[IanFromHKG]

This is an interesting conversation. While I agree with much of what Senator has said (and as I read the first posts was composing a response much along the lines of what he said – the perk for US FFs is easy upgrade availability rather than lounge access), having looked at the *A site I couldn’t find any reference to lounge access for connections from or to international premium flights. Indeed, the relevant wording I found, at http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/status-benefits/lounge-access-policy/, as regards international business class passengers was “Customer must be departing from the local airport in International Business Class”. This strongly implies no access for domestic positioning flights or onward domestic connections.

This stands in stark contrast with the oneworld position (I am a oneworld FF), which states:
“Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights:
First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).
Lounge access will be determined on the international long haul ticketed flight (either First of Business Class) regardless of the ticketed class of travel on the international short haul or domestic flight.
You must be prepared to show your boarding pass or itinerary showing travel in First or Business class on the international long haul flight, in order to access the lounge before your international short haul or domestic flight.”

oneworld has the added advantage that top-tier FFs get access (with a very few exceptions) to first class lounges throughout the alliance, whereas top-tier *A members do not

I realise none of this helps Moadweeb (except, perhaps, in relation to future travel plans). It may be worth considering membership of a global lounge plan. It is fairly easy in most developed countries (and quite a few underdeveloped ones) to get a credit card with a free Priority Pass card, although paid membership of PP is also an option. I have one (a free one, that is, not a paid one!) and although I very rarely use it (CX’s policy allows me access to their lounges whichever airline I fly, and oneworld allows me access to any of their lounges (again, with very few exceptions) when flying oneworld) it has come in handy on a few occasions.

For future *A flights you can determine your access rights using this tool: http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/status-benefits/lounge-finder/

You might also be interested in an iDevice app called loungebuddy. It is still a work in progress (I have made several submissions correcting errors and suggesting improvements, all of which have been promptly acknowledged) but improving all the time. So although I wouldn’t regard it as definitive, you may find it helpful – and it’s free.

Anyway, sorry to hear you had a bad experience, Moadweeb. May your next trip be much nicer!

[Moadweeb]

Senator,

On my last leg ( sitting in Frankfurt Airport Lounge ) before I board my flight to Mumbai, phew !! Thank God this trip is over..Lufthansa was my last choice for this entire journey and I have avoided it since more than 10 years..I was a Gold/Senator card holder on Lufthansa 10 years ago and gave it up in favor of Emirates..Nothing much has changed since then..the only reason I took Lufthansa/United was because of the Fares available vs. B.A. or Emirates..At least a 30% price difference in Business Class..

Talking about the security line in Houston, I did take the Premiere Access line which is not the same as priority access. It seems that Business Class Passengers cannot take the priority access lane unless they per-register themselves at the TSA ( Transport Security Administration ) and get themselves cleared for a quicker security at all US airports. Hence. I was in the same line as all the other passengers. Again, I wonder, why Business Class is not given any priority ?

My Houston-Chicago flight in Business Class was uneventful since I slept most of the 2 hours, nothing to write about.

As stated earlier, I did get access to the United Club lounge at B-6 and then later on to the United/Lufthansa lounge closer to my gate at B-16. I again confirmed my predicament about lounge access with a Lufthansa representative and she confirmed that unless I am a Senator/Gold card holder of Star Alliance or I arrived on a United Operated flight, I had no access to the United Club while transiting on a domestic route inward into the US. A point to note, I did not get lounge/club access while in Houston ( IAH )

For the Chicago-Frankfurt route we boarded the flight on time and this time I took the seat on the main-deck ( 14-A ).

The aircraft was the same ( 747-800) which Lufthansa lists as 74H on their ticket.

I have take tons of photos and few videos to show how impractical their seat design is and how my neighbors feet and mine kept brushing each other.

I am not writing much on the IFE since it is a basic ( no touch screen ) and very limited movie selection.

There was an issue on the Air-Conditioning since it make very hot after take-off ( I noticed some ice crystals on my t-shirt ). The problem was sorted out an hour later. I slept most of the flight since my body had no clue which time zone to adapt to..

My onward connection from Frankfurt-Mumbai is on the old-747/400 and I hope to catch 1 movie and sleep till we arrive.

