drspear

Recently took a virgin flight to new York, and got matched to virgin gold from my ba gold status.

Have commented about the clubhouse etc in virgin forum, but I wanted to mention their policy for guesting to the clubhouse, as a hint to BA of a major thing missing from the BA Gold package.

I was able to guest in my 10 yr old daughter for Ł 30 at LHR and $45 at JFK.

The difference this makes on a holiday trip is massive, we have a 6 hour layover in London, coming in from Warsaw ( on BA metal ) and the lounge saved a lot of hassle in arranging 6 hours of entertainment somewhere else in the airport.

I could well see how some would have this as reason to choose one over the other.

Wandered if anyone else thinks BA could do with a guest option ( paid for )

Barnaby100

I dont think that is their policy. I believe paid access is discretionary-subject to lounge availability and by many accounts very often refused. The price you quote is also much lower than the standard if available which is I believe about Ł60- I can only assume that what you were offered was because she was a child.it isnt a blanket offer.

CountryKerry

I certainly think BA should have a pay-for-access policy, but only for people with status to pay for extra guests. The prices above seem suitable for GC and maybe for First lounges, double that.

Barnaby100

Should add as a Virgin Gold you can guest in 1 person free of charge- I assume your daughter was a 2nd.

drspear

cheers yes that was the case, this was an extra guest

on the point about price I would have also paid Ł 60 for her and $90 without even thinking, its more about the principle.

Could also accept a BA rule that this option only applies when lounge at under 75% capacity or something.

KenJohn

The Galleries lounges can get fairly crowded whereas the T3 and T5 Flounge does appear to have capacity unless there is some major chaos at LHR. Maybe the "perk", to pay for an extra guest could be extended to BA Gold Card Holders.

Could be a bit more of an issue at the LGW Flounge which can get busy. Would not work at any outstations, so maybe difficult to implement globally or even UK-wide.

Grande Annee

I hope BA do not offer this......the lounge access rules are fine as they are.

IAMORGAN

No.

Here's a thought - buy a J ticket if you want you and your entire family to go into the lounge.

Purim

There was a thread about Flounge guesting a few weeks ago, with the usual pro's and con's offered. But in my view, the best solution proffered in that thread was giving GCH holders a limited number of 'jokers' to be used the second guest, etc. For me, 2 jokers a year that would allow the kids in as well as my wife, would be a STUPENDOUS GCH benefit.......

drspear

yes that is a great idea as well I would be well in favour of that idea

drspear

that would have increased the trip value by 12k, I don't think that would represent value, especially when you could fly virgin in coach for 1k and get their clubhouse.

BA wont like the idea of Virgin offering something better than them

how is that thought ?

1HourPhoto

That would actually be a decent benefit, must be plenty of GCH & SCH who frequent Galleries Club and Flounge and rarely if ever use the guesting benefit but the one time they want to use it on a family holiday they can't.

Although where do you draw the line with how many extra guests the joker would allow in. GCH + wife + 2 kids, + 3 kids, + 4 kids and so on.

Paralytic

The problem with that idea is that the majority of the voucher uses would most likely be in the peak holiday months when the lounges are already at their busiest. So, in theory its a good idea, but in practice will only work if BA somehow increased the capacity of the lounges.

Purim

One joker, one person. So the bean counters a BA need to work out how many jokers to give out to us lowly GCH's. I have 2 kids, so I would recommend 2 per year

yes there are problems with the concept, and I am sure BA is quite happy the way things are and since I am sure I am in the minority. Anyway, the Flounge never needs that busy to me, except when there is an 'event' and then it fills up. But as I say, for folks like me who fly solo all the time to attain this status, ONE annual exception to the guesting policy would a HUGE benefit. Does it upset BA's applecart so much to provide it?

I'll grab my coat.....

ratechaser

Maybe I'm just feeling particularly good natured towards BA this week, given that they just gave me my first ever op-up, on any airline, ever... but my view is that if there was a pay for access approach similar to Virgin's, I'd cut over all my flying to BA immediately. Holiday travel is the only time I'd ever need a +3 option, and as a lowly gold, that's never going to happen.

Of course I could point out the relative disparity of GGLs getting 3 lounge enabling partner cards, whereas golds don't even get a single partner silver to give out... but that would obviously be hugely OT and sound like a case of sour grapes...