General Question on *A Gold.

[Matt_01]

Just wondering if *A Gold offers access to member F lounges similar to the OWE rules. I am curious as I read that I can link Shangri-La membership chain my Kris account and get *A gold in 3 SQ flights. I rarely travel with *A carriers and when I do it is normally SQ in J so I get J lounge access priority boarding etc. I have read the general benefits which mostly seem as not applicable to my circumstances. I also have a Priority Pass card so general lounge access at most of the places I travel too is not really a problem. I have a short notice trip that I could use SQ for *A gold within a week.

Is *A worth it?

 

[Quickstatus]

Answer is no unless there is no other lounge

Example in SIN:
1)The Private Room: SQ only First and Suites
passenger. *A or any FF status irrelevant.
2)Silver Kris lounge: *A J and *A F passengers. SQ J passengers
3)KrisFlyer Gold: *A Gold travelling in Y. SQ PPS travelling in Y (but this is a lounge with no showers or toilets)

*A LAX
There is a small F lounge annex for *A F pax but is not as good as the J lounge.

 

[RooFlyer]

*A gold is OK, If you earn it naturally or get it for free, but no F lounge access that I am aware of.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is *A worth it?

If you fly economy or premium economy *A gold is the same as Qantas Gold (oneworld sapphire). Priority chicken and lounge access.

 

[RooFlyer]

If you fly economy or premium economy *A gold is the same as Qantas Gold (oneworld sapphire). Priority chicken and lounge access.

Quoting that before it gets lost .

 

[TomVexille]

Quoting that before it gets lost .

That took me a second...

As for the OP, no *A does not have an alliance status level that is equivalent to OWE

 

[Matt_01]

Thanks for the feed back, it is along the lines of what I was expecting. The ask was more for travel plans later in the year and potential changes to my program alliances. On an annual basis I retain P1 and VA WP, so was thinking that I would drop back to WP, then start to travel more *A carriers mainly to bolster Kris Miles. It would have opened up a few more options for travel within Asia, NZ and the US, outside of QF, I am not wedded to any of the current OW carriers, however tend to use them due to OW status. If the *G had included F lounge access the decision would most likely be simple.

I also have to work out if the 50K elite miles to retain *Gold needs to be with SQ or if other *A trips count. I do not travel that much with SQ, however their schedule out of SYD and MEL sometimes it works better than QF for me.

Quickstatus, I am aware of that *G lounge in SIN (T3), went in there sometime last year due to a short notice (not in budget) trip, it was also the first and last time I will use Y+. From memory I spent 5-10 minutes in the lounge and moved to the Pri Pass lounges down the corridor, wondering if this was the standard of *G lounges or if it was just the SQ approach.

Thanks for your feed back.

 

[RooFlyer]

On an annual basis I retain P1 and VA WP, so was thinking that I would drop back to WP, then start to travel more *A carriers mainly to bolster Kris Miles.

I'd definitely look at doing that. Getting *A Gold, while not everything, is a benefit, and you can wean yourself off the 'loyalty' to the Australian domestic carriers. I did this some years ago and it was tremendously liberating!

 

[Matt_01]

I'd definitely look at doing that. Getting *A Gold, while not everything, is a benefit, and you can wean yourself off the 'loyalty' to the Australian domestic carriers. I did this some years ago and it was tremendously liberating!

Due to domestic situation i.e. living in one state and working in 2 others local carriers will still be in mix for the foreseeable future. I am a bit surprised with myself at how quick after gaining LTG I have drifted away from QF. The only 2 benefits that I like from the P1 program is my monopoly on 4C/D and the partner WP, the first in my opinion is a given, the second is the ability to access OW F lounges when travelling with the family (three in total), MissM is counted as a guest under most if not all the OW lounge access rules so if not for the partner WP we would be sent back to the J lounge, such a first world problem.

QF may have or seems to have made some changes to the requesting seats policy for P1, over the past months my request for J seats seem to come back immediately and always in the positive. Redemption availability is a plus but the QF taxes still bugs me to the point I am happy to burn more points on CX to avoid taxes.

I am happy to fly VA domestically, the points earn rate is better than QF, Yx sees me sitting in R5 often with a shadow and the x10 points per dollar spend ends up with SQ even if I loose a few in the process. When I say "how quickly I have drifted away QF", 12 months ago all hotel and CC points went to QF, not any more all I warehouse in AMEX and hotel programs and moved to SQ as required or going to expire. I am not a big SQ fan however the ease to get redeem (with no status), the fact they will book and hold flight while I transfer points and the low taxes sees me moving more to SQ. Still looking for better programs if there is any other suggestions.

I do not consider myself a fussy traveler, sure 1-2-1 J is nice but if I want direct aisle access the center pair in a 2-2-2 works just as well. As for lounge access, provided there is a shower, reasonable fizz and food I am sorted.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Quickstatus, I am aware of that *G lounge in SIN (T3), went in there sometime last year due to a short notice (not in budget) trip, it was also the first and last time I will use Y+. From memory I spent 5-10 minutes in the lounge and moved to the Pri Pass lounges down the corridor, wondering if this was the standard of *G lounges or if it was just the SQ approach.

