LOL I was wondering if this would come up on Flyertalk. First will start with some useful info:
Can confirm that "P" class is kiss of death - anything that touches it is not allowed in regardless of any A class or other class on your ticket.
P class cannot purchase into the first lounge, only business. As an aside, business lounge was sending P fare customers over to the first lounge to purchase access and the first lounge was pissed at the other lounge and radioed them about it.
Lounge manager said that the inward flight access (F connecting to J) is a temporary arrangement. My read is because of the overcrowding in the business lounge and some of the lounges remaining closed, they put this into place and the policy will revert to whatever it was.
Now - putting on flame proof suit as I've been around on FT long enough to know how this goes. But here goes... rant on...
Main issue I have with the airline is that if they have obscure policies that are not published, they should probably stick to what they say. By this I mean - when we came through DOH 2-3 days prior on the way over, we were allowed in no problem (came in on I and R class fares) and I asked about our return flight - they said that it goes by the incoming flight class only, and I asked if A class is fine and they said yes, you will have no problem. I decided against booking a transfer hotel due to this and counted on the lounge for my parents' 8 hour layover. When we arrived at the lounge, we were then told that's not the case. I would have access with an ongoing I class fare, but they would not in P class. I even offered to pay for access and the initial agent said yes, but then the lounge supervisor stepped in and said no. I explained the situation with the simple rationale that given the lack of published guidelines, all we can do as consumers is listen to what the lounge representatives tell us. The supervisor then asked me to prove that we have an "A" class on the incoming flight - which I did. Then she claimed this is not a fare class, it's a class of service. This is when the proverbial stuff hit the fan, at this point she kept retracting her statements as she said it would be ok with the A class, which is what the previous rep said. There were some other lies and retractions slipped in but it's not important. In the end, we left but my point is that if the airline declines to publish clear access rules, they should stick by their stated policies. The company culture does not seem to empower people to do much either. It would have been completely fine if they were just upfront and consistent about their policies, I probably would have either booked the hotel or went to the priority pass lounge straightaway rather than bother trying to get in. Also, if it were just me - whatever - but this was for my older parents and I felt bad that I booked the flight for them (aside: the OTA's should really tell customers what class they're being booked in, they don't even tell us at booking or thereafter - and I tried to upbook into R class and it wasn't allowed). As it happened, I completely lost any time in the lounge as I had to board my flight so I "paid" for the argument with my own time too!