Agree! I think the new flagship lounges… for gold and above… are some of the best lounges in the world. They leave the likes of SQ in the dust.
On another comment raised… I would also prefer a revenue based system! How can it be that spending $9000 on a business class return fare to LAX gets you a very basic lounge whereas an economy pax with platinum, perhaps spending less, gets all the trappings of first? If a domestic business class fare costs 10 times that of economy we should be getting 10x the recognition (at the moment it’s 10SCs vs 40, not 100)
Because those who spend $9K on a J flight without thinking twice are amongst the most fickle travellers out there. Upgrades, baggage allowance or lounges are irrelevant, as they already have all of that booking J with any airline out there. They got the budget to spend when they want to go wherever they want and aren't tied down to an airline. Frankly what I suspect influences them more would be things like schedules, what sites like Executive Traveller have to say about the onboard service of the flight, etc.
I know some people who have the spend to fly international J regularly and do in fact dedicate most of their travel with one airline. These are arguably the most valuable customers for any airline since they not only spend a lot per transaction on a high margin product but they make tons of transactions. For instance, one colleague almost always flies United because it's the main airline out of her travel hub of SFO and in that case flying nonstop from SF to Europe or Asia is a huge plus for her. She has Global Services with United which means United treats her really well since she spends north of $50K USD a year on base fare with them. There is a dedicated team of reservationists who monitor Global Services traveller's itinerary so that if anything and I mean anything comes up, they'll get in touch with her and smooth out the itinerary. She doesn't have to call United they call her. And those agents have unlimited latitude to make things right. For instance, I was travelling from Osaka Japan back to Toronto on a United economy ticket and she sponsored my upgrade to Polaris business. A couple of days before my flight back departed a Global Services agent emailed me to say, "hey I don't think you'll make that connection in Denver, however I can rebook you on Air Canada business through Vancouver - would that work?" Naturally I said no because I wanted to try United TPAC and enjoy the Polaris lounge at SFO. I reckon it's a similar thing for Chairman's Club members with Qantas. We already know they have their own lounges to separate themselves from the plebs dunking their bare hands into the pretzel jar. And I would be shocked if a Qantas Chairman's Club member has to pick up a phone for anything. No doubt there are some reservationists in Hobart whose job it is to make sure Chairman's Club members remain happy. I suspect we would see the exact same thing for Lufthansa, KLM, and many other airlines.
Your point about lounge access is an interesting one but it's also a complex one. For one thing, not all airlines have distinctions between lounges for Business and First class travellers. The exceptions that come to mind are OneWorld carriers (many of whom offer a Business and First class product) and Lufthansa with its Senator and First Class Lounge/Terminal. I suspect the reason they do this is to incentivize those who don't have the discretionary spend to travel BuisnessFirst or GlobalFirst to remain loyal to them. Sure I might be stuck middle seat in coach on a QF flight I didn't want to take (but had to due to schedule changes), but you know what? I got to access the Emirates lounge or the Qantas First lounge and that makes up for it!
I've also seen airlines that have taken the exact opposite approach you mentioned, making premium lounges exclusively available to those travelling in business class. The two that come to my mind are United's excellent Polaris lounges and Air Canada's Signature Suite lounge. In the case of United, you can only access those lounges when departing or arriving on a United Polaris inter-continental flight or departing on a Star Alliance Business or First class inter-continental flight. In the case of Air Canada's Signature Suite lounge it's even more restrictive: only on an Air Canada paid intercontinental business class flight or flexible Aeroplan business award. In other words those travelling AC on upgrades or flying inter-continental as a business class passenger with some other Star Alliance carrier need not apply.
It may also be the case that those who spend $10K on an international J flight aren't the type that hang around airports and lounges, instead showing up when their flight boards. If you are a corporate executive of an ASX listed company do you really think you'll be hanging out at the airport? No doubt they leave their office or meeting whenever they damn well want and are chauffeured to their flight. These people aren't buying Z fares, they most likely have negotiated contracts with the airlines so that they can book a full fare J whenever they want and have their assistant cancel it when they aren't travelling. And that's assuming they fly commercial and not fly on the company's jet or take a charter.
-RooFlyer88
australianaviation.com.au
. It'd be ok to change points to be revenue based, but I hope status still remains fixed table based (and per sector too!).
