If the new deal is a someone's idea of a good deal, great for them. Most think its complete and utter crap. A Staff deal would be say, $25 each or free
Anyhow, most UAE credit cards have lounge access, I use HSBC MasterCard for Marhaba, and Emirates NBD Infinite, which gets access to all lounges in DXB, except EK. Marhaba gets a bit busy at times,but there are other much better ones. Also you get Lounge Key access all over the globe for nothing.
I can't get stressed about this, disappointed yet again, but far bigger sh1t to worry about.
SyB