EY Scraps access to new AUH First Lounge for VA Platinum

EY Scraps access to new AUH First Lounge for VA Platinum

Sorry for the messed up title. Really wish the Q&A system was a tad better. Anyway, Just wanted to confirm for everyone since there has been conflicitng reports I've seen on Q&A here and some Facebook groups.

I was just denied access to the new EY First lounge at AUH flying in Business as a VA Plat. The EY Staff told me EY updated their access policy in the last two weeks on opening to exclude VA Plat. 

I know some others on here have it in writing from EY that they will have access, however this clearly hasn't filtered down to staff. Velocity website now doesn't have EY First class access on their lounge access page either, so may well have been removed. Great "enhancement" along with the recent ridiculous seat redemption fees for velocity members on EY. 

 When the articles and photos were published on the 30th of May, The article clearly said no First Class lounge access for VA plats.

Both the VA and Etihad airline websites show that all Plats have access to is the premium lounge. The EY press release does not mention VA access anywhere but Etihad Airways Partners at a Platinum level do get access.

Yes I understand your upset because back at the start of the year, VA published that Plats would get first class lounge access and that has never eventuated and unfortunately it's just the sad state of VA's partnerships.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Singapore Airlines lounges in Singapore but the two main ones are the Gold Lounge and the Silver Kris Lounge (the better one).

VA Plat's and Gold only have access to Gold Lounge which is really poor as the lounge does not even have a toilet inside. Meanwhile, NZ Elite members can access the better one through a deal done with SQ and even if it just included flights to Australia it's still better then nothing.

The problem is both EY and VA social media teams are confirming access should have been granted. This is why VA cant compete internationally when it comes to partnerships. It's so fractured. 

I 100% agree about competing internationally in alliances. I like the fact that when flying a one world airline I know I get lounge access and not what the lounge staff are just feeling on a day.

Qantas do have some strange policies when it comes to flight number or operating carrier.

An example of this is when departing Noumea. The Air Calin lounge allows for Plat or Gold flyers when departing on Qantas flights but Air Calin also codeshares with Qantas on all Australian flights and a QF flight number can be booked via the QF website. Only QF Club members get access to the lounge when booked on these codeshare flights thanks to the only rule stating the flight only needs to be booked on a QF flight number. 

Strange things like this appear across the QF network when flying codeshare flights on Air North, Fiji Airways, Air Calin and even WestJet.