Star gold lounges vary significantly. The Kris Flyer gold lounge in SIN is basically an economy class lounge. But Thai's lounges are pretty much the same. They keep their best offering for business class only (Concourse D at BKK). But that lounge isn't anything much either.

At the other end of the scale Lufthansa and Swiss give Star Gold access to their Senator Lounges - of which there are some superb examples at ZRH in the E terminal. Business class passengers are relegated to the business lounges which are a significant drop from Senator.

Other airlines - and indeed SQ outside of SIN just mix star gold and business in the same lounge.

 

[Libertyscott]

*A Gold lounges are roughly equivalent to OWS (business) lounges. I've had *A Gold status for over a decade with NZ, and OWS/E status for some years. Except for SIN for SQ (other SQ locations are fine), most *A carriers offer Gold cardholders access to their business class lounges (the LH/LX exception of access to the better Senator lounges notwithstanding). In Asia that means SQ, TG, NH, OZ all offer options, there is NZ Trans-Tasman/domestic NZ and to the US, UA and AC as well. e.g. at SYD I'd say the SQ and NZ lounges are reasonably comparable to the QF C (but not F) lounge, same at MEL.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

*A Gold lounges are roughly equivalent to OWS (business) lounges. I've had *A Gold status for over a decade with NZ, and OWS/E status for some years. Except for SIN for SQ (other SQ locations are fine), most *A carriers offer Gold cardholders access to their business class lounges (the LH/LX exception of access to the better Senator lounges notwithstanding). In Asia that means SQ, TG, NH, OZ all offer options, there is NZ Trans-Tasman/domestic NZ and to the US, UA and AC as well. e.g. at SYD I'd say the SQ and NZ lounges are reasonably comparable to the QF C (but not F) lounge, same at MEL.

With the exception of TG in BKK though *G in Y is not generally permitted entry to the business class lounge on concourse D.

 

[NZflygirl]

Answer is no unless there is no other lounge

Example in SIN:
1)The Private Room: SQ only First and Suites
passenger. *A or any FF status irrelevant.
2)Silver Kris lounge: *A J and *A F passengers. SQ J passengers
3)KrisFlyer Gold: *A Gold travelling in Y. SQ PPS travelling in Y (but this is a lounge with no showers or toilets)

*A LAX
There is a small F lounge annex for *A F pax but is not as good as the J lounge.

A world of privileges, in the air and on the ground

It says SQ PPS get Silverkris lounge access flying Y on their website. Would be handy if SIN is a useful transit hub vs the other *A options. I think I read somewhere they're due some renovations but I think SKL is nicer than the priority pass lounges I've seen in SIN (not all).

I don't really know SQ that well at all but earn requirements for PPS are on this page The PPS Club. I don't know Matt_01s flying pattern but if flying to North America with VA J NZ J, UA J, AC J or Asia with any *A carrier in J etc then this all counts towards SQ PPS Value? Need 25k worth of J flying and SGD:AUD = ~ 1. VA is on the list of carriers for partner programmes along with other *A.

The benefits page states access to *A lounges as well for PPS among others.

Isn't there some other benefit about accruing to 2 programmes with PPS value as well? Found the ausbt post below but haven't read it. But I think it's 'the thing' I'm thinking about. Attain VA WP and SQ PPS with your J flights.
How to ~quintuple~ dip on elite status with Singapore Airlines

 

[MEL_Traveller]

A world of privileges, in the air and on the ground

It says SQ PPS get Silverkris lounge access flying Y on their website. Would be handy if SIN is a useful transit hub vs the other *A options. I think I read somewhere they're due some renovations but I think SKL is nicer than the priority pass lounges I've seen in SIN (not all).

I don't really know SQ that well at all but earn requirements for PPS are on this page The PPS Club. I don't know Matt_01s flying pattern but if flying to North America with VA J NZ J, UA J, AC J or Asia with any *A carrier in J etc then this all counts towards SQ PPS Value? Need 25k worth of J flying and SGD:AUD = ~ 1. VA is on the list of carriers for partner programmes along with other *A.

The benefits page states access to *A lounges as well for PPS among others.

Isn't there some other benefit about accruing to 2 programmes with PPS value as well? Found the ausbt post below but haven't read it. But I think it's 'the thing' I'm thinking about. Attain VA WP and SQ PPS with your J flights.
How to ~quintuple~ dip on elite status with Singapore Airlines

PPS is only accrued when you fly first or business class on Singapore airlines (or business class on Silk Air).

What SQ allows you to do however is separate your PPS spend from points earning. If you fly Singapore Airlines you can put the $$ spend on your PPS account, but put points with a partner airline (for example Velocity or another star partner).

You cannot, unfortunately, fly another star alliance partner and accrue PPS $.

 

[NZflygirl]

Oops!