Ridiculous! Airlines are in a service industry but there is not service. Something needs to be done

While US airlines typically don t allow their elite members to access lounges when traveling domestically, this isn t the case with foreign carriers. In other words, a Lufthansa Star Gold member can access a Lufthansa lounge on an itinerary traveling within Germany, and a British Airways luxury car rentals san francisco OneWorld Sapphire member can access a British Airways lounge on an itinerary traveling within the UK.
One of the benefits of having elite status with a foreign carrier is that it gets you lounge access whenever you travel, luxury car rentals san francisco even domestically. For example, I have British Airways Gold status, which equates to OneWorld luxury car rentals san francisco Emerald status. Thanks to this I get access to OneWorld first class lounges whenever I travel, like American luxury car rentals san francisco s Flagship Lounge, even if it s a domestic flight.
American Airlines AAdvantage ® members and one world top tier status holders, regardless of their tier status, cannot access luxury car rentals san francisco lounges when travelling solely luxury car rentals san francisco on North American itineraries within or between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
I really hope this isn t the case, as making this change without any advance notice isn t fair. There are plenty of people I know that qualify for elite status with a foreign airline solely for the lounge access benefit, so taking that benefit away overnight seems drastic.
And if this is in fact a new policy, I have to wonder who prompted it. American gets paid every time someone enters their lounge with an elite card from another airline, so surely they loved the revenue. Was it British Airways or Qantas that wanted the policy change, given that they probably have the most OneWorld luxury car rentals san francisco Sapphire/Emerald members traveling in the US?
As a Platinum/Sapphire I was never able to enter an AC while traveling solely on North American itineraries within or between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
@Vinny V You weren t as an AAdvantage member, but a Sapphire member with British Airways, Cathay Pacfic, LAN, or other OW member could. If one had non-AA OW Emerald status, that meant Flagship Lounge at JFK/LAX/other airports.
Ridiculous! Airlines are in a service industry but there is not service. Something needs to be done here. On the other hand AA, and UA s for that matter, lounges are far from some of the standards that we ve experienced by other foreign carriers. i.e. LH, BA, CX.
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If it s true that foreign-carrier top elites can still access the basic (business class) Admiral s Club lounge on a domestic itinerary, this seems consistent luxury car rentals san francisco with other carriers and alliances. The enhanced (Flagship) lounge is reserved for passengers actually flying in that premium class and other super-elites specified by the operating carrier (AA). Just as a foreign-carrier top-elite luxury car rentals san francisco member with an economy luxury car rentals san francisco or business ticket will not get into BA s Concorde room, American may be doing the same with access their high-end lounge for those who either luxury car rentals san francisco have a ticket in the designated premium class of service or are their designated super-elites (their luxury car rentals san francisco non-published elite level.)
Of course, luxury car rentals san francisco if this isn t the case (as now appears to be so) and they really are cutting off ALL free lounge access luxury car rentals san francisco to foreign-carrier top-elites on North American-only itineraries, those elites really should pitch a fit with their sponsoring foreign carrier because American isn t playing fair.
American enjoys a monopoly luxury car rentals san francisco over North America within the oneWorld alliance and, while they may get a small reimbursement luxury car rentals san francisco from the other oneWorld carriers for providing lounge access luxury car rentals san francisco to their elites, they know they could argue that the agreed-upon reimbursement rate doesn t cover costs and extract quite a bit more out of those elites if they really want their lounge access on a North-America-only itinerary.
American isn t a magical unicorn in the industry. luxury car rentals san francisco They do need to show that they are capable of being profitable someday. At the same time, it does seem unfair to their own elites to automatically provide a benefit luxury car rentals san francisco to foreign carrier elites that they are unwilling to provide to their own top-elite members, luxury car rentals san francisco or even domestic paid-first-class ticket holders for that matter. The other US-based luxury car rentals san francisco airlines, of course, are guilty of this as well. It wouldn t surprise me if UA, US, and DL all followed AA s lead on this race to the bottom.
Rather than BA or QF being the culprits here, suppose they are actually the victims of AA throwing their weight luxury car rentals san francisco around in the alliance. If so, what if they decide to withhold lounge access for AA s top-elites who are not ticketed in an appropriate class of service for free access to their lounges in retaliation?
@ Dan Not sure how this is an abused loophole. It s standard practice for airlines to allow lounge access on all itineraries to their elites, and foreign carriers are the exception rather than the rule.
I ve never been fan off american lounges,those pretzels and carrots is the most you can get,i even skip visiting the lounges,its unfortunate when america is the land of plenty,everything is large and generous but compare to european and asian/mideastern lounges,american lounges are the worst,so luxury car rentals san francisco no regret access or not.