wharvey

Friends,

I worked helped a friend to book a United Business Class award (160K) miles.

I told her she would have lounge access on this trip but when she called in for something else, she asked and was told that lounge access is only for "paid" tickets... so now she is worried. This is her 70th birthday gift to herself... so I am trying to clear everything up for her.

So, can I ask the experts... would she have lounge access as I believe she should (and - if she does - which lounge would you recommend at each airport would you recommend?)?:

ROC - IAD United Airlines
IAD - JNB South African Airways
JNB - VFA South African Airways
CPT - JNB South African Airways
JNB - ADD Ethopian Airways
ADD - CDG Ethopian Airways
CDG - YUL Air Canada
YUL - YYZ Air Canada
YYZ - ROC Air Georgian

She does not have any status.

Also, is there any way for her to get advance seat assignments on the non UA airlines?

Sorry for all the questions... Thanks in advance.

Tchiowa

Lounge access in a business class lounge shouldn't make any difference for award and paid. At least not in UA lounges.

Call the individual airlines for seat assignments.

cyclogenesis

+1.. Redemption gets everything a paid tix gets except MP perks.


For all Canadian departures she should have access to the (very good) Maple leaf lounge.. head and shoulders better than a UC

I have never been through CDG but I believe she should have access to the *A lounge there..

IAD: I think she is stuck with the UC.. *G get access to the LH Sen lounge but I don't think some one on a C/J tix does..

emcampbe

An award ticket is considered "paid" - even if you are only using miles. Perhaps the agent was thinking about a truly non-paid ticket (like an employee pass, etc.,), but I don't know the status of those for lounge access purposes. But an award ticket for these purposes is considered "paid".

At AC, I do believe at some point, certain types of upgrades were not given lounge access, but I don't know if that is true anymore.

NikolaTesla

It's laid out on the United website clearly. You must be on a revenue ticket if you are on a Star Alliance partner in order to access the United Club. Above it appears that the flight is not on United International, therefore access is not permitted:

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...ge/access.aspx

noah

With the confirmation numbers you can go onto the websites of some airlines and get assignments. Other times you'll need to call the airlines directly.

For lounges:
IAD: United Red Carpet Club
JNB: South African Airways Lounge
CPT: South African Airways Lounge
ADD: Ethiopian Airlines Business Lounge
CDG: Star Alliance Lounge
YUL + YYZ: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge

lhrsfo

IAD-JNB is on South African so she should get lounge access to whichever lounge South African uses at IAD. It's unlikely to be the UC since that's in a different terminal - it's probably LH but she should check with SAA.

Kacee

Wrong. An award ticket is a revenue ticket. This is stated clearly on the *A website.

WineCountryUA

This is incorrect and the agent was incorrect -- Award tickets are classified as revenue tickets. And fully qualified for *A lounge access.

sbm12

Nope...there is an LH Business Lounge at IAD (the downstairs half of the club) and that's what business class on SAA uses.

As pointed out several times now, this is incorrect.

On that last flight if there is a C cabin then definitely access to the MLL. If not then I'm not sure AC's rules about access but it might be none.

vroom

Note that AC departs from Terminal 2A at CDG, not Terminal 1. So she'll have access to the MLL there, not the *A lounge. In YYZ, although she'll be departing in Y (since there is no J on that aircraft), she should be able to get into the MLL if she shows her previous CDG-YUL-YYZ boarding passes in J.