HIDDY

I'm sure I read a report which included a paragraph about paid access to a lounge at an airport in the US....an AA lounge I think.
Once in you had to then pay for food and alcoholic drinks. Can that be right?

nux

Yes they are mostly like that in the US.

techie

FP, not everyone asking if they can guest an extra person or two does so feeling entitled. Some may do, but by no means everyone. If I do ask and get a "no" back, c'est la vie. It would just be a "nice to have" for lounge dragons to be allowed to exercise discretion and permit entry if it will not be to the detriment of others already present and/or BA. There is nothing wrong with a goodwill gesture now and then.

HilFly

As someone who has stood in line to enter the lounge, on numerous occasions, behind a slew of people all asking to bring in their children / colleagues / assorted hangers on, I'm beginning to see the value in this!

Seriously, I wonder how much of a lounge dragon's day is taken up in dealing with people requesting "extras"?

nux

How often do you trek up to GC with extra guests to ask for access, and how often (if ever) do you get access?
And if not allowed extra, do you go in leaving someone behind, or all leave?

aceman

Given that any extra paid for guests after the spouse are likely to be children, the lounges would then become exactly the sort of place I go to a lounge to avoid, a place of squealing kids bouncing off seats, running all over the place.

Cue the spluttering of indignant parents, "my little Barnaby is never like that, he knows how to behave in public" -really, little Barnaby has NEVER had a tantrum?

Would I be in favour or guest passes or perhaps paid access? Yes, but ONLY if there was a simultaneous shift to "over 18's only" policy.

Fatpenguin

techie, I am sure you are the most reasonable person in the world, I have no reason to doubt this, but others are not. I have seen a child crying as he did not understand why his father was arguing with a lady because he could not get into GC at T5, the guy was shouting at the lounge attendant as if she was something he had stood in. Now, how do you stop that happening, how do you stop people standing at the entrance pleading with someone to let their child, parent, best friends maiden aunt into the lounge "just this once".

One of the answers is if you ask knowing they can not come in, then you start to get black marks against your account. A poster inhere has said how every other visit they see somebody trying to get family in.

If lounge access is so important, people should buy the correct ticket, if not go to one of the many outlets in T5, or wherever. BA lounges can be the easiest to get in, just buy the correct ticket, I know you can not get into CCR or GF with a CE ticket, but you know what I mean.

FP

nux

I have seen this numerous times, once the parent had a bigger tantrum than I've seen a child throw, including claiming that they would never fly BA again (this was at a BA outstation contract lounge - I'm sure the agent couldn't care less).

HilFly

Strange that Poxball hasn't shown up in this thread to give us an update on Bruce and Shane.

HilFly

Isn't it absolutely amazing how many orphans there are out there? Parents never have children who misbehave!

ratechaser

Dare I say that this has strayed just a tad OT. There is a difference between making an argument for BA to enhance (no irony intended with that word) its lounge access policy to allow extra guests; versus chancers turning up knowing the rules and trying to bend them through charm, bribery or shouting.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for the chancers, and it's not something that I would personally do, as I neither want to put the lounge receptionist in an awkward spot, nor do I want to face near certain rejection.

But that doesn't mean that I can't seperately argue that I would like BA to adopt a more flexible policy - maybe this means paid extra guesting, jokers, an extra silver partner card for golds - any one of the suggestions that have come up here.

britsv

Sorry you're so grumpy today. I am quite aware what I signed up for. I was responding to the comment up thread about how traveling in different classes is rare and noting the irony that if we had chosen a different seating (with the same 2CW+2WTP tickets) that would have meant we could go in the lounge.

jacobitetraveller

and here lies the problem DISCRETION

some lounge attendants do use discretion and this is seen by others who think well ok when im here next week on my family holiday I will ask to get my kid in but different lounge attendant says NO

before you know it discretion then turns into a free for all

the lounge rules allow access because of ticket type or YOUR status no one elses

so lets hope the rules remain as they are

Fatpenguin

If that was directed at me, I am in a wonderful mood today. I just found it amusing that you were complaining about the award availability, which highlights this thread completely. You may be different, but some on here would not dream of paying for the same class their companies pay for them, but still want the benefits, it amuses me.

FP

ratechaser

OT again... I could quite easily point out that travel is hardly an enjoyable point of my job (I'm sure there are a few George Clooney types out there that do enjoy it, but I'm not one of them), plus my employer, like many others, expect you to travel in your own time, which often means losing much of my weekend. Yes ok I may have signed up to this (although as a wet grad all those years ago, I may actually have thought travel was glamourous!!), but there is nonetheless a recognition by my employer that just because I fly in J, it's not exactly a bed of roses, and so they explicitly state that we are personally entitled to the benefits that FF status brings us.

So perhaps we can take the 'freeloading' debate to a different thread?