Alaska Airlines Lounge Access Will Be More Expensive in 2024
The airline will also be eliminating a major perk that allows anyone with a Mileage Plan membership to enter the lounges.
Courtesy of Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is the latest to limit airport lounge access with major policy changes in 2024.
Starting Feb. 1, the price of Alaska’s annual lounge memberships will not only increase by $100, but Alaska will also restrict access to members flying on a same-day Alaska or partner ticket, the airline confirmed to Travel + Leisure. The latter is a significant change to its current access policies, which allows anyone with a membership to enter the lounges — even when flying on another airline.
Alaska offers two lounge membership subscriptions. “Alaska Lounge” is the base-level membership with access to nine locations, mostly in its hubs in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and more. The current yearly price is $400 for Alaska elite members and $500 for non-elite members but will increase to $500 and $600, respectively.
The “Alaska Lounge+” membership offers access to all nine Alaska lounges and over 90 partner lounges, which include American Admirals Clubs and select Qantas Clubs. For the premier membership, the annual price will increase from $550 to $650 for Alaska elite members and $650 to $750 for non-elite members in 2024. While the yearly membership rates will increase next year, eligible Alaska personal and business cardholders will continue to receive $100 off an Alaska Lounge+ membership.
However, access policies will also change for Alaska lounge members, aligning with competing lounge memberships from airlines like American or Delta. Starting Feb. 1, a same-day boarding pass on Alaska, a Oneworld airline, or its additional global airline partners will be required for entry.
It’s worth noting that guest policies won’t change, as members will still be able to bring immediate family or up to two adults for no extra charge. However, the news comes just one year after Alaska imposed restrictions on lounge access for non-membership holders, which now only allows first class passengers flying at least 2,100 miles to enter its locations.
Over the past year, Alaska has rolled out major improvements to its lounges. The airline renovated locations in Portland’s B and C concourses, as well as Seattle’s C and D concourses this year. Next summer, Alaska will also debut a new, 11,000-square foot location at Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport, “allow[ing] us to be near American Airlines and our other oneworld member airlines — a big convenience for our guests who have connecting flights,” stated the airline.
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