How to use lounge access on connections

The departure airport and eligible flight

Under the oneworld lounge policy, a customer must be departing on a flight that is both marketed and operated by a oneworld member airline. [5] Members of oneworld airline frequent flyer programmes with the equivalent of Emerald or Sapphire tier status can use lounges offered by oneworld airlines when departing on any flight marketed and operated by any oneworld member airline, whatever cabin class they are flying, subject to the exceptions listed by oneworld. [5] Emerald tier members can use First Class, Business Class or frequent flyer lounges, while Sapphire tier members are welcome in Business Class or frequent flyer lounges, which does not include Qantas Domestic Business Lounges. [5]

Access is available on the day of travel, or before 06:00 the following day, at the airport from which the oneworld flight on which the eligible customer is travelling departs. [5] For a passenger changing aircraft, that wording makes the connecting airport and the eligible oneworld flight the relevant reference point. [5] Arrivals lounges are excluded from the policy. [5]

Members should be ready to show a boarding pass and a frequent flyer membership card carrying oneworld Emerald or Sapphire tier status at the lounge. [5] Emerald and Sapphire members may invite one guest, and the guest must also be travelling on a flight operated and marketed by a oneworld carrier. [5]

First and Business Class connections

oneworld sets out a dedicated rule for premium cabin customers who change aircraft: First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 06:00 the following day, can access a lounge when they are travelling between an international long haul flight and an international short haul or domestic flight, and the rule applies in either direction. [5] The page defines a oneworld international long haul flight as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than five hours. [5]

Lounge access in that case is determined on the international long haul ticketed flight, regardless of the class ticketed on the international short haul or domestic sector. [5] The customer must be prepared to show a boarding pass for travel in First or Business Class on the international long haul flight in order to enter the lounge before the short haul or domestic flight. [5] The rule is expressed for a journey that pairs an international long haul flight with an international short haul or domestic flight. [5]

First Class passengers may use a Business Class or frequent flyer lounge if a First Class lounge is not available, and may invite one guest who must also be travelling on a flight operated and marketed by a oneworld airline. [5] For a wider walk-through of alliance lounge entitlements, see oneworld lounge access.

Third-party programmes and airport areas

Priority Pass says admittance is conditional on the customer having a valid means of access, a valid boarding pass and any additional identification that the lounge may require. [4] Guests must register and enter the lounge at the same time as the member. [4] The means of access is non-transferable and only one may be used for each visit. [4]

Location inside the airport matters as well as the airports on the itinerary: some Priority Pass lounges in Europe are located within designated Schengen areas of the airport, and access to those locations is only provided to customers travelling between Schengen countries. [4] A connecting passenger whose journey does not involve travel between Schengen countries therefore does not meet that condition for those locations. [4]

Priority Pass states that providing a means of access does not guarantee access or continued access, and that admission is subject to capacity restrictions. [4] Priority Pass, the payment card provider or another organisation that supplies the benefit may also limit how many times the means of access can be used within a period and within the same arrival or departure location. [4] Where a Priority Pass visit is pre-booked, the reservation is valid only for the date and time shown, and arriving outside that time may mean refusal or delay, with any grace period left to the lounge's discretion. [4]

Exceptions and limits

• Capacity. oneworld notes that some lounges may get busy at peak times and that access may be restricted as a result. Priority Pass says each lounge has its own terms, which the customer accepts by using it. [5] [4]
• Excluded lounges. Arrivals lounges, spa and pre-flight dining facilities and British Airways' Concorde lounges are excluded from the oneworld policy, and so are the American Airlines and British Airways Chelsea lounge at JFK Terminal 8 and Hawaiian Airlines Premier Clubs. [5]
• Paid programmes. The paid lounge programmes offered by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Qantas are not part of the oneworld agreement, and members of those programmes are not entitled to access lounges under it. [5]
• AAdvantage and Alaska/Hawaiian limits. American Airlines AAdvantage members, whatever their tier status or cabin, are not eligible for oneworld member airline lounge access when travelling solely on North American flights between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean, or solely on domestic U.S. flights, with some exceptions. [5] Premium customers travelling in First or Business Class who do not hold oneworld Emerald or Sapphire status are not eligible for lounge access when travelling on American Airlines domestic flights solely within the U.S., between the U.S. and the Caribbean, between the U.S. and Mexico (except Mexico City), or Canada, except on the select non-stop domestic U.S. transcontinental routes JFK–LAX and JFK–SFO and the reverse. [5] Alaska Airlines/Hawaiian Airlines Atmos Rewards members are not eligible for oneworld member airline lounges when travelling solely within and between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. [5]
• A connection-specific exclusion. SriLankan FlySmiLes Platinum and Gold members flying economy are excluded on SriLankan Airlines-operated flights from Male, Gan, Trivandrum, Tiruchirappalli, Chennai, Madurai, Bangalore, Cochin, Coimbatore and Hyderabad to Colombo, and vice versa. [5] The exclusion also applies to SriLankan FlySmiLes Platinum and Gold members booked on an international itinerary arriving on a flight of less than five hours' duration and connecting via Colombo to or from those short haul sectors; oneworld says this does not apply to other members' Emerald and Sapphire customers. [5]
• Fare exclusions. Qatar Airways "Business Lite" fares and Finnair "Business Light" fares are not eligible for lounge access. [5]
• Children. Infants under two are not counted as a guest when travelling with an eligible adult, unaccompanied minors aged two to eleven who are eligible for lounge access must be accompanied by an adult who counts as their guest, and young passengers aged twelve to seventeen who are eligible for lounge access do not need an accompanying adult except where local law requires one. [5] Whether children may enter a Priority Pass lounge varies by lounge. [4]
• Separate tickets. The oneworld connecting rule is set out for connections between oneworld marketed and operated flights. For itineraries involving separate tickets, see the separate ticket connection checklist. [5]

Related pages

Prepare for the airport with the lounge access checklist, compare alliance rules in oneworld lounge access, Star Alliance lounge access and SkyTeam lounge access, and look up shared vocabulary in the frequent flyer glossary.

Sources

Sources accessed on 18 October 2026. The rules above come from the oneworld lounge policy and the Priority Pass conditions of use. Priority Pass notes that each lounge has its own terms.

1. Priority Pass conditions of use, checked 18 October 2026
2. oneworld airport lounges and lounge access policy, checked 18 October 2026