Aeroflot announced the resumption of business lounge access for elite passengers at four airports managed by Airports of the Regions. This includes airports in Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, and Saratov, according to Travel.ru.
Apparently, the carrier has reached an agreement with Airports of the Regions to reduce access fees. Aeroflot Bonus Gold members will regain access to the lounges starting September 20. Therefore, the interruption in these cities was only five days.
As a reminder, effective September 15, Aeroflot has waived fees for Gold-level customers in business lounges at 18 airports. These include airports in Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Perm, Krasnodar, Anapa, Mineralnye Vody, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Barnaul, Kaliningrad, Astrakhan, Yakutsk, and Salekhard. A similar decision was previously made regarding lounges at Arkhangelsk and Magnitogorsk airports. This is the carrier's attempt to reduce the fees for these lounges.
Aeroflot has previously complained repeatedly about inflated prices for business lounges at airports across Russia (the company operates privately branded lounges in Moscow and St. Petersburg). Aeroflot claims that the cost of access for its elite passengers in these lounges in Russia can be several times higher than similar services abroad, while the service quality is inferior. Complaints about access costs have also been received from a number of other carriers, some of which have also refused to pay.
In the remaining 16 cities affected by Aeroflot's decision, access remains available to Aeroflot Bonus Platinum members and business class passengers.
As compensation, Gold-level passengers will be awarded 3,000 Aeroflot Bonus miles every time they fly from these airports on Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, and Aurora Airlines. Some passengers may find this exchange advantageous, while others will regret the lost opportunity to relax or work in the business lounge. Furthermore, travel companions of these passengers who previously had access to the lounges will not receive any compensation.
Aeroflot passengers make up a significant portion of its business lounge customers, giving the company leverage over airports to demand lower service prices. Many lounges in Russia's regions could lose a third or half of their customers and, consequently, revenue as a result of Aeroflot's passenger departure.
Interestingly, some of these business lounges conducted surveys among Aeroflot Gold Card holders shortly before Aeroflot discontinued their services. The airports inquired whether these passengers had PriorityPass or LoungeKey cards, which would allow them to remain business lounge customers even if Aeroflot refused to pay for access.
Source: travel.ru