SkyGuide Executive Privilege Club Imposes New Limits on Lounge Pass Reimbursement

Lots of folks have been successfully using the SkyGuide Executive Privilege Club for deeply discounted lounge access. A $20 membership buys 12 lounge day passes per year.

And since the ‘per year’ limit has been per calendar year, and the membership is for 12 months, folks have even been able to get 24 (12 at the end of one year, 12 at the beginning of the next) lounge passes for their $20.

Further, since a lounge day pass often costs $50, that’s as much as $1200 in (mileage-earning, credit card signup bonus-qualifying) spending that’s reimbursed.

A great deal all around if you’re willing to fill out and mail in the reimbursement form.

This continues to be a good deal, but of course it is too good a deal. So not at all surprising that they’re tweaking the terms and conditions of the program to make it a bit more difficult to get outsized value from the program.

The major changes is that effective January 1 you’ll only be able to request reimbursement of one lounge pass per month. So the maximum benefit per membership year is 12, not 24.

You also aren’t supposed to be able to take reimbursement until you’ve completed your lounge visit, and reimbursement must be requested within 30 days of use.

For passes purchased online it’s not clear how they’ll know when you’ve actually made your visit. So one could possibly make an online purchase, reimburse that purchase, and use it later.

But strictly speaking under the new program rules most people would only be able to make one lounge visit per trip, which (depending on the airline whose day passes are being used) may not help with connecting flights and which certainly doesn’t help with round trips during the same calendar month.

The same changes apply to the gym day pass reimbursement benefit under the program.

One could presumably ask for a refund in membership fees based on the change in terms and conditions if one so desired.

(HT: Parag)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Your SkyGuide Executive Privilege Club membership has been cancelled.

    We are always working to improve the service we offer and are interested in feedback you may have regarding SkyGuide Executive Privilege Club. Please send us your comments.

  2. This was undoubtedly a tactic to get people weaned into the benefit of lounge reimbursement in order to then pull the rug and dangle the AMEX Platinum carrot. It’s still a great deal, however frequent business travelers will now have to look to alternatives if they use lounges more frequently.

  3. So if I’m not mistaken, we SkyGuide members could indeed buy up 12 day passes this week and submit them for reimbursement before Jan 1, and be in the clear, right?

    Any way to buy generic Star Alliance passes? 🙂

  4. Wish I had seen this before… I was a member the previous year and thought I could get reimbursed on the lounge access. Now, I’m stuck with 2 lounge passes I could not get reimbursed. You would think they would send you a notification telling you that the terms has changed. That’s great customer service for you! (being sarcastic here).

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