RANT: BA Experience at T1 to DUB-Shabby!!!
Aug 16, 2012, 10:47 am
#107
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Dublin,Ireland and Nice France
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Mmmm. You mean they didn't know who you were?! 
Did you try telling them you'd maybe be CCR in the next month or two?
So the lounge you had access to was actually fine and not substandard. What you didn't like being told was 'no'. Well, BA reserves the right to vary it's lounge rules, and does so in this case. If refusal offends, it's a good idea to do the research so you are not putting the lounge staff in the position of having to offend you.
If only you'd looked it up (or had flown BD domestically, in which case you'd have known all about this rule - it's been in place for several years now) in advance, you'd not be feeling all offended, hurt and unloved now, the staff would not have had the uncomfortable experience of having to refuse you
Did you try telling them you'd maybe be CCR in the next month or two?So the lounge you had access to was actually fine and not substandard. What you didn't like being told was 'no'. Well, BA reserves the right to vary it's lounge rules, and does so in this case. If refusal offends, it's a good idea to do the research so you are not putting the lounge staff in the position of having to offend you.
If only you'd looked it up (or had flown BD domestically, in which case you'd have known all about this rule - it's been in place for several years now) in advance, you'd not be feeling all offended, hurt and unloved now, the staff would not have had the uncomfortable experience of having to refuse you
Its a British airways lounge now ,with a gc British airways customer denied access and that what's pertinent here.
I tend to agree with others here - there are bigger issues to be sorted out with the takeover. You still have access to a lounge which is "fine" when flying domestically. It will likely be sorted in time. Until that time, don't get so hung up that the fact you are rejected from a lounge somehow means you are less valuable to BA.
It's not rocket science,to change no to yes,the stonewall appears as illogical as the recipients of the jobsworth award on Esther Rantzens old bbc consumer show 'that's life'.
Aug 16, 2012, 11:16 am
#108
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,661
Nicci, thanks very much for investigating with the lounge team it's appreciated.
Ideally there should be two outcomes from this:
1) Access to both lounges should be as per BA and oneworld rules. i.e. UK Business, SCH, GCH, OWS, OWE gets you in to both, regardless of destination.
2) Equalisation of the catering options between both lounges. That would effectively negate the whole reason for going to the Gate 5 lounge in the first place.
I'm not asking for a full Galleries refurb of either, but just make sure they both offer the same catering options and then pretty much all of the moaning goes away.
Even better would be to offer the normal Galleries Club food and beverage offerings, but I can see why that would be a challenge with the current caterers.
Ideally there should be two outcomes from this:
1) Access to both lounges should be as per BA and oneworld rules. i.e. UK Business, SCH, GCH, OWS, OWE gets you in to both, regardless of destination.
2) Equalisation of the catering options between both lounges. That would effectively negate the whole reason for going to the Gate 5 lounge in the first place.
I'm not asking for a full Galleries refurb of either, but just make sure they both offer the same catering options and then pretty much all of the moaning goes away.
Even better would be to offer the normal Galleries Club food and beverage offerings, but I can see why that would be a challenge with the current caterers.
Aug 16, 2012, 11:20 am
#109
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,853
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)
Not sure of the kitchen situation in the London Room, but I suspect changing the furniture to Galleries might be easier than installing a hot food kitchen!!
Originally Posted by Dave_C
Nicci, thanks very much for investigating with the lounge team it's appreciated.
Ideally there should be two outcomes from this:
1) Access to both lounges should be as per BA and oneworld rules. i.e. UK Business, SCH, GCH, OWS, OWE gets you in to both, regardless of destination.
2) Equalisation of the catering options between both lounges. That would effectively negate the whole reason for going to the Gate 5 lounge in the first place.
I'm not asking for a full Galleries refurb of either, but just make sure they both offer the same catering options and then pretty much all of the moaning goes away.
Even better would be to offer the normal Galleries Club food and beverage offerings, but I can see why that would be a challenge with the current caterers.
Ideally there should be two outcomes from this:
1) Access to both lounges should be as per BA and oneworld rules. i.e. UK Business, SCH, GCH, OWS, OWE gets you in to both, regardless of destination.
2) Equalisation of the catering options between both lounges. That would effectively negate the whole reason for going to the Gate 5 lounge in the first place.
I'm not asking for a full Galleries refurb of either, but just make sure they both offer the same catering options and then pretty much all of the moaning goes away.
Even better would be to offer the normal Galleries Club food and beverage offerings, but I can see why that would be a challenge with the current caterers.
Aug 16, 2012, 12:00 pm
#110
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So the fact that there might be some security risks over which the UK doesn't have full control means that we should also surrender and forego the control that we can apply?
Aug 16, 2012, 12:38 pm
#111
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: MUCCI
Posts: 1,926
This is very interesting and there are lots of points here.
The first point is to get lounge access consistent. Nicci I am sure will be on this one quickly. In general lounge access is ubiquitous but security can trump any rules and there is no way around this - a good example would be flying F to SYD - you cannot go in the CCR in T5 no matter how hard you try - there is a security risk.
