanghai Airlines Lounges – Terminal 2 |
| SAS | Stockholm (ARN) | SAS Lounge |
| SAS | Copenhagen (CPH) | SAS Lounge |
| SAS | Newark (EWR) | SAS Lounge – Terminal B3 |
| SAS | Gothenburg (GOT) | SAS Lounge |
| SAS | Oslo (OSL) | SAS Lounge |
| SAS | Chicago (ORD) | SAS Lounge – Terminal 5 |
| Saudia | Jeddah (JED) | Alfursan Domestic Lounge |
| Saudia | Riyadh (RUH) | Alfursan Domestic Lounge |
| Vietnam Airlines | Hanoi (HAN) | Vietnam Airlines Lotus Lounge |
Elite Plus customers can also bring one guest with them into the lounge, who must be travelling on the same SkyTeam-operated flight.
There are a few notable omissions to this list, including the Vietnam Airlines Lotus Lounge in Ho Chi Minh City. There are also no Delta, Aerolineas Argentinas, Korean Air, Aeromexico, Xiamen Air or ITA Airways domestic lounges on this list. (However, ITA Airways will soon leave SkyTeam and join Star Alliance after being bought by Lufthansa.)
SkyTeam does say that it plans to “gradually widen domestic lounge access top more lounges in the future”.
Exceptions for Delta & Aerolineas Argentinas frequent flyers
Despite these rule changes, Delta SkyMiles Elite Plus members still won’t be able to access domestic lounges when flying within the United States in Economy. (In fact, Delta no longer even gives its elite flyers lounge access on long-haul international Economy tickets!)
This is consistent with the lounge access policies of other US airlines.
While this is bad news for Delta SkyMiles members, frequent flyers of other SkyTeam airlines may now be able to access lounges of other SkyTeam airlines when travelling domestically with Delta. For example, an SAS EuroBonus Gold member could theoretically use the Air France Lounge in Los Angeles prior to flying Delta to San Francisco.
However, some of the available lounges might not be located in the same terminals as departing domestic flights.
Delta elites will be able to use domestic lounges of SkyTeam partners when travelling outside of the USA.
As an additional exception, Aerolineas Argentinas Elite Plus members will not receive domestic lounge access when flying any SkyTeam member outside of Argentina.
New 3-hour time limit
Coinciding with the introduction of lounge access on domestic flights, SkyTeam lounges will introduce a new time limit on lounge access for Elite Plus, as well as Business and First Class passengers. They will only be able to access the lounge within 3 hours of departure.
This time limit will not apply at the point of connection when connecting between two flights on the same ticket.
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