Originally Posted by
snaxmuppet
On a bit of a side note... what generally happens if someone below Bronze and not flying in a premium cabin tries to check in at a business check in desk? Are they refused and made to join the back of the standard check in? Clearly they should but does this actually happen?
In some cases there are good reasons - running late, maybe they have a disability, don't understand BA's system, may not have the right language skills. Generally speaking there its not a great idea to force people to queue up again, particularly as CW desks may not be much of a short cut. A better approach is to process them as quickly as possible, gently mention that next time they should try the other desks. Having an argument over this doesn't work for anyone.
At LHR T5 (and to some extent LGW and T3) there is another factor, namely that if travelling ET, WT, WTP and without status, you are more or less forced to check-in with the self service machinery. If it doesn't work (can't find ticket, passport API issue) then they will get a slip of paper from the machine saying "go to a desk". At that point there is no alternative but to use the CW desks.