LHR Lounge
 

Perhaps it is was the fact I had just flown into LHR from SFO and went through the transfer center to connect to bmi to EDI but the matron at the LHR lounge was quite rude and cold. I presented my Star alliance gold as well as my business class ticket from SFO and she hassled me but finally relented and gave me access to the lounge. Is this typical for LHR lounge. The lounge in EDI was delightful and the folks at the front were wonderful.

Tiny fare?

SmilingBoy.

Nope business class fare from SFO to EDI. No discounts

Did you show your *G card and your bmi LHR-EDI boarding pass?

*A/BD Gold have access on all fares.

I know, but wasn't this changed at some point? I was just thinking that the warden may have had old rules in the head.

SmilingBoy.

Hasn't it just been reintroduced as a benefit for *G on tiny fares?

It really shouldnt matter. the fact that I was a full business class fare as well as presenting my Star Alliance gold card. Have never really had a problem until the LHR matron. As I stated earlier the EDI folks were wonderful. I have travel with the Star Alliance partners for several years and never had an issue till last week. maybe she had a bad day

Frankly, in a customer facing position "having a bad day" is just unacceptable. They are representing the airline and should behave as such.

If I were you, a polite phone call to customer relations on +44 1332 854321 or +1 866 716 3790 would be in order. The lounge dragons should be made to realise that full fare business pax keep them in a job.

Ultimately no matter what the situation, a passenger should be treated politely and with a bit of respect even if they shouldn't have access to the lounge. In this case the OP was more than entitled to be in there on two counts - *G and business class ticket.

I know sometimes that people have a bad day, but is it really so hard to at least manage 8 hours of being at least semi-nice when dealing with people?

That said, I'm now dreading even more trying to get into the lounges in Seattle and Chicago on my way back to Manchester next month. I will qualify as BD *G on the outward legs, so won't have a card to show them. I suspect that printouts, a letter from Sir Michael Bishop and Crackerjack Pencil still won't stop me from having problems with getting in to the lounges on an economy / premium economy ticket.

Yep, that's not on. Did she make a fuss about getting the DC doors upstairs too? Some people should simply not be put into contact with customers and she sounds like she could be one of them. Either that or she went for summer training to refine her customer handling skills in a UA-BD partnership training programme handing drink chits at one of the IAD RCCs. ;)

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry 8700: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/120)

OP: would you mind elaborating on what they did to you?

I am quite surprised since I only have good experiences with the BD lounges.

I was told just because I had Million mile flyer and 1K on my United gold card that doesnt matter since I was flying on BMI. My full C class ticket was on UA paper as a code share with BD54. I told her I had a business class ticket on BMI it was just listed as the codeshare number and not the BD flight number. Once that was explained to her to relented and granted me access. She was just rude. I have always had pleasant experiences in MAN and EDI

I've never experienced rude service at any bmi lounge (check-in is another story..) so its disappointing you had this experience.

Did you have a boarding pass for the bmi flight you were about to board? Its been a while since I've done bmi flights as NZ-coded codeshares, but I recall the bmi flight number appeared on BP - BD587 rather than NZ4427.

Obviously, million mileage and 1k is just gibberish to people from outside the UA world, but the star alliance gold symbol is pretty universal, as is a bmi-issued business class BP.

Ahhhh.....so that explains the high credit card debt? ;)