Happy New Year...
A new year for guest offers and meet ups! And a new wiki to keep it easier to find those wonderful guest offers and plan meet ups.
**In an attempt to simplify guesting/offers/meetups, I have blatantly stolen from the very organised and easy to read
BAEC guesting forum (note: I have not included REQUESTs, as The BA folks do, per the rules of this thread). Any and all suggestions or offers of improvement welcome, as is help keeping it updated. Please note, more lounge information is available in posts 1 and 2 of this thread.**
So, you've arrived here...
...and seen that suddenly we've created a wiki and gone and changed everything. Or maybe you're new to this forum and are considering joining in the fun of meeting other FTers in the wild and are looking for more detail. Have no fear, we have the explanations you desire. A few decisions had to be made for clarity's sake, and as I said above, I stole those decisions directly from a functional, easy-to-read guesting thread. Here are a few notes on what is different and why, and a few standard requests:
Why is it like this?
Format--Boring? Tedious? Yep. But it does make for easily figuring out who will be where when you will be. So yes, there is now a format to adhere to. Click up there to 'View Full Wiki' and take a look. It's now much quicker and easier than trawling through several pages, hoping to see your travel dates mentioned (and hoping those dates are in the format you're accustomed to). Examples of several types are given, or you can copy and paste an existing offer and modify the details.
To avoid confusion and unnecessary correspondence, I've gone with a 24 hour clock and the three letter month abbreviation. Yes, it's slightly tedious, but so is answering PM requests for 8pm when you're there in the morning or planning to meet someone on the 2nd of March, when they actually plan to be there on 3rd February. And it's not terribly different than typing out '4pm on Saturday the 14th of June' anyway, as many posters who have been here a while already do.
Terminal info is, admittedly, redundant in many cases. But as many of us are oneworld flyers as well as AA flyers in this era of JBAs, mergers and codeshares, guesting at some airports would require it (LHR for example, as one can access T5 only with a BA or IB boarding pass). For airports with more than one AC and terminal/concourse isn't always known (DFW, PHX, JFK etc), PM could be used in place of T-X, prompting any potential meeter-uppers to ask directly.
The two possible intentions in this thread are OFFER and MEETUP. If you wish to guest another traveller into the lounge, post an OFFER. If you only wish to meet other travellers, or will use all your guesting slots for colleagues/family/friends, post a MEETUP. If you would like to do both, you should post as an OFFER, as anyone scanning the wiki entries could still PM you for meet up as they will see that your times and dates match theirs.
For similar reasons, if you're a more-the-merrier type of person, please use
strike through to signify your offer has been taken rather than deleting the offer. This way anyone else travelling through your airport at the same time will still see your plans and can PM.
Should we play nicely?
It is up to the guestor and guestee to choose what level of personal info they feel comfortable exchanging. Some will not wish to give out telephone numbers and will want to meet at a designated place. Some will not wish to meet because it can be time consuming, only wanting to exchange numbers. Guesting a stranger into a lounge is a kindness, and the offerer is under no obligation to do so. If guestor and guestee don't see eye to eye, the offerer has every right to make whatever decision they wish. Please respect that.
Similarly, the life of a frequent traveller can be unpredictable. Plans which stand firm for months go up in a puff of smoke at T-2. Please also respect that a change in plans could happen at any time, and your guestor or guestee might be just as frustrated as you. Possibly more. Probably more.
For those who are making offers to guest into a Flagship AC or other F Lounge, don't forget that anyone offering to guest into a regular AC or other J lounge sharing your time and date might like to be 'guested up'. Especially as they are showing the same generosity you are.
Can I help?
Short answer, yes! If are making an OFFER, suggesting a MEETUP or happen to be passing through and see an offer not yet in the wiki, please feel free to catch us all up. Anyone with 90 days membership, 90 posts, and not using their phone to view the thread can click 'edit' on the bottom right of the wiki box. Suddenly the wiki will appear in code. Don't understand the code? No worries. BB code is copy-and-paste-able.
Currently, there are threads for lounge meets for other airlines in their own fora. I can see already that there are a few of us using more than one meet-up thread. It is entirely possible that a guestor has acquired a guestee in another thread. Your thoughtfulness in
striking through your offer on all threads you use is appreciated.
Who does Arsey00 think she is?
No one. I haven't even been around for three years yet (I'm the idiot who, despite flying frequently for 20 years before discovering FT, is earning my MM status almost entirely BIS). My post count is still only three digits. But I appreciate what I've learned here and am glad to be able to do a little something to give back.
As stated above and also in the thread during the process of making changes, I've got no proprietary interest in this thread, wiki or format. Wikis belong to all forum users. If you've got an idea, opinion, or suggestion, by all means do say so. The BAEC forum works pretty well, is easy to read, and has facilitated many meetups. That's why I chose to copy their ways. But we are AA, so we'll do things our way. There may be hundreds of things I haven't thought of that will improve our thread!
On a similar note, as wikis belong to all forum users, I'd actually prefer
not to be seen as The Person Who Does That Lounge Wiki. Please, please also feel free to help keep this one up to date. If you see an offer that hasn't been added for whatever reason (offerer was on their phone or has too few posts, etc) and you feel able to, please, edit away!