Fatpenguin

Hello, I have been reading the boards for a long time and am thankfull for all the post's that help non frequent flyers like myself.

There was a thread yesterday that went a bit away from the OP's original, and reasonable, question. It was about lounge access for family members.

It gets quite vitriolic when people discuss this, it would be nice to get reasonable and considered answers, I have a few questions.

Why do people feel their family members should have lounge access when they are not booked into a class that affords this service? The argument that you do not guest people in when on business really does not cut it because why not book your family into the class you use for business?

Also, if you are Gold, why not use your Avios to book your family into a class that gives them lounge access? To get Gold I assume you are getting a lot of Avios.

Last one, why would you put your family in the position of being embarrassed to be turned away from a lounge, and put somebody doing their job in the situation of having to say no to a couple of children. You know the rules, why think it should not apply to you?

As you will see I am a lowly brown, I travel a bit for work, but usually LCC as we deal in Eastern Europe and they get closer to where we deal. When my wife and I have a holiday we fly club, this is either paid for or we use Avios to MFU, only learnt through this site, thank you again.

I know this does not count for all, but there seem to be a lot of people on here who enjoy the benefits of flying premium when on business but do not then book their family into the same classes. It is fully understandable if you can not afford to book club or first, but why expect the same service?

I really hope some sensible replies will come along.

corporate-wage-slave

Me too, but I'm not betting the farm on it.

Welcome dear Fatpenguin to this veritable haven of domestic bliss, tolerance and child friendly postings [some of the time]. It is certainly an interesting first contribution to FlyerTalk and the BAEC forum, may we see plenty more of you here.

Someone will probably ask how many children you have so far, but I won't.

Fatpenguin

Thank you for the kind welcome. I will preempt the question, we unfortunately do not have any children. Maybe that means I do not realise how difficult they can be, but if that is a reason to want lounge access, maybe a reason to book them in a class that gives it.

oxtailsoup

My opinion is that the current Lounge access rules are reasonable.

However there are people who simply don't want kids in the lounge whether entitled or not.

My view is that anyone should be allowed into the lounge, subject to entitlement, so long as they respect the comfort of those around them. This goes equally for younger or older guests.

Tobias-UK

I am one that doesn't believe one should be allowed to guest additional people in to the lounge because '... you do not guest people in when on business ...'.

I've had a CCR Card for a few years but derived very little benefit from it as I was not permitted to take in a guest. As I often meet up with colleagues or clients at the airport or travel with a family member my ability to use the CCR was extremely limited. I would never attempt to take a guest in, instead we would use the First Lounge where I was entitled to bring a guest.

Since last November the rules for CCR Cardholders have changed and a guest is now permitted (two if I'm travelling in First). As a GGL I am entitled to bring two guests in to a BA Lounge (except the CCR) and would choose to use the First Lounge if I was travelling domestically or within Europe should I needed to take two guests with me. I wouldn't even attempt to take more than my guest 'entitlement' in to a lounge.

When it comes to family travel, BA rewards me in that I get to 'gift' a Gold Card to anyone I choose every year. I have two teenage kids and a wife; the wife and 16-year-old Jr Tobias-UK have Gold Cards (indeed Jr has qualified for Gold in his own right this year thanks to him joining me on a few US trips!). My daughter has Silver, although she will receive the Gold Card 'gift' when her current Membership Year ends. So those of us with families who do travel quite a bit with BA do not face the lounge 'dilemma' as BA have provided a solution within the Executive Club programme to ensure that won't happen.

Fatpenguin

Hello again, sorry if my post has been misunderstood, I have nothing against children, or indeed anybody, in a lounge if they are entitled to go in, sorry if any confusion.

oxtailsoup

Your opening post was very clear. It was me who took things down a slightly different path, though I feel is related.

hkgerry

People are being very nice today.....is it because there is something in the air on New Year's Eve.....

hingeless

I have nothing against people taking their children into lounges as long as they are over 35 yrs old

T8191

Plenty in the air here - I think they're called raindrops.

Anyway, we're usually very nice here. Well, often. And it's nice to have a new name on board who posts sensibly, and isn't complaining about award availability or BA's "Tax Gouging"

Hi, Fatpenguin ^

LondonAndy

Welcome FatPenguin.

I suppose the answer is that (nearly) everyone wants something for nothing. There have been number of threads over the months/years about "what are my chances of getting upgraded" which are normally met with the response "pay for the cabin you want to sit in".

