Article: These Airlines Give Lounge Access in Premium Economy

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/lounge-access-premium-economy/

These Airlines Give Lounge Access in Premium Economy is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/lounge-access-premium-economy/

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[CaptJCool]

So what do Japanese airlines know the others don’t ?

Well they all know Lounge access delivers loyalty

Only some are smarter than the others and thus “gift” it as part of the extra price of Premium economy - it’s a small cost perk potentially to deliver an ongoing customer ….

 

[MEL_Traveller]

A bit of an odd one perhaps… SAS Plus class, which for intra-Scandinavia and Europe comes with lounge access. But does not for international. ‘Plus’ is not marketed as premium economy… except the product is what we except of premium economy internationally. And it’s not marketed as Eurobusiness either, given no seat blocking.

 

[hwy]

Taiwanese airlines cut it out over covid. Ouch- wont be flying them again to get to long-haul destinations

 

[LoaderTosh]

That’s certainly a “spiffy” looking One World lounge at LAX, clean … no food all over the floor, sensible “customer” density … no having to hang from the rafters, good staff to customer ratio.

“Ok staff, thanks for coming in early for the publicity shots. Doors open in fifteen minutes so hurry off now and put your uniforms on. Remember, staff safety is paramount so don’t forget your nunchucks … you’ll probably need them today, looking at the length of the queue outside.”

Seriously? PremEcon? Further crowding your (already crowded with “Economy travelling” but with “status”) favourite local lounge thanks to foreign airline “reciprocal” lounge rights. Economy next week? Casual motorists driving past the airport the week after?

This may well “curry favour” with “budget Business Class” (PremEcon) travellers … but I suspect it will equally encourage “paid” Business and First customers to look elsewhere.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But the same argument could apply to pax buying annual lounge memberships!

Or credit card invites.

Just has to be managed, capacity wise. Or provide access to third party lounges outside the one world network.

 

[LoaderTosh]

So what do Japanese airlines know the others don’t ?

Well they all know Lounge access delivers loyalty

Only some are smarter than the others and thus “gift” it as part of the extra price of Premium economy - it’s a small cost perk potentially to deliver an ongoing customer ….

… and drive “paid” Business and First customers to look for carriers who don’t open their lounges to “wannabe’s” (and you can add Economy travelling points/miles and status collecting customers to the “wannabe” category).

 

[tdimdad]

… and drive “paid” Business and First customers to look for carriers who don’t open their lounges to “wannabe’s” (and you can add Economy travelling points/miles and status collecting customers to the “wannabe” category).

Adding PE to the lounge crowd is a blip in the ocean compared to the other groups. Given that not all airlines even have PE and often it's more like 28 pax, or nearby, the resulting volumes are still pretty low.

F & OWE pax already have their separate lounges in the OW alliance (in most airports though not all). If you wanted to separate paid (and "paid") J somewhere more peaceful and quiet, would that call for a new mid-tier lounge in between? Or would you rather limit the OWS/Gold pax out of the lounges?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Adding PE to the lounge crowd is a blip in the ocean compared to the other groups. Given that not all airlines even have PE and often it's more like 28 pax, or nearby, the resulting volumes are still pretty low.

F & OWE pax already have their separate lounges in the OW alliance (in most airports though not all). If you wanted to separate paid (and "paid") J somewhere more peaceful and quiet, would that call for a new mid-tier lounge in between? Or would you rather limit the OWS/Gold pax out of the lounges?

My personal preference would be a first class lounge… access for F and J class pax. A business class lounge for access by all status and membership holders. Current business class lounges are more aimed at economy with status, whereas business class fares are very high and the service offering in lounges often doesn’t reflect the fare being paid.

 

[KK13]

SAS gives lounge access to Plus (PE) passengers

 

[hsct]

Japan airlines JAL premium economy, HKG-HND (Haneda airport Japan) gives access to Qantas business lounge in Hong Kong. Couldn’t be happier.