Originally Posted by Grantosol

Called in this morning to have a quick look at the new LHR lounge, which is indeed very nice.

Chatting with the lounge dragon, she discovered that I was flying to Dublin (seen in the world of BD as a domestic destination), and stated that I could not use the lounge.

When I pointed out that I was BD*G, and the email to DC members stated that goldies could use the new lounge on when flying on any BD flight, she said that the website would be amended to exclude domestic passengers. She wasn't impressed by the fact that I was Star Alliance Gold either.. Her line is that this is "an international customs secure area" and as such domestic passengers could not enter.

Anyone know if this is indeed the case or was I very politely "given the finger???"

Many thanks

Grantosol

Originally Posted by bmi Product Development

Having reviewed all the various comments/queries about access policy, this post hopefully provides final clarification.

The main confusion seems to have arisen due to the way in which bmi is splitting its lounge access eligibility into international vs domestic flights. The availability of lounge space at Heathrow, together with the space we already have in use means that we need to designate the new bmi Number One Heathrow lounge as being for customers on international flights only. Domestic customers have the Gate 6 lounge available to them. This means that our available lounge space is matched with the predicted customer volumes within each category of flight.

Dublin has for many years been regarded as part of the domestic common travel area for Heathrow departures/arrivals; this is why it is not (for immigration purposes) classified as an international destination.

Both current bmi lounges at Heathrow operate under Star rules, but with the additional caveat that the flight destination dictates which bmi lounge is available to an individual customer. This caveat has been agreed with Star Alliance (similar local caveats operate at various other airports around the world). Note that the new wayfinding signs which BAA have produced to direct customers to our lounges specify either ‘international’ or ‘UK and Ireland’ flights only.

The Star Alliance departures lounge at Heathrow operates under Star rules with no additional caveat. A Star Gold customer travelling on a BD domestic flight is eligible to use this lounge (although its location remote from the domestic departure gates means that you probably wouldn’t want to).

The following examples should help clarify further. For each scenario, the Heathrow lounges which are available in Terminal 1 to that customer are shown. This assumes that the scenario takes place after 16 June (the date when LH are due to move into T1):

1. Diamond Club Gold cardholder travelling on BD international flight in any class – access to bmi Number One Heathrow and Star Departures Lounge.
2. Diamond Club Silver cardholder travelling on BD international flight in any class – access to bmi Number One Heathrow only.
3. Star Alliance Silver cardholder travelling on BD international flight in economy class – no lounge access available.
4. Star Alliance Silver cardholder travelling on LH international flight in economy class – no lounge access available (unless a bilateral arrangement is in place between LH and a lounge operator*).
5. Star Alliance Gold Cardholder travelling on UA international flight in any class – access to bmi Number One Heathrow and Star Departures Lounge.
6. Star Alliance Gold Cardholder travelling on BD domestic flight in any class – access to bmi Domestic Lounge and Star Departures Lounge.
7. Non-FFP customer travelling on a UA international flight in First Class – access to bmi Number One Heathrow and Star Departures Lounge.
8. Non-FFP customer travelling with BD to Amsterdam on a Y-fare – access to bmi Number One Heathrow only.
9. Non-FFP customer travelling with BD to Baku on a Y-fare – no lounge access available.