How To Access Alaska Airlines Lounges

In this post I wanted to take a look at how to access Alaska Lounges. While Alaska isn’t one of the “big three” US airlines, it nonetheless has a pretty robust lounge network.

Alaska Airlines is unique among US airlines when it comes to its lounge access policies, as it’s the only major US airline to allow many paid first class passengers into lounges. There are of course many other ways to access the Seattle-based carrier’s lounges as well, so let’s take a comprehensive look at how Alaska Lounge access works.

Alaska Airlines Lounge locations

While American, Delta, and United, all have dozens of lounges, Alaska Airlines has a comparatively small network of lounges. Alaska Airlines has a total of nine lounges at six airports. There are Alaska Lounges in:

• Anchorage (ANC), Concourse C
• Los Angeles (LAX), Terminal 6
• New York (JFK), Terminal 7
• Portland (PDX), Concourse B and Concourse C
• San Francisco (SFO), Terminal 2
• Seattle (SEA), Concourse C, Concourse D, and the North Satellite

Alaska Airlines is in the process of expanding its lounge capacity, with newly designed and larger lounges coming to both Portland and Seattle.

As you can see, all of the above airports have a single Alaska Lounge, with the exception of Portland and Seattle, which have two and three Alaska Lounges, respectively.

How to access Alaska Lounges

There are so many different ways to access Alaska Lounges, though there’s some fine print associated with some of the lounge entry options. Below I want to look at all the ways you can access Alaska Lounges, from select first class tickets, to a membership, to a day pass, to a Priority Pass membership, to oneworld elite status.

Buy a first class ticket in select markets (with cash or miles)

Alaska Airlines is the only US airline to offer many paid first class passengers lounge access, though even this is something that the carrier is cutting back on.

Historically this was offered regardless of which route you booked. However, as of early 2023, lounge access is only offered to those on itineraries that have segments of 2,100+ miles (this includes many transcon flights, flights to Hawaii, and some flights to Mexico and Central America). If you have at least one segment of that length, you’ll get lounge access throughout your same day journey, even at connecting airports.

Note that paid first class passengers on other routes can purchase a discounted Alaska Lounge day pass for $30.

Alaska’s complimentary lounge access policy applies to passengers who pay with cash or miles (in fare classes C, D, E, J, and I), though it excludes passengers who have upgraded (whether the upgrade is with miles, purchased, or complimentary based on elite status). Your flight must be operated by Alaska Airlines, so a codeshare flight on American Airlines wouldn’t qualify.

When visiting based on your first class ticket you can’t bring any guests with you for free.

Buy an Alaska Lounge membership

Alaska Airlines has two different lounge membership plans, at different price points and with different lounge access inclusions. An Alaska Lounge membership gets you access to just Alaska Lounges, and costs:

• $650 annually for Mileage Plan non-elite members
• $450 annually for Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members

An Alaska Lounge+ membership gets you access to Alaska Lounges, American Admirals Clubs (when flying Alaska or American), select Qantas Clubs (when flying Qantas) and select United Clubs (when flying Alaska), and costs:

• $750 annually for Mileage Plan non-elite members
• $550 annually for Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members

Note that non-elite members with the Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card (review) or Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card (review) can receive $100 off an annual Alaska Lounge+ membership by paying with the card. That discount doesn’t apply on the basic Alaska Lounge membership, and also doesn’t apply for elite members.

Regardless of which membership option you choose:

• You can access Alaska Lounges only when traveling on Alaska or a partner airline, which could include a oneworld partner or non-oneworld partner
• Alaska Lounge members can bring two guests or immediate family members (partners and children under 21) with them into Alaska Lounges

Select access as an MVP Gold 100K Choice Benefit

In addition to outright being able to buy an Alaska Lounge membership, I should mention that Alaska’s top-tier MVP Gold 100K members can select a Choice Benefit each year. The choices include 50,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles, an Alaska Lounge+ membership, a gift of MVP Gold for someone else, or complimentary Wi-Fi with every Alaska Airlines flight.

