Lounge share

[nzregs]

saw this advertised in Facebook – https://www.loungeshare.co.nz

Get lounge access at any airport in New Zealand. No restrictions.
With LoungeShare, all travellers can access any airport lounge across New Zealand — simply enter your trip details including travel dates and flight number, and we’ll pair you with another passenger who has a spare guest entitlement.

Sounds like the busy lounges could get worse, and  guest benefits would likely get cut if this became a problem..  thoughts?

[Mauricio Freitas]

Hmmm. No, thanks. Don’t need a clamp down on benefits because of some “smart” folks.

[Kiwiwings]

On 2 occasions in my life I’ve guested random strangers in, one couple had Elite but bought ticket through KLM or something so no access.

 

I disagree with people being paid for letting strangers in. Can’t see any way of policing it though I guess is the bottom line.

[loungeshare]

Hi folks. Based on your comments, I don’t think there is much that we could say that will change your perspective of what we’re building, however I’m here to answer questions if you have any.

Thanks,

DK

[Kiwiwings]

Are participants involved aware they’re breaching Koru terms and conditions and access could be terminated if money exchanges hands? It’s not like there are a lot of other airlines to turn to with lounge access in NZ. Or is this system built on the airlines not being able to police it adequately?

 

I don’t mind guesting people on a forum where you’re both there because you share an interest in travel but if set up with some random it would feel like a blind date!

 

Neither of these situations feels comfortable for me.

 

 

 

[Steve Biddle]

I don’t have a problem per se with the concept – it’s something that’s existing on various travel sites for a long time.

The issue I have is that people engaging in this need to be aware that depending on how you want to interpret terms and conditions they are either technically breaking these or getting very close to breaking these.

Just to quote a few bits from the Koru terms and conditions –

The Guest’s access to the lounge is on the same day and directly prior to the Guest’s departure on flight with an Air New Zealand ticket and flight number

 

16.2 Air New Zealand may terminate or suspend a Koru Member’s Koru Membership or cancel or suspend a Koru Member’s access to Koru Benefits if we reasonably believes that the Koru Member has:

1. abused, misused or obtained by any misrepresentation any Koru Benefits or other facilities or arrangements provided by or in connection with the Koru Programme;

2. behaved in a manner which Air New Zealand reasonably considers to be unacceptable while using any Koru benefits or other facilities, services, or arrangements provided by or in connection with the Koru Programme;

3. acted in any way that is detrimental to the interests of Air New Zealand or the Koru Programme; or

4. provided any incorrect or misleading information to Air New Zealand in connection with their application for or membership to the Koru Programme

 

A guest is supposed to be travelling on or before the person guesting them in as you are legally responsible for them while in the club. There are lots of legal implications particularly around liquor that are being broken if for example you flew before them and they were unaccompanied. Technically Air NZ (and the guest) would be breaking the law if they consumed alcohol if they remained in the lounge without the person who guested them.

You could also that engaging in the act of being in guests, particuarly if the guest was to pay,  are breaches points 1,2 and 3 above.

 

[loungeshare]

Hi KiwiWings, apologies for the belated reply. We’ll have clear disclaimers for people who want to use the LoungeShare service to share their guest entitlements – they won’t be buried in T&Cs that people won’t read. They can choose to share for free, or they can choose to share for a fee, and we’ll be leaving it entirely up to them. I agree that there is a grey area in terms of Koru Club T&Cs and it’s even more grey if you have lounge access by virtue of Star Alliance status, where there are no clear T&Cs in relation to guest entitlements.

Hi Steve, thanks for your message too, and agree with your comments. As above, these are points that will be made clear to users. Effectively it is each to their own as to whether they choose to partake or not. We’ve had many who have contacted us who are keen to use even just to meet new people while travelling, which is similar to how some connect through forums already.

[Steve Biddle]

*G lounge guest entitlement is actually a lot clearer than Koru access. Pretty much as long as you’re *G and your guest is on the same airline and flight as you then you can bring them into the lounge with you. There aren’t long T&C’s like the Koru ones that you may be breaching.

 

[loungeshare]

Sorry, what I meant by being unclear is that their T&Cs are silent on whether there are or could be any potential breaches.

Effectively the same as the oneworld global guest entitlement.

So Steve, would you suggest that you’d see less of an issue with the service if we helped people play safe and excluded those who have a paid Koru Club membership?

[Steve Biddle]

As I mentioned above I don’t really have a fundamental issue with the concept – I just think people need to be aware of the T&C surrounding taking in guests and that they may well be breaching these.

People have been organising meetups in lounges for years. I know somebody who often looks around for young people to guest before longhaul flights as somebody did this to him when he was young and backpacking around. At one stage or another we’ve all probably guested in people we don’t know that well. This isn’t really that different

At the end of the day though crowding in Koru has become a major problem as of late, and something like this isn’t going to help that.

 

[loungeshare]

Thanks Steve. Appreciate your contribution.

[Kiwiwings]

Do people requesting lounge access need to pay ‘loungeshare’ for sourcing someone to guest? Even if the guesting member would not have charged anything? And is this just NZ or further abroad?

[loungeshare]

At this stage, if people want to use our service and not charge, we don’t intend to capitalise on that. Obviously we don’t anticipate that the majority of users will choose this option, but it will be available should people choose to use it.

Our setup however will take a payment from the ‘guest’ in escrow, and if a suitable match is found that isn’t wanting to charge, we’ll release those funds back to the customer.

LoungeShare will launch in New Zealand initially, and we’ll see where we take it from there.

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