Avianca & Copa Frequent Flyers: You Just Lost Some Star Alliance Benefits

As reported by frequent-flyer site One Mile At A Time, United Airlines decided to cut access to third party lounges for Star Alliance Gold loyalty members. Now, Copa, Avianca or other Star Alliance travelers who may be in the US or other locations where United or other Star Alliance airlines have lounges, may be in for a nasty surprise if traveling on an economy ticket.

Unless travelers are traveling on a first class or business class ticket, they will lose access to lounges in over two dozen airports such as Lima, Papeete, Keflavik, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cape Town.

Avianca has already provided its own loyalty members with a nasty surprise, cutting access in its own home airport of Bogotá. With the airline’s dismal on-time rating, travelers will likely be stuck in the airport for some time, increasing the misery factor for Avianca flyers.

Star Alliance terms previously stated:

At airports where neither a Star Alliance branded lounge nor a Star Alliance member carrier offers a lounge, third party lounges are contracted by some of our member airlines. As a Star Alliance Gold customer travelling on a Star Alliance member airline operated flight from such airports, you have access to these third party contract lounges, if the member airline you are travelling on has a contract with this lounge.

The new, stingier Star Alliance terms state:

At airports where neither a Star Alliance branded lounge nor a Star Alliance member carrier offers a lounge, third party lounges are contracted by some of our member airlines. As a Star Alliance Gold customer travelling on a Star Alliance member airline operated flight from such airports, you may have access to these third party contract lounges. Please refer to the Lounge Finder to identify which lounges you may have access to, according to the policy of each airline.

Chilean carrier LATAM Airlines recently abandoned its One World Alliance to opt for multiple bilateral agreements with airlines such as Delta & Aeromexico, negotiating their own arrangements. While certainly more complex for travelers to track, it can also provide for better benefits depending upon each individual airline’s commitment to passenger experience.