Originally Posted by
FrancisA
I suspect in this case BA leapt at the chance to get compensation. That should have provided a comparable lounge offer to all passenger groups, including F pax and GCHs. Free pour Champagne is an obvious example of something not provided, but we could include a much longer list of premium drinks starting with JW Blue label.
Let's be clear - BA will have been compensated for agreeing to lose its lounge. That compensation should have provided like-for-like replacement facilities plus a further incentive payment to agree to move ahead of your competitors. The question is where has that money gone?
It's not even a case of No.1 may have wanted too much for Champagne. GAL should be paying for like-for-like so that's for them to pick up if they want BA to move first.
I am sorry there is too much giving BA the benefit of the doubt on this one. It looks to me like someone is trying to make a quick buck (short-term profit) on this on, probably for their own bonus and career purposes, hoping that those faced with a far inferior lounge product will just accept it.
LGW is not NBO or FCO, but if we want to make the comparison neither have ever been BA hubs and both had poor lounge offerings before the changes.
Why not go the whole hog and compare LGW to NAP? When the BA lounge there closed, there was nothing at all for four years then a poor third party offering. Perhaps that's the way forward for LGW too.
Conversely, like Simons1, it seems to me that you are making fairly big assumptions about compensation here. I have no clue what has been agreed or not here, but suffice to say I have seen terminal reorganisation at other airports and airport operators were certainly not in the business of handing out apologetic bags of sweeties. At most, gal may have covered the cost different undoubtedly involved in switching to a temporary sub contract. More likely this is just part of a broader package of ba getting better check in, gates or deal on lounge space in their new quarters. Ba's bargaining power at lgw is limited. U2 has largely dwarfed it and nobody believes ww's silly threats about leaving Lhr. In all likelihood they just took a rather minimal deal which may not include transitional lounge questions at all as it is, frankly, the least of their worries in the context of such a move.