I am going to speak to a LH representative here in the lounge but if someone could share with me a an e-mail address where I can send my experience, I would appreciate it.

Ian-HKG: Thanks for the link..

Cheers,
Moadweeb.

[Senator]

@Moadweeb, one point shortly and I will come back with a longer response later. TSA pre-registered travellers is something completely different from Premier Access. As a none-US citizen I do not comply with the access rules for TSA pre-registered, but still get Premier Access. What could be the case, is the number of Premier Access guests are high and it feels slow.

@Ian_from_HKG, something seems to have changed. I will enquire a bit, because your are right on the basis of what you pointed. I’ve always been Star Gold in addition to Business Class. Let me check a bit with some people I know on the inside.

[Moadweeb]

Senator/Ian

I spoke to the Lufthansa representative at the LH lounge in Frankfurt. She spoke to her supervisor and then confirmed that I should have had access to the lounge in Chicago.

She has given me a generic e-mail address to which I am writing tomorrow, I hope to get a response.

I will take a day to accustom to the extreme humidity/heat here in Mumbai, after a surprising cool climate in Houston.

Cheers and Thanks,
Moadweeb.

[IanFromHKG]

We wish you a better experience on the return – not least because you will presumably be using the new Mumbai terminal, which I have not yet seen but sounds fantastic!

[Moadweeb]

Ian_HKG

Mumbai airport on the return journey is a nice airport to land in but for some reason it’s quite a ‘dead’ airport since most of the lights are switched off giving the airport a very dull outlook.

The section where the passengers are walking is the only section lit-up. The art on the wall is marvelous but I am always in a hurry to get out hence never had the time to stop and enjoy the work. I wonder if the lighting is motion sensitive because of which part of the airport is without lights. ?

All in all, one of the best airports I have used and I don’t say this because I am an Indian. The departure is a marvel and I have taken many pictures/videos and will put it up when I am a little bit less lazy.

Cheers,
Moadweeb.

[Moadweeb]

Hello Member,

To Put It To Rest, I got this Tardy response from Lufthansa, nearly 2 months after my e-mail.. And they want me to continue flying with them !! Ha…..Ze Germans !!

—
Dear Mr Xyz,

We are writing to you further to our email dated 30 June 2014. We deeply regret once again that we were unable to reply earlier. However, we hope for your understanding that we were awaiting further clarification from United Airlines. Your patience is greatly appreciated whilst waiting for our response.

Allow us to take this opportunity to provide you with some background information. After thorough research our Star Alliance partner confirmed that unfortunately you were not entitled to have free admittance to the United Club Lounge at Chicago Airport, near gate B-6, on 30 April 2014 or at Huston Airport on 8 May 2014.

Moreover, we were informed that access is granted to Star Alliance Gold members and for passengers travelling in International First Class in a Star Alliance member aircraft. Nevertheless, you do not hold a Star Alliance Gold card but a Miles & More account number and you travelled in Business Class with Lufthansa.

In relation to your domestic flights operated by United Airlines, although you flew in Business Class you were not eligible to use the aforementioned Lounge due to these journeys being within the United States. Unfortunately, United Airlines’ policy excludes this benefit for domestic routes. Therefore, the fee for the amount of USD50.00 was applied correctly and remains non-refundable.

Furthermore, we were requested to advise you to access the link as follows, for a complete list of policies regarding the use of the United Clubs and Lounges:

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/airport/lounge/locations/default.aspx

Whilst we appreciate that this is not the anticipated response, we hope that you accept and understand that regrettably we are not able to give you more favourable explanation at this time. If you remain dissatisfied with the information provided, respectfully we advise you to direct any future correspondence regarding this claim to United Airlines.

We thank you for taking the time to write to us and we look forward to welcoming you onboard a Lufthansa flight again soon.

In addition, we are very interested in your opinion on how we handled your feedback and would be happy if you would answer a few brief questions at the following link.

http://survey.euro.confirmit.com/wix/p1017407774.aspx?pid=3&l=9&kanal=1&bid=22317988

The survey is being conducted by an independent market research institute, rc – research & consulting GmbH (www.r-c-online.com), on behalf of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

Yours sincerely,

Lufthansa..

[Swissdiver]

And ze star allianz! Well, never had such a problem using OneWorld airlines…

[Author]

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