new lounge rules for gold? [End of Open Doors for Golds]
#136
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, VS Silver, Marriott Ambassador, HH diamond IHG plat
Posts: 629
But isn't the reason for the lounge at LGW being over-busy is because they halved the size of it? How many GCHs can there actually be at any one time who are flying EZY? And if there are a lot of them, BA should be asking itself why that is.....
#138
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life
Posts: 4,547
Well perhaps the rule about removing food and drink needs to be enforced now the strike is no more. Anyone contravening could have their GC removed. This is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I have been a GC holder for 3.5 years and a GGL holder for 2. I have used Open doors twice in that time. I didn't pig out in the lounge at LGW when I was flying the horrors of a charter flight as BA didn't fly to where I needed to be, and I didn't remove anything from the lounge. I suspect that the removal of the benefit has nothing whatever to do with the hoarders and everything to do with freelance accountancy consultants who get a bonus for every they save. Of course the losses from this are more difficult to monetize so the consultancy are in a win/win whereas BA could end up on a lose/lose
#139
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Location: London, UK and Southern France
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Out of curiosity, how on earth would one know that those pax are traveling on EZY? It is not as if catering in short-haul Y ex-LGW is sumptuous these days, to why should one assume that these would be EZY travelers rather than BA travelers? Or is it not just something which is more 'comfortable' to think and that, therefore, one is more inclined to believe as an explanation, regardless of whether it is the truth or not?
#140
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Edinburgh
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Posts: 9,034
Unfortunately, BA's decision has caused collateral damage.
#141
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Obviously they are....I doubt BA would have done this if it was just the odd one or two.
I imagine the Golds get their status through long haul travel. Their work travel policy will be you fly EZY when in Europe and BA when on long haul. BA won't lose anything through this change in my opinion.
I imagine the Golds get their status through long haul travel. Their work travel policy will be you fly EZY when in Europe and BA when on long haul. BA won't lose anything through this change in my opinion.
#142
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I don't even know why I am bothering but I would add my 2p here. this is utterly unacceptable. As the Gold benefits have been gradually eroded over time such that you now need to think really hard about what benefits you get over and above F lounge access when travelling OW, this was a genuinely useful benefit which cost little and I would imagine few of us used regularly.
Whilst I only ever used to use Open Doors once or twice a year I valued my ability to use it to access a decent lounge rather than a crappy third party lounge and on occasion pick up a magazine when flying with a decent carrier with a poor LHR lounge (e.g. TG ex T3).
If hordes of "freeloaders" are pillaging the lounges then surely BA needs to look very carefully at a) the reasons why these people are not flying BA and b) If they had no choice of carrier because BA had abandoned their route to the even lower service carriers (and the distinction between BA and Easy is getting ever more marginal in Y) it is hardly the loyal passengers fault that BA left them no other options.
On my rare forays to the dark side of the lounge pavilion (AKA Galleries Club) I have hardly encountered a stampede of goody bag toting Golds and strongly suspect a mountain is being made of a molehill in order to make yet another small cost saving. It leaves no doubt as to who is in charge of BA, Marketing and Customer Services functions very obviously play second fiddle to the men in grey suits. And the insinuation in the email that somehow Golds have been clamouring for BA to end this occasionally useful perk would be funny if it wasn't so deeply sad and pathetic.
The data mining value of discovering who else a "highly loyal" passenger is flying with is worth a great deal to a forward thinking airline, but in BA's headlong rush to the bottom of the barrel this is clearly no longer of value.
Whilst I only ever used to use Open Doors once or twice a year I valued my ability to use it to access a decent lounge rather than a crappy third party lounge and on occasion pick up a magazine when flying with a decent carrier with a poor LHR lounge (e.g. TG ex T3).
If hordes of "freeloaders" are pillaging the lounges then surely BA needs to look very carefully at a) the reasons why these people are not flying BA and b) If they had no choice of carrier because BA had abandoned their route to the even lower service carriers (and the distinction between BA and Easy is getting ever more marginal in Y) it is hardly the loyal passengers fault that BA left them no other options.
On my rare forays to the dark side of the lounge pavilion (AKA Galleries Club) I have hardly encountered a stampede of goody bag toting Golds and strongly suspect a mountain is being made of a molehill in order to make yet another small cost saving. It leaves no doubt as to who is in charge of BA, Marketing and Customer Services functions very obviously play second fiddle to the men in grey suits. And the insinuation in the email that somehow Golds have been clamouring for BA to end this occasionally useful perk would be funny if it wasn't so deeply sad and pathetic.
The data mining value of discovering who else a "highly loyal" passenger is flying with is worth a great deal to a forward thinking airline, but in BA's headlong rush to the bottom of the barrel this is clearly no longer of value.
#143
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^ The perverse effect of different departments having "efficiency gain/productivity" targets without consideration of the broader implications of the changes being introduced.
#144
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Wales (Home base), Germany (Work base) & around the world!
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Out of curiosity, how on earth would one know that those pax are traveling on EZY? It is not as if catering in short-haul Y ex-LGW is sumptuous these days, to why should one assume that these would be EZY travelers rather than BA travelers? Or is it not just something which is more 'comfortable' to think and that, therefore, one is more inclined to believe as an explanation, regardless of whether it is the truth or not?
When I have to "slum it" in ET out of STR, I usually ask the (fantastic) lounge dragon of she mind's me taking a packet of pretzels and a "Bifi" to supplement the paltry offering behind the curtain. On the rare occassions I fly Easyjet / Germanwings and the like, I'm quite happy to pay a fiver for a salad or hot snack. I don't have that option on BA
#146
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Europe
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(Someone in Wallyworld is now undoubtedly going hmmm.. @:-) Oh yeah.)
#147
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#148
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#149
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Wales (Home base), Germany (Work base) & around the world!
Programs: BA Gold, LH FTL, Priority Club Gold
Posts: 352
If they bothered to do some analysis on this, they would be able to better match proces & identify routes which their "high value" passengers use often.
Not to mention every time a GCH stops by a BA lounge when not flying with them, it should remind them of one of the few noticable benefits BA has over its competitiors. If anything, one could argue BA should go out of its ways to "remind" the high revenue passengers why they should stay loyal to BA - not take, seemingly, every opportunity to destroy that loyalty.