Qantas Denial of OW Emerald access to Sydney First Lounge

[Doctore1003]

CX shouldn’t have to pay Qantas for your F lounge entry when your CX status doesn’t entitle you to it. Am I the only one who thinks this?

 

[elanshin]

Yes, but CX apparently are saying no.
When we were in HKG recently staff mentioned that if you wanted to enter the F lounges then you needed to have a OWE number on your boarding pass and that flashing a card won’t be allowed

It's a very recent change. We were still allowed into Pier F on Nov 13th when my FF mysteriously dropped off my AY flight (confirmed as the AY cabin crew didn't have us as elites on their ipads). They inputed the FF against the boarding pass and we went in.

However this could be different in that Cathay may still happily charge other airlines for "flashing" the card and charging them. Just that on CX flights they may be restrictive as a lot of the changes seem to be targetting CX flights than OW partner flights.

 

[moa999]

CX shouldn’t have to pay Qantas for your F lounge entry when your CX status doesn’t entitle you to it. Am I the only one who thinks this?

The problem is if you aren't crediting to QF then they aren't earning any money for it either, so why should they take a loss for lounge access.

My understanding with Oneworld is the carrier being credited to gets a small percentage of the fare, and the operating carrier (as the major earner) pays for lounge access (however that may come about).. believe with Star it might be different.

 

[RooFlyer]

The problem is if you aren't crediting to QF then they aren't earning any money for it either, so why should they take a loss for lounge access.

Because it’s in the OneWorld alliance rules.

Airport Lounges: oneworld Lounges & Airport Lounge Access

Enjoy airport lounge access at nearly 700 airport lounges worldwide through your oneworld Priority tier. Exceptions may apply.

www.oneworld.com

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one​

Enjoy exclusive access to premium airport lounges around the world with oneworld Emerald or Sapphire frequent flyer tier status. Members of oneworld airline frequent flyer programmes with the equivalent of oneworld Emerald or Sapphire tier status can use lounges offered by oneworld airlines when departing on any flight marketed and operated by any oneworld member airline, regardless of cabin class being flown (exceptions are noted below).

Emerald tier frequent flyers can use First Class, Business Class or frequent flyer lounges.

Access to Lounge

1.1 The Handling Company shall have the right to refuse an Entitled Passenger or their guest (together referred to as “Guest”) entry to the Lounge for any statutory, regulatory or airport policy reasons including but not limited to health and safety policies or fire regulations.

As far as I can interpret it, failure of OneWorld airline to pay another OneWorld airline for a passenger access does not fall under the exclusions.

Cathy can obviously do what they want with their lounges, including excluding people for health and safety no matter how bogus that might be.

However, I still can’t see how Qantas has any right to exclude a platinum member - especially their own - from a lounge based on CX suddenly deciding to change their own rules.

Happy for anyone to point out where this might lie however.

 

[elanshin]

Because it’s in the OneWorld alliance rules.

Airport Lounges: oneworld Lounges & Airport Lounge Access

Enjoy airport lounge access at nearly 700 airport lounges worldwide through your oneworld Priority tier. Exceptions may apply.

www.oneworld.com

​

As far as I can interpret it, failure of OneWorld airline to pay another OneWorld airline for a passenger access does not fall under the exclusions.

Cathy can obviously do what they want with their lounges, including excluding people for health and safety no matter how bogus that might be.

However, I still can’t see how Qantas has any right to exclude a platinum member - especially their own - from a lounge based on CX suddenly deciding to change their own rules.

Happy for anyone to point out where this might lie however.

I think we probably agree this is the situation for OW and that access should be granted barring official policy changes, but it could also be that Lounge / QF has just been informed recently of CX's position and before QF Lounge/Loyalty management has time to work out how to proceed, people are caught in the crossfire.

Perhaps we see a change in stance a little bit later when they've come up with an answer internally.