Now, personally I value Alaska Mileage Plan miles at 1.5 cents each, so I’d select the miles, as I value them at ~$750. However, some may prefer selecting a complimentary Lounge+ membership instead, especially if they have plenty of miles and don’t want to shell out the cash.

Buy an Admirals Club membership (with miles or cash)

Alaska and American have a reciprocal lounge access agreement, so alternatively you could purchase an American Airlines Admirals Club membership. This allows you to access Alaska Lounges when flying either Alaska or American same day.

Here’s the cash cost to buy an Admirals Club membership:

Then here’s the cost to purchase an Admirals Club membership using AAdvantage miles:

With an Admirals Club membership you can bring two guests or immediate family members (partners and children under 21) with you.

Get the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card

This is along similar lines to the above point about getting an Admirals Club membership, but is worth pointing out separately. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) is the best credit card for getting access to American Admirals Clubs and Alaska Lounges.

The card has a $595 annual fee, and offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember, allowing them to access Alaska Lounges. While authorized users also qualify for lounge access, that’s limited to American Admirals Clubs.

Buy a day pass for $60

You can buy an Alaska Lounge day pass for $60 per person. However, note that these can only be purchased for visits in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, and can’t be purchased for visits in Anchorage, Portland, or Seattle (presumably due to crowding issues). The passes are only valid for the lounges at which they’re purchased, so you can’t visit multiple lounges the same day with them.

As mentioned above, also note that first class passengers (with cash or miles) can buy discounted $30 day passes for any Alaska Lounges.

Free passes as an MVP Gold 75K & 100K member

Alaska Airlines’ MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K members receive four free Alaska Lounge day passes per year. These are deposited into members’ Mileage Plan accounts online every year, and can even be shared with friends and family.

If you do share them with others, just give them the voucher code.

Have oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status

With Alaska Airlines being in the oneworld alliance, there’s a whole additional way to access Alaska Lounges based on oneworld status:

• Those with oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status in any program other than Alaska Mileage Plan or American AAdvantage can access Alaska Lounges when flying any oneworld flight the same day, even if it’s domestic
• Those with oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status in the Alaska Mileage Plan or American AAdvantage program can access Alaska Lounges when flying any oneworld flight the same day that includes travel outside of North America

In other words, a oneworld Emerald member through British Airways Executive Club could access Alaska Lounges when flying exclusively within the United States, while a oneworld Emerald member through Alaska Mileage Plan couldn’t.

Eligible oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members can bring one guest into Alaska Lounges.

Fly oneworld long haul first or business class

It’s not only oneworld elite status that will get you into Alaska Lounges, but also a oneworld long haul first or business class ticket. If you’re traveling same day on a oneworld premium cabin ticket then you can access Alaska Lounges, either at your gateway airport, or at a connecting airport.

In other words, if you’re flying Qatar Airways business class from Seattle to Doha, or British Airways business class from New York to London, you could use Alaska Lounges.

Have (non-oneworld) partner elite status

Select partner elite members can access Alaska Lounges when flying with Alaska Airlines same day. However, this comes with some catches, and is pretty niche outside of oneworld. For example:

• Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Platinum & Gold members can access Alaska Lounges when flying Alaska same day
• Icelandair Saga Club Gold members can access Alaska Lounges when flying Alaska same day

Be an active duty military member

Active duty US military personnel traveling on orders can receive a complimentary Alaska Lounge day pass. You must be able to verify your active status, provide orders, and be ticketed to fly on an Alaska Airlines flight within three hours.

Bottom line

There are many ways to access Alaska Lounges, ranging from select paid first class tickets, to a lounge membership (either with Alaska or American), to buying a day pass at select airports, to having partner airline elite status.

Alaska is unique in offering domestic first class passengers lounge access. On top of that, the airline has among the most reasonable membership costs for lounges, and continues to allow people to access lounges when flying on other airlines.

Hopefully the above clears up everything you could want to know about Alaska Lounge access. If I missed anything, please let me know.