Having said that, I am one of the people that you are talking about. I have a wife and one child/one infant. When we go on holiday in a couple of weeks we are all flying CW, so we can all get into the Terraces lounge (although I'll probably take my dad, who is travelling with us, into the First lounge as he doesn't get out much ). Similarly when we go on holiday in May we are splitting that party with half flying F and the other half Y (blame Lloyds TSB companion vouchers for that ) but the ones flying F can guest the ones travelling Y.

Where I do feel that it would be nice to have a solution (apart from all sitting outside the lounge!) is when we are flying within Europe - the price differential normally isn't worth paying 3 x the CE fare just to get into the lounge and, of course, the children can't enjoy the alcohol and wouldn't typicaly like the food served. It would therefore be nice to have (say) 4 jokers per year to allow additional guests in. These could be charged for (£50 per head?) which should cover the variable costs of the lounge, particularly for children where there wouldn't be any alcohol consumed

I have once asked at Heathrow if I could bring an extra person in - we arrived about 20 minutes before we were due to board the plane, and was fairly sure my daughter wouldn't eat the food on the plane. There wasn't time to go to Plane Food/Giraffe, so I asked if I could bring my daughter in as well to have some of the pasta, and was allowed to bring her in. I accept it wasn't within the rules, and was prepared for a flat no, but was very grateful.

A P Yu

Interesting post, thanks for raising the questions so well. Having read loads of arguments on this one I think:

• Some cardholders think they deserve benefit flexibility, and in their own minds this seems a reasonable request
• Some cardholders think their status means they are entitled to many additional unwritten benefits (the fact that BA often provide some such unwritten benefits doesnt help BA here)
• Some premium cabin flyers think their ticket means they are entitled to many additional unwritten benefits and need reminding of the true product they have bought
• Some cardholders / premium cabin flyers over estimate their self importance when trying to negotiate on such matters (often because some Gold / Silver cardholders / Business cabin flyers often fail to realise they are one of many thousands of such travelling on any such day)

They are just my opinions based on observation. I think BA have the policy right on this one, but hate to see people disappointed when issues such as lounge access seem to hinder their holiday plans. I would be happy to guest anyone in if I could remember how I accessed that ba97 calendar thing. I cant remember which ID I used.

shorthauldad

Some might, but we don't. On the only trip we've made ex-LHR as a family, we were travelling in CE.

There are some issues which can crop up travelling as a family if you don't want to all travel on full Avios redemption. I like to pay for my seats with BA, or at least UuA (don't want to waste Avios and usually need the TPs).
So on our trip (TR here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...es-family.html ) my son few on an Avios redemption ticket, my wife and I had paid tickets. Sounds like it should be straightforward? Not quite. Seating had to be sorted out manually. OLCI didn't work. The first attempt to check my son in at MUC failed because the agent's system said he was an unaccompanied minor! Of course, two completely separate bookings, so two PNRs. If you're travelling with a 2-year-old all of those minor niggles are things you could do without.

It really would be better if you could "mix" redemption and cash bookings better - BA doesn't handle it well IMHO.

We wouldn't want to put ourselves in that position either, hence us booking CE. Please note that anecdotal evidence posted on there note there also "DYKWIA" types who try to get extra adults into lounges too, it's not just a family-related issue!

If lounges were a bit more up-front with the rules (how about a nice poster on the wall?!), it would help. If lounge dragons angels were a bit more clued-up on the rules, it would help. If the rules were almost always applied properly, it would also help.

I'm all for sticking to the rules... but then everyone should have to.

HIDDY

Yes indeed.

Especially those who earn status through work travel paid for by someone else....they're the ones who harp on the most about not being able to take the whole family into the lounge.
For some reason they expect to get extra benefits when flying for leisure purposes - usually on the cheapest of tickets as they're paying for them out of their own pocket.
Then the very same people complain about kids being allowed in lounges.

Welcome Fatpenguin - I'd eat less fish if I were you.

Joely

I believe I started the thread referred to in the OPs post, so here's my 10cents...

Personally I am happy to, and always will, abide by the rules of the cabin/status I fly. If the answer had come back yesterday that my infant daughter isn't allowed in the lounge (along with my wife) then so be it, we would have gone and got coffee somewhere else. When my Daughter turns two, and assuming we aren't in a premium cabin, then that is what we will do.

What I don't like is the assumption by some people that, as my daughter is under 30, she is going to disrupt everyone else's day. I intend to bring my daughter up in the same way I was brought up, with manners and a respect for other people's well being. Not everyone does this of course, but just because others don't, don't tar me with the same brush.