Star Alliance is now selling access to its spacious lounge in Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), providing a paid option for travelers who would not ordinarily have lounge access.
Paid Access Now Available At Star Alliance Lounge LAX
Last November, Star Alliance began offering paid access to its lounge in Buenos Aires (EZE). That program has now expanded to Los Angeles, where lounge passes will be available in three-hour increments.
This is a beautiful lounge with a swanky outdoor terrace, balcony overlooking the terminal below, showers, and a nice selection of food and drink.
> Read More: Star Alliance Lounge LAX Has Reopened!
You can purchase access here, though the system showed no availability when I tired to book for this post (all dates and times were unavailable). A Star Alliance spokesperson told me some kinks are still being worked out of the website and that passes will run $65, with plans to makes pricing more dynamic at a later time based upon demand.
The lounge is open 9:00am to 1:00am daily and with the re-opening of the oneworld lounge one level down, is no longer used by as many non-Star Alliance airlines as last year. Star Alliance Gold status passengers and those traveling in business or first class will still enjoy access included in their ticket.
A Model For Other Lounges?
Beyond the lounge offering paid access, Star Alliance is hinting at a new product that will allow other Star Alliance lounges to sell passes during quiet periods of the day. Star Alliance VP Customer Experience Christian Draeger stated:
“Our award-winning lounge at LAX is a must-visit. Eligible Star Alliance flyers have benefitted from the lounge experience for years, and we are now pleased to be able to allow access to guests on a paid basis. Our focus on technology-led products and services such as Star Alliance Lounge Access also provides a sound business case for underutilized lounge capacity at airports. We look forward to making the product available to all Star Alliance branded lounges in the near future.”
Such a concept might have greater value outside North America, where paid access to lounges is far less prevalent than access via class of service or elite status.
CONCLUSION
I could see situations in which $65 for three hours in this lounge would make a lot of sense. As long as the lounge does not get packed, as it routinely did in the pre-COVID days, this appears to be a win-win situation. That said, the booking desperately needs redesign.
Isn’t this encouraging drunk passengers by selling all you can drink alcohol at a semi cheap price for an airport? Wait until the Spirit crowd gets word of this.
This looks like they are testing a move away from complimentary lounge access for *G passengers and instead offering lounge access as an a-la-carte ancillary. Disappointing for those of us who are Star Alliance loyalists and really value the lounge perks.
I hope that is not the case – this new policy does not impact Star Gold access.
I would be shocked if they did that- there are only half a dozen *A lounges in the world, and most alliance members rely heavily on contract lounges so such a decision would leave pax with very limited options outside of hubs.
That should obviously have read ‘half a dozen *A-operated lounges’!
The trend today seems to be towards unbundling of premium products. If you can monetize that, especially at contract lounges, that takes what used to be a cost center and converts it into an incremental revenue center. If you are going to trial a program like that, you need to do it like this to judge price sensitivity and uptake numbers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Lounge Access” become “Lounge Access (at a discounted rate)” in a few years as a benefit for *G. Especially if the rumoured plans for a tier above Gold become reality.
On your last point, I’ve spoken Jeffrey Goh about the rumored new Diamond tier and it is off the table (at least for now).
I would not expect it to continue when and if international travel returns to normal. In the meantime, they have a way of making a little more money to stay open.
This article is very misleading because when you attempt to book it asks for a flight number and when for example entering a BA flight number it say not a valid Star Alliance partner so I do not believe anyone who just pays the $70 fee can access the lounge. Please correct me if I am wrong?
It was supposed to be for any flight, not just Star Alliance. That was the very concept. I’ll find out what is going on.
Thanks Matthew as I would appreciate it because i want to book my wife access in LA and can’t see any link to speak to them directly.