Bangkok Blow: Cathay Lounge Now Exclusive To Its Own Passengers

Something is brewing with lounge access at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, which appears to be due to the local lounge “mafia” (Miracle & Coral) wanting to ensure that passengers go to their inferior lounges. Priority Pass members cannot access any of the usual good lounges such […]

Apr 7, 2025 - 16:19

Something is brewing with lounge access at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, which appears to be due to the local lounge “mafia” (Miracle & Coral) wanting to ensure that passengers go to their inferior lounges.

Priority Pass members cannot access any of the usual good lounges such as the Oman Air, Air France-KLM, and Turkish that we already previously reported (read more here) from May 1, 2025, and this appears to also apply to airline-operated lounges.

It was unclear back then how this affects airline-run lounges that you can access based on the status you have with one of the alliances and if you fly with one of the partner airlines such as:

Accessing Cathay Pacific lounge when flying on Malaysia Airlines
Accessing EVA lounge when flying on Thai

We got the following email from a reader who tried to access the Cathay Pacific lounge when flying on Malaysia Airlines this weekend:

But Cathay Pacific lounge in BKK airport has advised that they will no longer accept other Oneworld members if not flying on them. I tried to gain entrance today on my AA Executive Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) but on Malaysia Airlines boarding pass and the receptionists both days that they changed the policy the weeks ago.
Bummer. So it’s off to the Miracle Lounge I go..

I am not in Bangkok right now, but I accessed the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge half a dozen times in February and March when flying in business on Royal Jordanian, Malaysia Airlines, and Cathay Pacific.

I never even once went to these airlines’ preferred lounges, and Cathay Pacific is the only one of these three that has a good lounge in Bangkok.

Conclusion

This cannot be anything but revenue protection or generating extra cash for Miracle and Coral lounges operators, which, IMHO, are not as good as the airline ones. This is likely partially due to access allowed using Priority Pass and other lounge products.

My preferred Star Alliance lounges are EVA for the ice cream and, later, the Singapore Airlines one.

When flying in business and if Qatar’s Premium Lounge is open, it is by far the best Oneworld option. Cathay’s lounge next, and if you like curry, JAL’s is the next best option.

It has been a while since I was in Miracle or Coral Lounge, although they can offer reasonable options if you fly domestically.

This decision by the airport operator is ill-advised and should be reversed.

What have been your lounge access experiences at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport from April 1? Please comment below.

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