Originally Posted by
LTN Phobia
It must be something to do with availability of self-service alcohol rather than a self-service forks though
My guess is the liability issues (linked to duty of care). Considering how sue-happy some people are nowadays, despite the absence of the legal requirement for BA to deny entry to under 18s into self-service alcohol area, particularly in light of the fact that the general UK licensing law tend to "frown upon making alcohol available to under 18s in public places" so to speak, I can really only think of potential liability issues as allowing them access may increase their chance of being successfully sued if something goes wrong.
In that case, BA need to a) explain that, b) advertise the policy when booking, c) offer something to mitigate the denial of lounge access, such as vouchers or a discount - and then we'd be getting somewhere... As it is, their explanation is "there is alcohol available". Well, duh. Assuming most under-18s live with their parents, could they not raid the drinks cabinet if they really wanted alcohol so badly?