The Alaska Airlines Lounge in San Francisco (SFO) is now part of the Priority Pass network, but there’s some fine print that will require you to open your wallet every visit.
Alaska Airlines Adds Priority Pass Access At SFO Lounge…With Strings Attached
Alaska Airlines has added Priority Pass access to its lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), a notable shift after largely pulling its lounges out of the network in recent years. The moves comes as the Seattle-based carrier has cut traffic at SFO, allowing for the addition of Priority Pass without guaranteed overcrowding.
But before you get too excited, the access comes with significant restrictions; it is not a full return to the old days when Alaska Lounges broadly participated in the program.
Instead, Priority Pass members must pay a $15 co-pay to enter. In addition, you must be flying on Alaska Airlines or a partner airline, and your stay is capped at a maximum of four hours. Right now, this is the only Alaska Lounge participating in Priority Pass.
That is a pretty significant change, and it builds on a new precedent. Recall that the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at LAX has also rejoined the Priority Pass network, but carries a $35 co-pay. It seems this may be a new trend for Priority Pass…
> Read More: Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse LAX Joins Priority Pass – For $35 Extra
The New Co-Pay Trend Is Bad News
I’m happy to see Alaska Airlines join Priority Pass at SFO, but I am not excited about the trend. Is this better than no access at all? Of course. But as I mentioned earlier today, the most valuable lounge perk to me (at most airports at least) is a good cup of coffee.
To its credit, the SFO Alaska Lounge has excellent barista coffee made with Stumptown espresso…it’s worth a visit. But worth $15 for a cup of coffee? Nah, SFO is full of great coffee shops and if that is all I was after, I’d just get it at one of the many terminal options for about $7. My fear is that the $15 co-pay will attract the sort of guests who want to “get their money’s worth” and then consume more food and drinks than they need…as part of an internal justification.
On the other hand, when these lounges were part of Priority Pass years ago, there was routinely long waiting lists or folks turned away. The $15 co-pay should at least discourage some, which hopefully will make crowding not quite as severe as in the past.
CONCLUSION
The Alaska Lounge at SFO is now part of Priority Pass, but only with a $15 co-pay, only if you are flying Alaska or a partner, and only for up to four hours.
So yes, this is more access and thus I’d say, on the whole, this is good news. But it also represents something less encouraging: another sign that lounge operators think they can squeeze more cash out of a benefit that was already supposed to be paid for.
If this model spreads, Priority Pass will become even less valuable than it already is.
This is a load of barnacles.