Refused lounge access [flying domestic but no recognition of same day CE flight]
I am travelling back from Milan on a club Europe miles flight with my husband and daughter transferring on to Edinburgh. My husband and I were cleared to pass into the lounge but my 24 year old daughter was refused. The poor gentleman who had let us in was told he was wrong and all 3 of us were refused entry. A manager confirmed that as it was not a long haul flight we were not entitled to access. Both the dragon who dealt with my daughter and the officious manager need customer service training and the manager refused to give us her details. Should we have been entitled to access? Have the rules changes as we were advised was the case? If not who do we complain to? Thanks
Programs: BA Gold; Flying Blue Platinum for life; LH Senator; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 4,030
Was your daughter on an identical journey to you, same booking? If she was travelling CE and then domestic I think she should have been allowed in, unless there is some factor which is different. You can't guest her in if she was in ET from Milan, assuming you don't have status. Indeed do you or your spouse have status? I'm guessing you went in first, no problem, daughter turned up a little later having done some shopping and then hit problems. Having said that, I'm afraid you are in very distinguished company - it would be a rare month that someone has not complained here about exactly this happening. Get your complaint in.
The staff were incorrect. As you were on a CE booking you should have been entitled to lounge entry for the LHR-EDI flight.
I would suggest complaining to BA Customer Relations ( you may get a few Avios but this will not make up for your experience)
I personnally find it shocking that even now staff at BA's homebase do not know what should be ( IMHO) fairly simple lounge entry rules especially the manager.
Regards
TBS
__________________
BA Gold,VS Red,bmi blue,HH Silver, Amex Plat, Master of the Privy Purse des Muccis
This seems to pop up from time-to-time. The oneworld rules are;
Quote:
Customers flying in Economy class on a domestic or intra-European segment to connect to or from a oneworld longhaul First or Business Class flight can also use the lounge applicable to the class in which they are travelling on the longhaul segment.
But the BA website says;
Quote:
We invite First, Club World and Club Europe customers, Gold and Silver Executive Club members to experience the luxurious Galleries Club lounges.
From the BA notes it's not clear whether they including arriving passengers in the 'Club Europe' customer definition but since there is no domestic business it makes sense that you would have access.
Thanks for all your replies. Afraid we are lowly blues. We checked in at the same time. My husband and I to one guardian. My daughter to another. Never mind just a poor end to our trip.
Thanks for all your replies. Afraid we are lowly blues. We checked in at the same time. My husband and I to one guardian. My daughter to another. Never mind just a poor end to our trip.
But you're all flying CE? Then I would certainly complain (or at least 'seek clarification').
But you're all flying CE? Then I would certainly complain (or at least 'seek clarification').
There seems to be a confusion regarding whether inbound CE (i.e. non-long haul) connecting to non-lounge entitled flight would entitle someone to access the lounge.
I think the rules require clarification. It seems clear that premium class long haul to non-premium class is OK but short haul premium class to short haul / long haul non-premium class does not appear to qualify?
Last edited by LTN Phobia; Dec 16, 12 at 4:48 pm..
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
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Posts: 2,193
This is really poor show. I don't think it should make any difference whether it is Long or short haul. It's still a flight that is part of a business class itinerary.
Programs: MUCCI :D, BA GGL - CCR, FB Gold, JJC (1980 the Leo Budd years) Hilton Diamond
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I won't start another thread because this one will do nicely...... this morning I turned right after South Security as my CCR Card allows me to do. However since CKGG LNGG is printed on my BP if I am not flying F out of LHR, this means that it can be seen that the computer thinks I can enter the CCR. However the entry dragon (not lounge angel) was evil and twisted and accused me of being rude and arguing - when all I did was state facts - I think she was the sort who feared she would lose her job and tried to make it like it was the passenger who was wrong - the thing that made me laugh is when she told my my CCR card had expired this year..... ("rather odd" I thought to myself) quite amusing that it has 31 December 2013 on it which even if it was 2012 would still be valid.... the list she looked at had the expiry dates (or so she thought) where almost everyone (I think indeed everyone) was in 2012 or 2011, and these were their acceptance into the CCR card club dates as opposed to their membership of the CCR card club expiring.
There is diabolically poor ground staff training - this is a full service airline at its home airport and it would really be doing much better.
For the OP, inbound CE is sometimes not allowed lounge entry in transit at T5, but if the whole ticket is CE (even though 1 leg is domestic) then the BPs should have shown BUSINESS UK for the LHR-EDI sector, and if they didn't then you need to check what you actually bought, or I would assume there is something wrong with BA's systems which meant the CE fare was not transferred onto the LHR-EDI sector correctly.
Only once did I use a lounge when I didn't have status and one other time when I was invited without status but didn't take the airline up on the offer, all the other times I was either flying in a class that allowed lounge access (including Domestic BUSINESS UK) or had status. Even then there have been eligibility questions asked by the lounge staff, as I allude to above happened today, so rest assured it was not trying to single you out, it is just the lack of clarity and consistency that seems afoot at this time.
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Refused lounge access [flying domestic but no recognition of same day CE flight]
