Air Canada sent out an email today to alert elite members and holders of their Ultra Premium credit cards of a new time limit being adding to Maple Leaf Lounge visits. Citing lines at the door and lounge over crowding (AC states it as waiting for a seat once in the lounge) the airline will impose a three hour prior to departure access rule for all locations in their lounge network:
- Effective June 13, 2023, access to Maple Leaf Lounges, Air Canada Cafés, and Signature Suites will be limited to three hours prior to scheduled departure time. Please note that this policy does not apply during flight connections or flight delays.
Good news is connecting flights and flight delays are not affected by this rule! With most airlines recommending you arrive two to three hours prior to departure this new rule should only affect a few travellers. Those few travellers may be those who arrive earlier for a variety of reasons. Some like to use the lounge as a temporary office space where it doesn’t make sense to head downtown to your office for a few hours prior to going to the airport for a flight. The time saved in the additional commuting allows for better productivity to completed in the lounge.
Or, as what has happened to me in the past, there are times I have arrived at the airport earlier than three hours prior to my flight when I have had meetings conclude sooner than planned. For me it was easiest to just make my way to the airport knowing I could go into the lounge to work rather than find a coffee shop or something similar near where I had my meeting.
Travellers who still want to do this may have to get creative if they have multiple methods of lounge access. For example if you arrive at YYZ five hours prior to departure, you could start off at one of the Plaza Premium lounges (as long as they are not restricting access either) and then make your way to a Maple Leaf lounge three hours prior.
In my experience as well it doesn’t hurt to ask for earlier access if the lounge doesn’t appear to be anywhere near full. I’m sure the lounge agents will have discretion on admittance and if the lounge is empty four hours before your flight there might be a chance they’ll let you in.
This news follows the recently implemented rule that saw Aeroplan 35K Member lose their complimentary access (outside of two passes per year) to Maple Leaf Lounges at the start of this month.