The Ultimate Guide To Alaska Airlines Lounge Access (2024)

There are several ways to get into an Alaska Airlines lounge:

• Flying on the right kind of ticket with Alaska or its partners
• Holding elite status with Alaska or its partners
• Being an active-duty military member
• Paying for a day pass or lounge membership (with a $100 discount for annual memberships for Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card and Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* holders when purchased with an Alaska Visa card)

Depending on where you’re flying and what cabin you’re flying in, you might get complimentary entry to the Alaska Airlines lounge. Guests on paid or award tickets traveling in first class on Alaska Airlines may get free entry, as long as they meet one of these conditions: You must not be on an upgraded ticket (U fare class) and must have at least one flight over 2,000 miles in length or be a Club 49 member flying within Alaska.

Club 49 is a membership open to Alaska state residents only. If you’re traveling in first class on an upgrade ticket or don’t meet the other requirements, you can purchase a day pass to visit the lounge at $30, subject to space availability.

But what if you’re flying on a different Oneworld airline? You can access an Alaska lounge if you’re in first or business on a oneworld member airline international flight segment of five hours or more. First-class passengers also can invite a guest, though business-class passengers can’t. You also can visit the lounge if you’re flying in first class on American Airlines premium transcontinental routes between New York (JFK) and San Francisco (SFO) or New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX).

If you have elite status with Alaska Airlines or a Oneworld partner airline, there are different access rules you should know about. If your status comes from Alaska, you can access the lounge for free when flying on a Oneworld airline beyond the U.S., Canada or Mexico. If your status comes from American Airlines, you can access Alaska lounges when flying on a Oneworld airline beyond the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean or Mexico (excluding Mexico City).

However, if your Oneworld status comes via a different airline, you can access the lounge as an Emerald or Sapphire elite flying on any itinerary, so long as your eligible elite membership number is on your same day departing ticket. These passengers also have the right to bring one complimentary guest into the lounge.

Those of the following can access Alaska lounges:

• American Airlines Admirals Club membership
• Airpass membership
• Concierge Key members
• Those holding a Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®* (primary cardholder only)

Admirals Club members must be arriving or departing on a flight operated by Alaska or American Airlines and can bring either immediate family or up to two guests at no charge. These guest privileges and airline restrictions are not listed for the other access methods here.

Active duty military status also grants lounge access if you’re flying on official travel with Alaska Airlines booked through SATO and departing within three hours. Outside of this, active duty military members have the same access rules as the general public, through which you can buy a day pass to the lounge. Military members and those on upgraded first class tickets can purchase these at a reduced price of $30. For everyone else, day passes cost $60 and must be purchased in person.

Anyone 18 or older can become an Alaska Airlines lounge member. In fact, there are two membership types: Lounge and Lounge+.

The key difference between these memberships is the cost and the number of lounges accessible. An Alaska Airlines Lounge membership covers all of Alaska Airlines’ nine lounge locations; a Lounge+ membership also includes dozens of partner airline lounges. Partner lounges include American Airlines Admirals Club, Qantas Clubs and other partner lounges in places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego.

Either type of membership provides access to the Alaska Airlines lounge when you have a same day boarding pass for a flight with Alaska Airlines or one of its partners. You’ll also be able to invite up to two guests or your immediate family members, defined as a partner and children under 21 (though lounge members will need to provide at the time of entry a valid boarding pass for a flight that day on Alaska).

Club 49 members flying a regional carrier within the state of Alaska also get access at any time, even without a membership.

For those with Alaska Airlines elite status (MVP and up), a Lounge membership costs $450 per year; a Lounge+ membership runs $650 per year. For nonelites, you’ll pay $550 for a Lounge membership or $750 for a Lounge+ membership.

It is possible to get a discount if you don’t have elite status with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan but do hold the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card or Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card*. Both cards are issued by Bank of America, and holding either provides a $100 discount off the nonelite Lounge+ membership price, provided you pay with your Alaska Airlines credit card. The discount doesn’t combine with the reduced rate for elites, unfortunately.

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Whether it’s worth visiting the Alaska lounge will come down to a few questions you’ll need to answer independently:

• What value will you get out of a visit?
• How often will you visit the lounges?
• What will your out-of-pocket cost be?

For the first question, consider your real cost savings. Sure, you might wolf down as many free snacks and drinks as you can get your hands on. But the real savings will come down to what you’d actually consume if you had to pay for it at overpriced airport restaurants. Do you often need to grab lunch between flights? Consider the cost of those as your savings from the complimentary food at the lounge.

The frequency with which you’ll visit lounges is a major factor—especially as you consider the Lounge versus Lounge+ membership. These lounges aren’t available at every airport, so if you’re regularly flying out of airports that aren’t covered, you’ve found your answer. However, as you pass through lounges covered by Alaska’s network, consider how often you’d take advantage of them.

Lastly, consider how much it would cost to get into the lounges—as well as whether you have any options for a free or discounted entry. If you’ve considered the questions above and decided you could save $30 by getting food and drinks in the lounge and that you could do this once per week, it’s probably worth looking into a membership. And if you’re flying that often, consider whether you could earn status with Alaska or a partner airline to get reduced prices or complimentary visits. At the least, getting a credit card for a $100 discount on a membership could make sense in this scenario.

However, if you think you’d visit an Alaska lounge once per month, the cost savings won’t overcome the cost of an annual membership. Evaluate your own situation to see where the math leads.