Airport Lounge access... WHEN?

Ideas & Feedback Feedback
45

So, Gatwick South, seeing that the departure lounge is practically deserted mid-afternoon, nobody to be seen at the lounge entrance, I chanced cashing in my Metal free pass to try at Aspire south.

To be rejected at the door as the lounge is ‘full’, but for an upgrade of £15 I could come into their Concorde room.

Not Revolut’s fault of course, but this is exactly why I cancelled my Priority Pass membership. I fly from Gatwick at least weekly, and probably this is the 10+ attempt in a row at gaining access, at different times of day and differing volumes of terminal traffic that I have been asked for an ‘upgrade’ fee to enter.

So still non the wiser as to whether there are any acceptance questions with Revolut access, guess I will hang on to my pass and try at a more reputable lounge outlet at a different airport.

To be fair, the Revolut process to enable the pass is easy, and the pass carries the Lounge Key logo on it, so don’t forsee there should be any problems.

1 Like
46

Huh, I don’t understand. You were rejected with a Revolut pass but then go on to say “the Revolut process to enable the pass is easy, and the pass carries the Lounge Key logo on it, so don’t forsee there should be any problems”.

Being rejected is probably the biggest possible problem, so how come you conclude there should not be any problems?

47

That’s not the point I was making.

48

So what is the point in getting a pass when you get rejected anyway? I still don’t understand how you can get rejected when you clearly bought a pass beforehand?

49

Why can’t he just ask the person at the lounge if it’s full or not? Am I the only one that thinks this is common sense?

50

I thought it works like this:

  1. You buy a pass over the App.
  2. You get a reservation in the lounge.
  3. You go there an enter it.

But so far it sounds like this:

  1. You buy a pass over the App.
  2. You get there and if you are lucky you can enter it.
  3. If not you get rejected in front of everybody.

I don’t get it. :sweat_smile:

51

I thought it works like this

  1. Ask them if there’s a space
  2. Buy the space in the lounge
  3. Enter it
52

That does not really make sense. I want to know beforehand if I can enter it. You don’t buy tickets for a movie just to get rejected at the cinema, or?

1 Like
53

You book a specific seat and the system knows exactly how many people out of the max allowance is in there already though

54

I thought that’s how this lounge pass thing works. :sweat_smile:

55

What Airport Lounges are included? Munich, London, Hamburg?
What’s the price?
Manfred

56

Yes, because it isn’t.

1_ I don’t want to walk from one end of the airport to the other with luggage just to find out that the lounge is full.
2. Sometimes lounges aren’t actually full, they just won’t let you enter because they don’t think you’re worthy… More likely to happen when you have to ask whether your cheap-ass lounge program qualifies before buying a pass.
3. For some customers lounges are about status. Imagine the macho type guy inviting his girlfriend to the lounge only to get rejected at the door.

Common sense:
You just want to check whether right now +30 min you can enter. If so, buy a pass. Go there, show them the pass and get in 100%. No wasted time, no discussions, no humiliation, no upgrade fee.

57

Stop being lazy.

I don’t think anyone turns down money. They’re a business.

Anyone who invites their girlfriend into a lounge for the status is pathetic unless it’s an extremely highend one.

58

Convenience and comfort are overrated. Actually, there’s no point in offering lounges at all.

59

Premium cards come with premium features, if you want a standard card stay on standard plan :+1:

60

Yes, premium features that allow me to be lazy. That’s the entire point of airport lounges, comfort and convenience.

61

Not to be lazy and avoid walking across the airport to get to a lounge. Would you like a caddy ride to it, sir?

62

Not at all. Avoid walking across the airport to be rejected in order to then again walk across the airport only to find out that the next lounge is full too. You conveniently left out the important part. Only someone who doesn’t know airports would call this “being lazy”.

I expect more when I use a premium service to buy a mobile ticket from a digital company that exists for no other reason than convenience. But of course I respect your opinion that walking around to be rejected is a premium feature. I invite you to find like-minded people, it will be my pleasure to offer premium services to you.

3 Likes
63

If we take an example of the Aspire lounge in Edinburgh, you’ll pay £21.99 if you book direct. Booking direct you provide your flight information and are granted access for 3 hours - another perk of booking direct is delay cover. If your flight is delayed you’re not kicked out, or rather, you’re allowed to return to the lounge.

You can buy a card that provides unlimited access for Aspire lounges and it’s £259 per year.

If you’re getting access to this lounge with a Lounge Pass or Dragon Pass, you cannot pre-book and can be turned away if the lounge is busy or expected to be busy within your allowance - ie before your gate is announced.

Revolut appear to have done this another way, it looks to be a cut down MasterCard Lounge Key membership, you don’t seem to be able to use your card with the MasterCard Airport Experiences app - this is why I suggest it’s cut down. This does however give you access to the example Aspire lounge, but you can’t pre-book, just like the other passes.

When you turn up you’ll have to check if there’s space and then generate the QR code on your phone. You could do this beforehand but it means you may need to walk to another lounge and use the code - or in a smaller airport you may not have another choice. Edinburgh has 2 you’re able to use it with - generating this code is not pre-booking a place.

Another benefit to booking direct is the guaranteed price and price matching, they claim you cannot buy cheaper and if you do, they’ll price match it.

Finally anyone can book the Aspire lounge, no membership is required. So it’s not really the fault of Revolut, though I agree if it’s one pass per year, that’s not really a perk as you could buy a discounted coupon online for less or pay direct and get the benefit of knowing you’ll get in.

So once you’ve used your one free pass, how much is it to access this lounger through Revolut? Currently the app says it’ll be £24.99. So obviously you’re not going to use this if you know you’ll be in this airport with enough time to use the lounge, book direct and get the benefits.

My opinion is, it’s got to be closer to a couple passes every quarter - even though I’d obviously like it to be unlimited. I suspect most passes wouldn’t be used, many Metal members will get access to their airline lounges or just don’t use lounges at airports. However, I suspect this might be how it’s justified to not be much of a perk. I wonder how many of the free passes have been used?

My Amex comes with Lounge Club, 2 free visits a year and £15 access to the same lounge, for comparison. With this though I can also collect air miles, hotel points etc.

1 Like
64

In the app you have to choose a lounge when you create a code. Is it valid for all lounges?

1 Like