Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Correct. I know there have been some shifting sands in this area, but it's regularly repeated (thanks to some non FT bloggers unfortunately) that Qatar's business and first lounges are not available to oneworld travellers, when they are and they have repeatedly confirmed this through oneworld Liaisons including to BA's Liaison.
What Qatar does not allow is (for example) BA Gold cardholders to use al Mourjan when travelling economy: Qatar's stickiness is on status, not cabin.
We fly out of Doha yesterday (Jan 4 2020) in BA First (BA122), having upgraded at check in from an Avios 2-4-1 in business class. The printed boarding pass had Al Mourjan printed on it so we headed there. We had a little trouble being allowed up the escalator to it, but held our ground and persisted and we let up. When we got to reception there we were told we could go in but were also told we could go to the Al Safwa lounge. Having read FT a lot I knew that was a big prize so headed over there. Nobody on the escalator checking at the bottom. When we got to their reception desk we were told we couldn’t have access. We simply said that we’d been sent their from the Al Mourjan lounge as their reception told us that’s what our ticket permitted. (I’m BA Gold but didn’t mention that at any stage and don’t think it would have made any difference.). The reception staff discussed with each other and one of them was sufficiently adamant with the others that we should be allowed in - so we were.
I know CWS will know the actual facts of the access rules and will for sure have relayed them above correctly - but thought worth posting some actual experience to illustrate that people might encounter some differing / inconsistent treatment and messages by staff there, but persistence seems to have paid off for me. All the staff were great and easy to deal with.
(I wonder if my upgrade from an Avios booking might have been part of the issue in my case, the boarding pass definitely has the Al Mourjan written on it - and was system generated of course.)