You don't even have to fake a QR code to get into a lounge: There was a case in Germany a few years ago where someone bought a fully flexible business class ticket, used it to enter the business lounge in Munich and then rebooked it to another day from inside the lounge.
After doing that 36 times, Lufthansa noticed it and sent him a bill over 1980€ (55€ per lounge visit). He refused to pay, got sued and lost.
I keep meaning to do that someday, just so I can say I've done it, but if you think about it the hassle of traveling to the airport, going through security, paying $12 for a cocktail in a sterile room full of strangers, etc. would probably make for an overall crappy experience.
Edit: Oh, now that I clicked the link I see he got to eat for free. Hmmm...
Also useful if you have somewhere to fly on an economy ticket. Noteworthy is that often the alcohol is free, along with the food. Having flown business on a couple of trips I can tell you with 100% certainty that I'd rather wait in the lounge than out at the gates. Because, beds & showers.
FWIW, Emirates has free Alcohol on their flights for economy passengers. Don't know about the selection as I tend to sleep most of the flight, but they have at least red & white wine and Jack Daniels.
If you're going to do it, do it properly and get a first-class ticket on Lufthansa. At their hub in Frankfurt, first-class passengers get their own private terminal. Here's a sample:
It's quite nice. I scored that on an award ticket back when getting Lufthansa first class on United awards was easy to do. Being driven from the lounge to your plane in a Porsche is a pretty great way to start your flight.
Yes. AIUI, German law seems to draw heavily from the school of thought that "obviously you're not supposed to do that, jerk, now pay up". American law prefers to say, "oh, crud, you caught us. Add it to the ever-lengthening terms of service (that no one reads) so we can prove you agreed you wouldn't do it."
It goes both ways though. You can use the intent of a law as a defense in court. It gives more power to judges to interpret things, which can be seen as a disadvantage. Overall I'd still rather have that - in the American legal system I feel like the law being a sword of damocles over my head, constantly waiting for me to inadvertently walk into a trap, while with a European civil law system I get the feeling that the system works for me as long as I don't have bad intents (i.e. as long as my inner moral matches that of the culture I'm in).
Putting aside the obviously questionable ethics, this seems like a very poor use of a person's time...spending all this time mucking around with ticket changes, all just to get into a lounge.
Yeah, lounges are nice (I used to frequent the Emirates business class lounge in Dubai), but modern airports are more than comfortable for a <6hr layover.
My family spent 8+ hours in Atlanta airport, after getting up at 3AM in Kansas. We found an empty terminal with no scheduled flights for a few hours and had a decent nap.
No they aren't. You can choose to buy refundable business fares, much as you can buy refundable economy fares. But the default is non-refundable tickets with hundreds of dollars high change fees.
Some business travellers do buy mostly refundable tickets, but they specifically have to select them regardless of class of travel. Tickets bought on day of travel also tend to be refundable since that's often the only fare that can be sold close to departure.
Yes, but if you're keeping the ticket active so you can access the lounge, you have that several thousand dollars still tied up in the ticket. You could just buy a yearly pass for a small fraction of that, so it makes no sense.
Since most - if not all - airport lounges are behind security, you'd still need a valid boarding pass (and thus a ticket) to be able to reach them. And even if you don't, most lounges require that you present a boarding pass for same day travel together with your paid membership card to get access.
In this case, I assume the goal was to eventually cancel and fully refund the dollars in the ticket so that all lounge access could be had for free.
I know people who have done this too, just not abusing it like that guy. If it's a 100% refundable ticket you can get into the airport and so long as you reschedule or cancel before boarding you're good.
After doing that 36 times, Lufthansa noticed it and sent him a bill over 1980€ (55€ per lounge visit). He refused to pay, got sued and lost.
Source (in German): http://www.justiz.bayern.de/gericht/ag/m/presse/archiv/2014/...