The second is the standard of the lounge. T2 has been demolished and T1 soon will be. There is just no point with BA investing anything in a lounge for 18 months and especially when BA will be trying to move services into T3 to consolidate with OW and T5 for the flights with the most profitable connections. I would be cross if BA did spend a heap of money on revaming a lounge for 18 months as this would increase ticket costs unnecessarily.
However, the food and wine offering can be addressed relatively easily. Again - I do not know what the potential standard of catering that could be offered in T1 is but would have thought that something a bit more like Galleries Club could be offered. This would mean a larger drinks selection and a small buffet counter with sandwiches and maybe a few small quiches and the like. As for a separate GCH area it could only ever be a small roped off area within the lounge which seems pointless - unless you are going to have a substantially different food offering for this area which probably isn't practical.
To keep the peace it might be worth adding champagne into the offering in this lounge just as a token that the internal furnishings of the lounge are not to BA's standard but that BA wants customers to have a relaxing time before their flight.
I think, though, there will be a bit of transition and this won't happen overnight. Given the task of merging the 2 operations I think BA isn't doig a bad job actually.....
FD.
The first point is to get lounge access consistent. Nicci I am sure will be on this one quickly. In general lounge access is ubiquitous but security can trump any rules and there is no way around this - a good example would be flying F to SYD - you cannot go in the CCR in T5 no matter how hard you try - there is a security risk.
The second is the standard of the lounge. T2 has been demolished and T1 soon will be. There is just no point with BA investing anything in a lounge for 18 months and especially when BA will be trying to move services into T3 to consolidate with OW and T5 for the flights with the most profitable connections. I would be cross if BA did spend a heap of money on revaming a lounge for 18 months as this would increase ticket costs unnecessarily.
However, the food and wine offering can be addressed relatively easily. Again - I do not know what the potential standard of catering that could be offered in T1 is but would have thought that something a bit more like Galleries Club could be offered. This would mean a larger drinks selection and a small buffet counter with sandwiches and maybe a few small quiches and the like. As for a separate GCH area it could only ever be a small roped off area within the lounge which seems pointless - unless you are going to have a substantially different food offering for this area which probably isn't practical.
To keep the peace it might be worth adding champagne into the offering in this lounge just as a token that the internal furnishings of the lounge are not to BA's standard but that BA wants customers to have a relaxing time before their flight.
I think, though, there will be a bit of transition and this won't happen overnight. Given the task of merging the 2 operations I think BA isn't doig a bad job actually.....
FD.
Aug 16, 2012, 2:26 pm
#112
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You won't be allowed through. You could I suppose exit through the exit and get your boarding pass reissued at check-in before reclearing security, but that seems rather pointless.
Aug 16, 2012, 2:28 pm
#113
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Actually, anyone on the domestic pier would be cleared to UK standards. ROI isn't trusted and arrivals from there can't be let into the domestic pier (e.g. gate 8); they either go up the Irish mile or get bussed to the Irish baggage reclaim area, and from there one can only go out the exit to the departures floor. This was why all the stupid partitions were built in the Irish pier (gates 76-88).
Aug 16, 2012, 2:33 pm
#114
Join Date: Feb 2010
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The most appropriate analogy I can think of is BA saying that if your flight is from T5B you can use that lounge, but not GF in T5A. So you can hang around shops and restaurants beside a lounge you can't use, or you can get lounge access - there not being a way to move back to T5A.
I'm so used to the situation now I don't really mind, but even if BA can't let everyone access GBL (if it's a capacity concern) then at least allowing those transferring from another flight would help - though appreciate it doesn't address the inconsistency / research points raised.
I'm so used to the situation now I don't really mind, but even if BA can't let everyone access GBL (if it's a capacity concern) then at least allowing those transferring from another flight would help - though appreciate it doesn't address the inconsistency / research points raised.
Aug 16, 2012, 3:10 pm
#115
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The Great British Lounge used to be a BA lounge that spanned two floors. How did it work in those days? Was there a domestic section or did domestic passengers have access to both floors of the Terraces?
A lot of people at the time couldn't understand why bmi didn't take over the ground floor of the former BA lounge and turn it into a single lounge for all destinations. That won't be happening now though as it looks like BAA is using the ground floor.
A lot of people at the time couldn't understand why bmi didn't take over the ground floor of the former BA lounge and turn it into a single lounge for all destinations. That won't be happening now though as it looks like BAA is using the ground floor.
Aug 16, 2012, 3:19 pm
#116
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It was free access to both floors when I last used it, but I think that may have been before domestic and international departing passengers were permitted to mix.
Aug 16, 2012, 4:33 pm
#117
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Aug 16, 2012, 6:47 pm
#118
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: London, Babylon-on-Thames
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Posts: 1,519
Actually, anyone on the domestic pier would be cleared to UK standards.
Aug 17, 2012, 2:47 am
#120
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Ireland/UK
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When T5 opened gate 5 handled the few BA flights left and the upstairs section of the old Domestic Lounge became the BA international lounge. It was accessed as the GBL is today. With 'open doors' it was possible to use the lounge for EI and BD domestic flights once everyone had to go through the main terminal to get to their gate. At that stage all BA flights were international.