Emirates have announced that economy class passengers now have paid access to their first class and business class lounges. The cost is $100 for access to the business lounges and another $200 for access to the first lounges. The price point is relatively high which reflects Emirates feeling that access is worth this much. It begs the question, does paid access dilute the experience for other passengers?
Paid Access or Earned Access?
One of the most desirable aspects of climbing the levels in a frequent flyer programme is the lounge access. People actively go to the airport a little early in order to treat themselves to a nice relaxing lounge experience. This is a reward for all the money spent or miles flown with their chosen airline. Providing paid access could prevent someone from chasing a higher status. Why bother chasing a higher level in a programme for lounge access when you can just buy it?
Quite a few airlines offer paid access to lounges. American Airlines offer an annual membership to the Admirals Club for US$550 or you can buy day passes for $50. Qantas offer membership to the Qantas Club for AU$510 per year but there is no option for a paid day pass. Other airlines such as Aer Lingus offer lounge access a certain fee per visit. It would be interesting to see how much revenue is made from these offerings.
Busy Lounges
In my experience, the Qantas and American Airlines lounges are generally very busy – they’re certainly no sanctuary of peace and quiet. American Airlines even go so far as being the only oneworld alliance carrier that does not allow their own high tier frequent flyers lounge access on domestic itineraries. This essentially forces people to pay!
These airlines all have one thing in common. Paid access is for the business lounge or equivalent only. The exclusivity of the first class lounges (and above!) is usually sacrosanct – access is earned by flying first class or being the highest tier in a frequent flyer programme. Emirates is really doing something different here by offering access to their first class lounge, even if it is at a steep price. On the flipside, many other airlines such as British Airways offer no paid lounge option at all.
Overall Thoughts
My view would be that lounge access should be restricted to frequent flyers only. I can understand offering paid access for a price to the business class lounge from a revenue perspective but certainly not a first class lounge.
What do you think of paid lounge access? I’d be curious as to your thoughts as some people do complain of overcrowded lounges, noise from other guests and all sorts of things. Others must love the chance to pay so they can enjoy the lounge experience. Thanks for reading and please leave your comments and questions below.
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Featured image of the Emirates Business lounge via the Emirates Media Kit.
I’m not for paid lounge access either.
Glad to hear it! Cheers!
As a frequent flyer, I can often use the First class lounge when flying economy. When I do, I sometimes think about the view of actual First class passengers about us “free riders” Exclusivity means a lot. However, if someone wants to pay U$200 to use a First class lounge, we should let them. As noted in comments below, many would use Priority pass etc at a cheaper cost, so perhaps this usage will be low.
I am the same as you with First Class lounge access and agree with you that exclusivity means a lot. As the fee is relatively hefty, I imagine it will weed out most people from wanting to give it a go, but some still will. Perhaps for a birthday or anniversary or something like that. I’d be interested to see what the take up ends up being. Thanks for the comment!
Not quite sure why anyone would really want to pay $100 – $300 to use the Emirates lounges when you can get a Priority Pass for a couple of hundred dollars a year [tagged on to a CHASE Reserve or CITI Prestige card. Those cards give worldwide access and whilst the lounges are certainly not generally up to the Emirates standard, they are a whole lot better than sitting at the gate. I have used my CITI Priority Pass three times already this year; it is just great.
Priority Pass is extremely popular around the world and it has a very decent selection of lounges. It doesn’t allow access to many airline lounges though, so I guess Emirates are banking on people wanting to try their own lounge when flying with them rather than the alternatives. When I lose my frequent flyer status I’ll certainly be looking into Priority Pass. Thanks for the comment!
I think First lounges should never be monetized. But business or generic lounges it is fine. The odd issue that comes up – in order to keep it from being overcrowded with paid people it has to be expensive enough to not be worth it to most people. The business customers that can afford it, likely would earn it anyway. The trick is in not selling it to too many people / providing too little benefits to make it worthwhile as a passenger. As an example, the No. 1 lounge in LHR (Virgin, Delta, Priority Pass, and others) just gets… Read more »
I agree with you wholeheartedly about not allowing paid access to First lounges. Some people on my Facebook pointed out that paid lounge access is restricted or not offered when lounges are busy which I feel is appropriate as you wouldn’t want regular customers to have a bad experience. I guess airlines aren’t going to promote paid lounge access in TV commercials so it will probably be something that is for those in the know more than anything. Thanks for the comment!