You’ve recently booked your first First Class flight using airline miles. You arrive at the airport and head to the lounge, assuming that your ticket provides access to an area you’ve never been to before. After all, a first-class ticket ought to include lounge access, doesn’t it?
NOPE!
False Assumptions About Lounge Access
For most travelers, the only airline cabin they’ll ever travel in is economy. They think seats at the front of the plane are the domain of people with disposable income who can afford to pay extra for more legroom and a wider seat or frequent flyers who get upgrades based on their loyalty to a single airline. While more of those seats are now going to people who pay for them, the impression isn’t wrong.
So when a newbie to airline miles learns that the 80,000 points sign-up bonus for a co-brand credit card can buy them a trip from New York to Florida in Delta First Class, they think this includes all the perks they’ve read about. However, once they get to the airport, they learn that having a First Class seat doesn’t get you access to the Delta SkyClub.
It’s worth noting that purchasing a first-class seat on American, Delta, or United does not include access to airport lounges. Essentially, flying in domestic first-class offers little more than a separate check-in line and a better seat. Similarly, business class seats in Europe only provide a blocked middle seat at the front of the plane.
International Flights Get lounge access
If you are flying on a US carrier and want to access the lounge with a business-class seat, you must have an international itinerary. However, flying to Central America or the Caribbean does not count for most airlines. You must fly on a Transatlantic, Transpacific, or a flight to South America to get access to the lounge.
For example, we had lounge access after our American Airlines flight from London to Miami. Even then, we chose to visit the Centurion Lounge at MIA instead of the American Airlines lounge.
Final Thought
If you are new to the game, it’s easy to understand how you’d think that any first-class seat would include lounge access. However, domestic first-class tickets don’t include perks besides a better seat and a shorter line at the airport. When it comes to lounge access, you either need to have a membership, an international business or first-class ticket, or a luxury credit card that includes lounge access.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
3 comments
The most annoying thing is that intra-Europe flights trigger lounge access for elites, but USA to Caribbean doesn’t.
It’s amazing how uninformed most people are about not just lounge access but also premium cabin air travel in general (not that I blame them… completely). I overheard someone talking about how they flew Delta First Class to Europe, and I scratched my head. Delta doesn’t even *have* long-haul First Class. Delta One (and United Polaris) = Business Class. Of course, marketing and terminology come into play. Domestic F < Long-haul C/J.
Oh, and there always seems to be at least one person who expects a meal in domestic F and is shocked to discover that the flight is too short (in duration and/or distance) to qualify. At least intra-Europe Business gives you lounge access and food… even though the seat is the same as Y.
You should see the constant stream of people trying to get into a UA Polaris Lounge because they're in domestic F, are a United Club member, or are Star Gold. I've witnessed flabbergasted Global Services pax try to muscle their way in when they weren't in long-haul F or C.
“When it comes to lounge access, you either need to have a membership, an international business or first-class ticket, or a luxury credit card that includes lounge access.” Or status with a foreign frequent flyer program … not sure if this applies to all foreign FF programs, but I get lounge access (Star Alliance lounges + United Club) with SQ Gold even when flying coach on UA domestic