Originally Posted by
KingCanute
BA claim to operate their own lounges at over 20 international destinations. Getting into one of those using non-BA oneworld status if flying on another oneworld airline is like winning the lottery - it's never happened for me. CX, JL, QF, AY, MH, IB, no problem. But I wouldn't put BA towards the top of the oneworld lounges happy family tree. And even with BA the direction of travel appears to be to close their own lounges and shift to third parties, with access only for their own passengers.
Yes QR protect premium travel in their very much smaller international network of lounges (only 4 locations outside of DOH), and choosing to book a P class ticket comes with its own well publicised restrictions. But their own passengers do always get a lounge based on oneworld status, even if it is a third party offering, just like BA.
I know people like to compare and contrast QR with BA, but I'm not sure they're really all that different in this instance
I find it very hard to compare QR and BA (or other airlines) lounge (and other) policies across airlines and use that to assign kudos.
The 4 QR premium business class lounges (DOH, CDG, LHR, BKK) are really top. The policy to close them to elite pax or super-discount J ticket allows QR to offer that kind of premium service. As a frequent J pax between CDG and Asia, that is a significant reason to choose QR over BA (I can access GF) or other airlines. It is a somewhat-unique policy but I like it.
The other policy difference, that may be more relevant to this thread, is to exclude lounge access to cheap J tickets. As mentioned in other posts, several airlines have followed that trend including AF and KL. I predict that more will follow. One obvious motivation, mentioned above, is that a lot of people use websites to compare flight cost across airlines. Now the fare comparison mixes apple and oranges as the difference in product is not only the quality of onboard products, but lounge, checked bags, advances seat selection, fare conditions, etc...