Originally Posted by orbitmic

Maybe I'm missing the obvious, but I can't see from the OP's post what the agent did or did not say apart from telling the OP that they should head to the dedicated lounge, which happens to be the practical information that is most helpful in this case.

In this case, I personally think the agent would be right not to pro-actively volunteer undue details. Imagine how awkward and prone to misunderstanding the conversation would be otherwise:

Agent: I'm sorry, on a Qatar ticket, you should go to the Plaza Premium lounge. You would be eligible in principle but we are worried about capacity issues

Passenger: Are you kidding me? The lounge looks empty

Agent: Sorry, I know it does but we have a list telling us how busy the flights are and we expect the lounge to fill up progressively

Passenger: Can I see the list?>

Agent: No, I'm sorry, it's confidential

Passenger: Then why should I trust you? And what if it doesn't fill?

Agent: We can't take that risk

Passenger: But my flight is at 12, how likely is it the lounge will fill up that quickly?

Agent: What if your flight ends up being delayed or cancelled?

Passenger So why did you say yes to the lady who came just before me?

Agent: Because she was flying BA

Passenger: What about the one before? I saw he had a boarding pass for the Qatar flight too

Agent: Yes, but he was a BA frequent flyer / an Emerald member / etc.


It just doesn't help to go through the details of an internal thinking process. Best tell the passenger where to go which is constructive. If they insist, I suspect the agent would just mention it is an exemption/capacity issue hoping the conversation doesn't drag on, but in many ways, you would hope that the conversation ends after step 1 and not to have to make a passenger feel that they are not so important, which could come across as rude.