tomparskate

Hi

I have Gold status with Air Berlin, I am flying BA in November so can use the Lounges.

What are the chances of them surviving?
I’m not a massive fan of getting it status matched to Oneworld Ruby

geosch

I don't think we can answer that before at least Oct. 12.
Even then the question you are concerned with is how long BA will honor TB status, which is surely related to AB's precise fate, but not directly identical for its timeline.

AlienInTheFatherland

AB surviving until beginning Novemebr slight chance on diminishing routes.

End of November no way in my opinion.

Often1

OP is concerned about lounge use. When AB stops paying for its passengers' lounge use, BA will likely deny the benefit or AB will get the boot from OW (same thing for OP). Alternatively, BA may simply honor lounge privileges for the few weeks as a means of attracting future customers.

Impossible to predict.

irishguy28

What about the BA Silver that your profile says you have?

tomparskate

I still have Silver with BA however that is running out soon and need to do a TP to keep it I think

MultiFlyer

Actually you should not care how long AB will survive but how long will TB be around.
;-)

geosch

It's very likely that TB's status benefits will be gone immediately or very soon after AB stops flying and probably more or less at the same time has their OW membership terminated (if that won't have happened earlier already). I think we'll see more clearly after Oct. 12.

1K-SFO

I'm flying LIN-TXL today. I'm a OWE via AA. I was just denied entry to the BA LIN lounge because AB has stopped reimbursing BA for entry.

WilcoRoger

IMO it's AA who'd pay in this case

1K-SFO

The BA lounge staff specifically said AB wouldn't pay... but not sure how well they understand the finances behind the alliance and reimbursement.

txl

Same thing there about two weeks ago. The agent at the desk didn't seem very certain about the reason, though, and just seemed to confirm anything I suggested. Went over to the AZ lounge and had no problem getting in. If you check the oneworld site topbonus members are directed to the AZ lounge. So maybe there is no story here.

Often1

Agents don't have to know the reasons and what they do know is the gossip they hear around. All they know is that BA won't take an AB passenger any longer.

AZ hasn't received the message yet, but maybe it has its own worries !

GUWonder

It's passenger's operating carrier that gets docked for the lounge use.

Phoenixtinct

Exactly. Alliance membership means operating carrier has to honor status from all members' programs and provide the agreed benefits - whether it's baggage, priority boarding, lounge access, etc. The issuer of the card is not on the hook for any of that.

P. S. From my own personal experience, I can say that when trying to enter the BA lounge at TXL, I once had a stamp from the Air France lounge AB passengers were supposed to use and was denied entry because I was told by the BA agent that AB won't pay for a 2nd lounge visit. So, BA are pretty strict about this - clearly BA has experience that AB won't pay for lounge access at LIN anymore. Technically, one should be able to enter as per OW rules but BA wants to get paid, so they don't care.