ijgordon

Exactly.
One agent explicitly said the AA F entitlement went away when AA moved fully back to T3.

Dave Noble

Which does sound credible - istr that before AA did move into T5, that there was no Concorde Room access granted to connecting passengers that arrived in 1st class on AA

In the end, is the Concorde Room so much better than the 1st Lounge to really matter? they both seem , from my experience, better than AA lounges

It would be good to have a definitive statement beyond the email from customer service, but doubt that that will be forthoming anytime soon

ijgordon

The F lounge wasn't the end of the world, but (1) it was quite crowded on a Saturday morning, so I had to take whatever seat I could find vs having choices of styles of seating, (2) food & drink from a buffet instead of ordering and being served something freshly prepared at a table (or couch), [maybe there were items to order from the kitchen? I can't remember] and (3) lower quality booze, although I didn't really need to drink any alcohol at that point. I suppose I may have had a glass of LPGS just because.

Ultimately on a 2.5 hour layover, including the transit from T3 to T5 and a shower (same showers for all pax I believe?), I didn't spend tons of time in the lounge anyway, probably 1 hour max.

Dave Noble

the BA 1st lounge definitely used to have menus from which items can be ordered as well as the self service options

Always Flyin

Still does, but nothing like the Concorde Room (which is overrated).

ExPlatGSO

I’ll be staying at the Sofitel London Heathrow and then boarding AA Flagship First (LHR-MIA). If I enter T5, will I have access to CCR? Can I get from T5 to T3 for my flight on AA?

KARFA

I am afraid not. You can't enter T5 from landside unless you have a bp for a flight departing from T5. You have to go through security in T3. You would have access to the BA/AA/CX F lounges and the QF lounge in T3 though.

asnovici

you can’t access T5 with a T3 boarding pass.

bpross01

I lurked on this thread since scheduling DFW to NCE vis LHR, two of us in AA Flagship First and two in business on the Dallas flight and all in Club Europe from LHR to NCE.
My experience:
1) The only way to use CCR by flying AA first is flying into T3 and out of 5.
2) I first tried to get in through the secret door. Chap was so off-putting about it being BA only that I didn’t even bother arguing.
3) We went down and all the way under and back up. We first went to the first lounge. We had a self-announced newbie but she definitely was open to suggestion. At first she didn’t even want to let us in there but I insisted we were allowed and she looked it up and agreed. I then suggested we should also get CCR and she was willing to look it up. She opened her iPad and found the right page with a long “if-this-then-that” algorithm. I wish I snapped a photo! There is a fine print under AA flagship first to treat as BA first and specifically says to allow CCR. I had to read it to her and explain slowly before the light went on. She then confirmed with her colleague who clearly had no interest in the whole affair but agreed and suggested she walk us to to the CCR to explain which she kindly did. She even had to show the iPad to the CCR attendant who said “They are always changing this”, scanned the two flagship first BPs and let all four in.

Take homes:
1) As said before over and over, you can’t get to T5 without a boarding pass
2) DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR AA FLAGSHIP FIRST BP
3) Be polite but suggest to look on the iPad as “They always change it, but it’s in there”
4) I wish you luck. I could easily see being denied even after all of the above. The whole idea is clearly very foreign to them
5) If worse comes to worse, ask CCR attendant to scan our BP. I noticed when she did that it let us right in. It was just a challenge getting to that point haha!
6) If you fly AA first into LHR T3 and any BA flight out of T5, it’s worth the effort. It was really quite delightful.

KARFA

Welcome to FT bpross01 and thank you for a very valuable first contribution

Point 1) is very much an issue of practicality over anything else. Quite simply you can't access the airside departures area of T5 unless you have a bp for a flight departing T5 that day.

However, this is very welcome intelligence:

crazy8534

Thanks from me too, bpross01, this was something that changed when AA were in T5 and then I wasn't sure if had changed back and a few people have asked and I couldn't get a definite answer from staff.
Something I say regularly is that just scanning the BP should give the correct answer nowadays for connecting flights, provided they are all on the same booking, obviously.

The same also applies to GGL customers (BP won't show GGL unless printed at LHR or JFK), some of whom I know have been asked to show their app/membership card in the recent past.
I was recently directed up the stairs- can you imagine..!!!

mileshound

What if arriving AA T3 in F and departing BP T5 in J to Europe on separate tickets? Any suggestions on CCR access if they balk at the AA F BP? Can the tickets be linked? Will the scan give the green light?

crazy8534

The scan won’t give a green tick if you are on separate tickets but if you keep the inbound AA F BP you should be OK.

Dave Noble

Based on information above, I think that you may well be allowed into the 1st class lounge if you show both boarding passes, but may be declined access to the Concorde Room. On a separate ticket, you will only get access automatically based on class of service or status

LowValueCustomer

Right, I think the question is whether CCR access will be granted manually rather than automatically. Based on the rule, it seems that it theoretically *should* be, but with so much agent confusion around this point, I'd view it as a pure toss up contingent on the whims of the agent on duty, the alignment of celestial bodies, and the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.