Dreamfolks, one of the significant IT platforms that banks and lounges use as the middleware to authenticate and bill for credit-card lounge access, has some issues, causing lounge access for many bank customers to be denied since Friday, September 20, 2024.

Dreamfolks IT Issues now fixed partly.

Dreamfolks is one of the largest middleware platforms in India, specifically for the travel segment. It enables credit and debit card-based lounge access for the customers of banks and other institutions that buy from them. Some of the BFSI customers of Dreamfolks include:

• MasterCard
• DinersClub
• IDFC First Bank
• ICICI Bank
• HDFC Bank
• SBI Card
• Kotak Bank
• Axis Bank
• AU Small Finance Bank

As of September 20, 2024 an outage has crept into Dreamfolks’ systems. This has caused their customers to be unable to access the lounges because the authentication wouldn’t go through. Consequentially, the following notices, or similar, have sprung up at lounges across the country.

The issues are not limited to a specific airport or a group of airports because when one logs into their Dreamfolks web access, many domestic lounges across India are missing. So far, the following airports have seen connectivity issues (based on social media and web access) :

•  Chennai
• Mumbai
• Ahmedabad
• Kolkata
• Thiruvananthapuram
• Mangaluru
• Guwahati

Adani Airports, which operates major airports in India such as Mumbai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Thiruvananthapuram, issued a statement blaming Dreamfolks for customers’ inconvenience (and, indirectly, loss of revenue). A statement by an Adani Airport spokesperson said,

Passengers at airports across India have been experiencing disruptions in lounge access. This is due to the unexpected suspension of services by Dreamfolks Services Ltd, a lounge access provider partnered with several banks, in violation of its service agreements with the affected airports.

AAHL is actively working with the banks to facilitate the immediate resumption of services.

Despite our requests, services through Dreamfolks have not yet been restored. As an interim alternative, lounges at Adani-operated airports are now accepting all major debit and credit cards from other access providers.

We are committed to fully supporting passengers during this period.

Dreamfolks finally confirmed there was an issue after being publicly shamed. A Statement issued by Dreamfolks about 40 hours after the problems came to light said,

At DreamFolks, we are currently addressing a temporary disruption in our services. Our dedicated team is working diligently with our partners to identify the root cause and implement solutions as quickly as possible. We would like to clarity that all our contractual agreements remain in full force. We are fully compliant with our obligations and are executing our services accordingly.

Our top priority is to minimize any inconvenience to passengers and restore normal operations swiftly. We recognize the critical role our services play in the airport ecosystem, and we are confident that the actions we are taking will lead to an even stronger and more reliable service framework in the future.

There was more talking about them being market leaders, but they forgot that they had to apologise for their service disruption before going about the issue.

This morning (September 23), though, Dreamfolks confirmed that they have fixed the issues. What seems to have happened is the loss of connectivity between Travel Food Services (TFS) and Dreamfolks. TFS is the “operator” for Adani Lounges, as well as other lounges in Chennai and Kolkata. Their statement read,

Our team has successfully resolved the integration issue at Adani Airports, ensuring seamless acceptance of all eligible cards at the lounges moving forward.

There were many other motherhood statements padding the rest of the statement, but again, Dreamfolks does not apologize to its customers or stakeholders. Also, this issue is only resolved for Adani Airport’s linked lounges. The others, managed by TFS, such as at Chennai and Kolkata, are still hoping for a resolution. So, TFS Travel Services issued a media statement for Dreamfolks, publicly today.

Passengers at the Chennai and Kolkata airports have been experiencing disruptions in lounge access. This is due to the unexpected disruption of services by Dreamfolks Services Ltd, a lounge access provider partnered with several banks, in violation of its service agreements with the lounge operators.

Travel Food Services (TFS) is actively working with the banks to facilitate the immediate resumption of services.

Despite our requests, services through Dreamfolks have not yet been restored. This breach of its obligations has resulted in significant inconvenience to passengers at multiple airports, and we are exploring appropriate legal
remedies against Dreamfolks.

Lounges at Chennai and Kolkata airports continue accepting all major debit and credit cards including from other access providers aside from Dreamfolks.

We are committed to fully supporting passengers during this period.

Update: Dreamfolks has finally confirmed all their IT network is updated, and hence, everyone can access lounges with their credit/debit cards now.

Bottomline

Lounge Access hopefuls across India will should see their attempt to access airport lounges based on their credit and debit cards  work again at the airports across India, as lounge access platform company Dreamfolks claims to have fixed their issues.

Have you tried entering a lounge, and has it worked? 

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